alt Hacker NewsGrim Fandango Puzzle Document (1996) [pdf]
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Nice, Tim Schafer is someone whose writing I really admire, if you haven't checked it out yet Double Fine (the studio he leads) documented the entire (7 year!) development cycle of Psychonauts 2 in a 32 episode documentary series, and it in my opinion one of the best documentaries ever made. It covers a lot of cool stuff, like Covid, them getting acquired by Microsoft, big project leadership struggles. It's long as hell but it is really worth your time if you have an interest in creative work in large teams.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIhLvue17Sd70y34zh2erWWpM...
They are currently doing a company wide gamejam/game idea incubation thing, after surviving Microsoft undoing the acquisition and the same Documentary crew is doing a doc about that (they did a kickstarter campaign to fund it)
The small square box at the very end of the document, with accompanying text, is just delightful:
> To protect this document, please restrict your fallen tears of joy to this box. Thank you! → [__]
All over the document, you can see Tim Schafer "wasted his time" by adding personality (jokes, graphics, asides) to what is basically an internal document.
I think in 2026 a document lovingly crafted like this would be deemed a great waste of time, lack of efficiency and an affront to shareholder value.
I have started playing Grim Fandango with my kids (7 and 9) after we played through Day of the Tentacle together. Playing old adventure games on the TV and letting people take turns playing is a great family activity!
They aren't native English speakers and the story in Grim Fandango is considerably harder to follow compared to DoTT, so they lost interest a bit after we completed year 1. But as soon as their English skills improve, we'll get back to it, it's one of my favorite adventure games!
Maybe a better URL could be: http://gameshelf.jmac.org/2008/11/grim-fandango-puzzle-desig...
Ahha, this document came to my attention last night from this video [0] that bubbled in my YouTube recs - I don't know if it's the same for OP or just a coincidence, but I highly recommend it too:
GDC Talk: "One Page Designs", by Stone Librande
I've been playing most of Lucas Arts games with my 10 y/o daughter. Grim Fandango is the one she has liked the best. It is not perfect, has lots of bugs (crashed on several occasions) and weird things, but the atmosphere is so cool.
Monkey Island comes second of course.
Always fascinating to peek behind the curtain at how these classics were built. Grim Fandango had some truly brilliant, and occasionally maddening, puzzles.
I wonder who made the drawings they are really pretty. I love this game, thanks for the post!
I would sometimes just let the game idle at the casino level and just listen to the mellow jazz. That game was a piece of art.
Nostalgia activated. I now have to play Grim Fandango! Loved that game!
Grim Fandango is interesting because they are responsible for Lua’s popularity as a gaming scripting language:
I wonder how does this fits in the general Game development pipeline
Is it Story -> Characters -> Puzzles?
Theme -> Characters -> Story -> Puzzles?
Or everything everywhere all at once?
Are the character descriptions in this doc leading the Story or derived from it?
How much of the story is built around Gameplay and its limitations? (I think I remember GF requiring 2 CDs?)
Obligatory link to The Digital Antiquarian's treatment of the game:
Grim Fandango was one of the first games I bought out of my own pocket. And as was the norm back then, this used up all my games budget for months, so I had to stick to this game, for better or worse, for a long time. I remember it took me a very long time to even find the Tube Room, it's easy to miss unless you do the 3D equivalent of pixelhunting to find the place where you need to take a turn. And boy, was I stuck in Rubacava!
I also remember that it was slightly difficult to buy the game - I was at least 13 at the time, the game had an age rating of 12, but (gasp!) there were skeletons on the cover, and the tag line mentioned corruption and crime. So the lady in the shop actually called her boss before eventually selling the game to me.
Is this a walkthrough or a game design document?
As a walkthrough, it is nice. But as the foundation for the game designers, it would be a fun because it is so lighthearted.
My favorite game of all time. This is awesome
Interesting so much
Absoltely crazy amount of detailed work
>"This report by its very length defends itself against the risk of being read" Winston H. Churchill
And this comment will prove it, by referencing only the very first part of the document, being the comment most likely to garner upvotes and replies, as opposed to deeper nuanced comments.
I have a love/hate relationship with Grim Fandango.
I love the world, the characters, the music, and the art style. It was so inspiring for me as a child.
I literally hate the puzzles and the gameplay.
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I found Grim Fandango in a pile of discounted games as a tween in the 2000s. There was a cool skeleton in a suit on the front cover, so I bought it based on that.
Even though I didn't understand most references and sarcasm, few games have grabbed my attention as Grim Fandango did. The art work, the music, the writing. The whole game oozes of style that I've never seen replicated.
Even some 20+ years later I can almost recite most of Act I from heart. If you haven't played this game and like adventure games, this is one of the best.
Thank you for linking OP, this made my morning.