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.

2 Make life-inspiring games with Florent Maurin 01:00:12 Share

Dream Anyway 就要做梦

为什么Florent离开媒体行业成为游戏制作人？

回顾The Pixel Hunt制作的游戏

The Wreck是如何在一场车祸后诞生的？

Florent的妹妹在《The Wreck》中担任主角

什么是现实启发的游戏？

《The Wreck》中公众与私人之间的感知差距是什么？

商业成功真的重要吗？

NEXT PROJECT受到Disco Elysium和Citizen Sleeper的启发

Florent对独立游戏的展望

读一些鲍里斯·维昂的作品！

Shownotes Transcript

2 Make life-inspiring games with Florent Maurin