Grim Fandango | Why I Love

gamesindustry.biz:

Why I Love is a series of guest editorials on GamesIndustry.biz intended to showcase the ways in which game developers appreciate each other's work. This entry was contributed by Scott Christian, co-founder of Hilltop Studios, which launched the narrative adventure game Lil' Guardsman on PC, Switch, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S this week.

As a kid born in the mid-'80s, some of my earliest memories include NES (specifically standing right next to the already old CRT TV in our basement, pressing the muzzle of the Duck Hunt gun to the glass), and a little later a Game Boy (which made family road trips a little bit more bearable).

But when I really think back on my earliest core gaming memories, it was playing the classic early-'90s LucasArts and Sierra adventure games with my mom. The memories are hazy at this point, but I think I was probably the one 'driving,' with her there to help when I got stuck. Or to step in when the whole damn game flummoxed me. See: The Dig, which I loved, but which made no sense to me at the time.

A few years later, I didn't need my mom anymore and instead, my little brother took her place, watching over my shoulder as I played. My voyages to Monkey Island, my failed spells cast in Simon the Sorcerer, and my heroic King's Quests were all family affairs.

So: five years ago, the New York Times did an analysis of people's Spotify data and determined that "...for men, the most important period for forming musical taste is between the ages of 13 to 16. Men were, on average, aged 14 when their favorite song was released. For women, the most important period is between 11 and 14, with 13 being the most likely age for when their favorite song came out."

This more or less tracks for me with my favorite game of all time: Grim Fandango, which came out when I was 12-and-a-half (I think the 'and a half' was still important at that point, and it supports the science now!).

I had never played anything like it before. I was hooked by the end