Meet The Team #1 – Pascal

With Meet The Team, Draw Me A Pixel introduces you to the people behind its games. We promise, no one bites. At least not yet!

What is your job and can you describe your role within the team?

I'm the author and director of the studio's projects. I'm in charge of defining the game's concept, writing the story and dialogues, as well as a large part of the game design. The rest of the time, I'm guiding the team in the direction I think is best for the project, like a film director.

What was your background, before founding Draw Me A Pixel?

As I didn't excel in my studies, I began my career in the video game industry as a (self-taught) composer of music for Infograme’s Time Gate: Knight's Chase in 1995. I then moved on to other studios in Lyon, where I learned game design over a period of ten years, with very tight budgets that required me to be creative and clever. I also worked on several game cinematics for Disney, Eden Games and Space Hulk licenses.

Then I wandered for a few years on my own, working on personal projects that led, thanks to a lot of luck, to the birth of Draw Me A Pixel.

What are the best and worst aspects of your job?

The best part of this job is realizing that an idea works! The worst is realizing that it doesn't work after all...

On the positive side, there's also the fact that I have total creative freedom. And that's extremely liberating and exciting. I want to do something crazy? Then let's do it. Something in the game doesn't work? Then let's change it completely without having to go through tons of hierarchical validation.

However, as we're a very small team, making the game takes time and it's sometimes difficult, even frustrating, to wait to see the result. I'm more the impatient type!

Which chapter from There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension is your favorite?

Come on, I like all the chapters. You can't choose among your children!

…

Especially the third one.

Chapter 3 of There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension.

What are your favorite video games besides There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension?

Having been immersed in the ocean of videogames since my early childhood, this is a very difficult question! I love so many...

I could mention Another World for making me want to do this job, Day of the Tentacle, best point-and-click on earth ; World Of Warcraft for making me experience all the emotions a human can feel in a game ; God of War (2018) for its mastery of storytelling and staging, or Dark Souls for its agonizing exploration and my many deaths.

On the other hand, if someone asks me what my favorite arcade game is, I'll answer Captain Commando without hesitation!

How does it feel to finally be able to talk about Crushed In Time after all this time?

It's always a bit nerve-wracking, because you never know how the game will be received. Will players be excited about the direction we've chosen, or will they be so disappointed that they ban us from their social media forever? Despite everything, there's also a real sense of satisfaction in finally being able to unveil the beast, even if it's just a small glimpse. And since the feedback has been very positive so far, it brings even more stress and pressure! I'm leaving the project.