In this episode, I had the pleasure of interviewing Florent Maurin, CEO of The Pixel Hunt and a former journalist, to discuss reality-inspired games. I was deeply moved by their latest creation, The Wreck. The game follows the story of Junon, a French screenwriter who is faced with a decision regarding her mother's death.
Florent is an expert in indie narrative games, and during our conversation, we delved into topics such as the balance between commercial success and personal expression in indie games. I hope that our discussion will inspire you as well.
Show notes
01:11 Why Florent left the media industry and became a game producer
06:27 Revisit games made by The Pixel Hunt
09:13 The Wreck was born after a car accident
10:25 Florent's young sister took a lead in The Wreck
18:31 What reality-inspired games are?
22:14 A perceived gap between the public and the private in The Wreck
34:25 Does commercial success really matter?
38:19 NEXT PROJECT inspired by Disco Elysium and Citizen Sleeper
47:41 How Florent looks forward to indie games
55:29 Read some Boris Vian!
If you are a Chinese native speaker, you could read some selected content here.
Reading List
Check out The Wreck on Steam (and buy one please!)
- The Wreck was featured on the Chinese gaming media Chuapp.com
Reach out to The Pixel Hunt
- Florent is a guest writer in Night Call - I highly recommend it to those who haven't been to Paris
- Experience Noir's story in Bury me, my love and witness how this Syrian woman makes her way to Europe
- Explore ice, history, and colonialism in Inua
Narrative games
- We also talked a bit about Disco Elysium and Citizen Sleeper. We believe they are super iconic narrative RPG games you should have played in the recent five years.
More about reality-inspired games (Chinese translated)
The Cast
Editor: Molly Xing
Audio Editor: ZZ
Graphic Design: Zia
Special thanks to Kakihara MasO, Haoxi, Dody and all the other friends who help made us here.
- Haoxi Luo is a PhD candidate in cultural studies at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. His research covers the fields of Game Studies, Indie Games, Contemporary China and Pop Culture.
- Dody Chen is a PhD Student in Game Localisation.
- Kakihara MasO is the Simplified Chinese localizer for The Wreck. His work includes Who's Lila?, Milk Series by Nikita, Tiny Bunny and Backbone. Check his portfolio.
Contact us
Daydream_nap@proton.me
About Dream Anyway
A bilingual podcast hosted by Molly Xing for people who could light up the world. Molly has a media background and spent some time in the indie games industry. Now she is wandering in Shanghai.