Game On! Salutes Big Finish Games
It’s no secret Kev and I are huge fans of the Tex Murphy series – we have very fond memories of trying to solve mind-melting puzzles and laughing at some of the cutscenes. For over 10 years we have waited for more from the futuristic private investigator and this year could be the year it happens. Recently Aaron Connors and Chris Jones launched Big Finish Games – a studio focussed on casual games that deliver rich narratives and fantastic stories. Their recent titles, Three Cards to Midnight and Three Cards to Dead Time, are both solid titles and definitely worth the price of admission. We were fortunate enough to be able to get an interview with Aaron and Chris to discuss their latest efforts and what the future holds.
Where did the name Big Finish Games come from?
It actually came from a line Bogart says in Casablanca when Ingrid Bergman asks: Do you want to hear a story? And Bogart replies: “Does it have a wow finish?” We thought about calling it Wow Finish but it was a little too random. In retrospect, with the recent popularity of Big Fish (the casual gaming site) maybe we should have stuck to Wow.
Has there been any major issues in getting the company off the ground?
Just one: money. Seems like everyone’s hurting for cash these days and it takes money to make games (which make money…at least theoretically).
How did the core concept of word association come about when coming up with the idea for Three Cards to Midnight and Three Cards to Dead Time?
When we started designing everyone was loving the hidden object gameplay. For us, hunting for a list of objects was basically like the pixel-hunts in the old adventure games (and we hate it). But that’s what everyone wanted… so we basically came up with an idea that was somewhat like hidden object gameplay but had that extra level of challenge and deduction.
Will there be many differences between the two Three Card titles?
There are several differences. The biggest is the gameplay – we’ve changed it so it can be more easily translated into other languages. “Midnight” was very specific to English and really couldn’t be translated. Also, the graphic quality has gone up for the locations and establishing shots. We’ve also made a change to the story scenes – simplifying the animation to improve the graphic quality, remove distractions (like spotty lip-synching), and improve performance.
Do you see the Three Cards game becoming a franchise?
We hope so! We like these new characters and there’s a huge world of backstory just waiting to be explored. If people keep buying the games we will keep making more.
Are there any games that you used as inspiration for the games?
Not really. Our background is in core games going back to the Tex Murphy series and then working for Microsoft, Take Two and Ubisoft. The casual game market was something totally new for us so we’ve been winging it. We looked around but there really weren’t any other casual games we liked enough to use as inspiration. And it’s not easy to bring core game elements into casual games because they are REALLY casual compared to what we’ve done in the past.
Have you thought about bringing the title to Xbox Live Arcade, PSN, WiiWare or iPhone or are there too many restrictions?
This market is so new to us we’re still figuring out what can be done, how much it will cost and whether or not it will make us any money. We’d like to get into a partnership with Xbox Live Arcade but they have specific things they’re looking for in games, so we might have to create a new game specifically with them in mind to make that happen.
Most people will know you from the Tex Murphy series – the series is available on Good Old Games now, has the re-release been successful for you?
It’s been great! It’s given a lot of people a chance to find out about the games and play them for the first time. Plus it’s nice to be able to play them on updated PC’s. We still have an old machine with Windows 98 that we used just for the old games – now we can just run them on a laptop.
Kevin and I grew up on the series – The Pandora Directive was one of our favourite titles growing up but after playing through again we wonder how we actually finished some of the puzzles. Do you find it difficult to balance thought-provoking puzzles while trying to keep the player and the story moving?
Honestly, we think the games would be very different if we were making them today. Back then it seems like players had more patience and were willing to invest time in the game. Nowadays if you don’t grab people in the first 15 minutes they’re moving on to something else. Back then we could throw in some tough puzzles and not worry about holding your hands all the way through it. Now, you really either need to keep guiding the player or, at the very least, allow them to skip the puzzle. Otherwise, they think you’re a cruel and unfair designer.
What are some types of puzzles that keep you entertained?
The best puzzles, for us are ones that have a clear but challenging objective. We hate not knowing what we’re supposed to do and resorting to trial-and-error. But we also want to have a level of deduction involved. Slider and jigsaw puzzles have clear objectives but not a lot of deduction. Granted, we still use variations of them (because some people actually like them!) but we at least make sure that there is a tangible reward associated with solving the puzzle.
Do you look back at the games now and think you wish you would have done something differently or do you think it stands up well considering it’s over 10 years old now?
The Tex games have held up surprisingly well. Pandora especially, still has the magic we felt as we were making it. We have a soft spot for Under a Killing Moon, but it’s pretty silly compared to Pandora. Honestly, we’re not sure we’d change anything.
Would you ever consider remaking the Tex Murphy games much like Secret of Monkey Island or Beneath a Steel Sky?
We’ve talked about bringing Tex back in a series of smaller episodic games. We think it would work really well – we just need to generate enough development money to make it happen.
I know this probably the most common question – but your website advertises Secret Project Fedora – when can we expect some details on this project?
As we just mentioned it’s a matter of budget. We have done a lot of design work already and we’re eager to turn the design into a game! We’re very hopeful that we’ll have an announcement to make later this year.
With the success of Tales of Monkey Island and Sam and Max – do you think it would be worthwhile to see Tex return in episodic content similar to this or would you prefer to tell a story in one full game?
To be honest we’d rather do the episodes. Again, it goes back to the difference between audiences 15 years ago and today. It’s also a lot of fun to produce a game in six months instead of 2-3years!
Are there any other types of genres your team would like to explore?
There are things about pretty much every genre that we find interesting and creatively stimulating. That’s one reason why we created Big Finish, Inc. and got into downloadable games: we wanted to work on projects that are smaller, less expensive and faster to produce. And by investing less in any given project, we hope to be able to take more risks, work in different genres and try new things without worrying that one big flop will torpedo the company.
Anything else you would like to add?
We want to thank all the Tex Murphy fans who’ve supported us over the years – especially with these new ventures. We know that many of them enjoy the new games but they’d all prefer to get a new Tex game. Before doing 3 Cards to Midnight we debated whether or not to do Tex in this more casual style but we felt like it would be better to wait and do Tex properly than bring him back in a different style that some might consider “watered down”. We hope people will understand our decision and that their patience will be rewarded (and soon!).
You can purchase 3 Cards to Midnight and 3 Cards to Dead Time from the Big Finish Games website and the Tex Murphy Series at Good Old Games now.