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Developing Greatness; Guest blog featuring Dave Gilbert - PlayFirst Grapevine
We had the honor this week of a visit from one of our newest external developers, Dave Gilbert of Wadjet Eye. We recently ran a First Peek of his new game, Emerald City Confidential™, and are all very excited as we watch it come to life.
Dave was gracious enough to take time out of his busy schedule to talk about the inspiration behind the game. Here’s Dave:
“If there was anything about my childhood that I remember, it was my fascination with the Oz books by L. Frank Baum. There was so much to the world. There were 14 books in all, full of dozens upon dozens of fascinating characters and crazy stories. I inhaled these books as a kid, and re-read them often. I eventually outgrew them and put the books away, but the stories and characters always remained with me.
Years later, I watched an old film called Double Indemnity and a new fascination was born. I had to watch every classic noir film I could get my hands on. There was something really compelling about them. There was the shadowy black and white cinematography, the snappy stylized dialog, and the intricate plotting, but there was also a wonderful sense of ambiguity about the characters. The best noir heroes are real people. They can be flawed, even live a life of crime, but at heart they are good people who you want to root for. It was no surprise to anyone that the games I write tend to be mysteries, and noir mysteries at that.
Recently, I discovered Oz again and found myself wanting to create a game in that world. I had just watched The Maltese Falcon for the first time, and I wondered what the Scarecrow would have been like if he was played by Peter Lorre. Then, I thought: “Well, why CAN’T the Scarecrow be played by Peter Lorre?” And so, Emerald City Confidential was born. It’s a game that comes from two very happy parts of my life, and it’s been great fun seeing it come together. It’s been an amazing experience making this game, and I can’t wait for everyone to see it.”
Emerald City Confidential™ is scheduled be released early in 2009, and you’ll see more great games from top-rate developers before then, as well. One of the new features we’ve added to our site is the ability to request an email when a game is released. You can sign up to be notified about Emerald City Confidential here:
http://www.playfirst.com/game/emerald-city-confidential
To learn more about PlayFirst’s relationship with developers, check out Executive Producer Craig Bock’s blog here: http://www.playfirst.com/blog/212
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posted Nov 28, 2008 2:29:23 PM