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Comments (69)

• momojo
  This is one of those masterpieces that I'm surprised hasn't been scooped up by Netflix and turned into a movie.Its not that I don't like it as a game, but it's just so chock full of character.The premise alone is so compelling; in the Land of the Dead, even dead men chase money. Even with the literal afterlife a train ticket away, you have conmen and good guys living (or dying?) like there's no end of the line.Love it. One of those rare pieces of art that continues to live in my head rent-free.
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  fredrikholm
  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.
• polytely
  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)
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  leokennis
  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.
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  ulrikrasmussen
  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!
• bmac
  If you look at the 2nd to last page of the PDF you can see Tim Schafer's deception where he hadn't actually designed the ending puzzle by the time the document was due.> We didn’t have the last puzzle designed when I wrote that document, so I wrote two nonsense paragraphs and then overlapped them in the file so it would look like the final puzzle description was in there, but obscured by a print formatting error. That way I could turn the document in by the deadline.
• vbernat
  Maybe a better URL could be: http://gameshelf.jmac.org/2008/11/grim-fandango-puzzle-desig...
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  glimshe
  I never understood why people like Grim Fandango so much. I know many people who absolutely love it (and some more here on the replies) but I never did.I've finished it with a walkthrough so I've seen the entire game. Between an art style that didn't age well and didn't grab me even then, obscure puzzles and a theme that doesn't interest me so much, I think it is one of LucasArts worst adventure games. But that's me. Let's call it "polarizing".
• mannycalavera1
  don't remember where I found this, but here is the viewing list for the movies that inspired the game. It has Tim put his viewing notes in ithttps://drive.google.com/file/d/1YsollH04QK9si9uEm3VXZWT0snH...
• dariosalvi78
  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.
• armcat
  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.
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  gyomu
  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 Librandehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9_wLks1kAg
• Bayard_ne
  Always fascinating to peek behind the curtain at how these classics were built. Grim Fandango had some truly brilliant, and occasionally maddening, puzzles.
• AdmiralAsshat
  I'm glad I used a walkthrough when playing the game, because even after beating it I still have no idea how the hell the Chain puzzle worked.
• pflenker
  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.
• shmeeed
  Obligatory link to The Digital Antiquarian's treatment of the game:https://www.filfre.net/2024/11/grim-fandango/
• ModernMech
  Grim Fandango is interesting because they are responsible for Lua’s popularity as a gaming scripting language:https://www.lua.org/doc/hopl.pdf
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  N_Lens
  This game is iconic!
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  garlic_yogurt
  I wonder who made the drawings they are really pretty. I love this game, thanks for the post!
• damethos
  Nostalgia activated. I now have to play Grim Fandango! Loved that game!
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  snickerer
  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.
• bherms
  My favorite game of all time. This is awesome
• LeComedien
  Brilliant game, so much soul and character... I wish we could get another game in the same universe.
• _s_a_m_
  Absoltely crazy amount of detailed work
• alphayc
  Interesting so much
• raverbashing
  I wonder how does this fits in the general Game development pipelineIs 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?)
• anon
  undefined
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  upmostly
  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.
• TZubiri
  >"This report by its very length defends itself against the risk of being read" Winston H. ChurchillAnd 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.
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