Back in 1998, did you play the novelistic video game Grim Fandango? Disney shuttered LucasArts yesterday, closing the storied video game studio that created one of the best video games that this GalleyCat editor ever played.
You can watch the trailer for the game (embedded above) written by Tim Schafer or visit the Grim Fandango fan site for more information. One dedicated video game player actually wrote an entire novel based on the video game. Download the Grim Fandango novel at this link:
First appearing in installments on the now-defunct website Glottis’ Garage, the Grim Fandango novel by MeddlingMonk was initially well received. Although still sought after, it has become increasingly hard to find. Now, a thorough revision of the novel has been completed to be hosted here. Many plot points are developed more fully and the entire text has been tweaked to become more textured, more adult. If the game was intended to reflect film noir, then the novel is meant to key off of the writings of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler and Ross Macdonald. Although adapted from an episodic game, the Grim Fandango novel presents a continuous story, filling in the gaps using hints from the game itself (including unused elements found in the game’s data) or by using reasonable extrapolations.
Wikipedia has a detailed entry on the history of Grim Fandango video game, a gorgeous story that was not a big hit at video game stores.