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Épopée – Tales from French Game Developers includes thirteen expansive interviews with key people from the development scene in France, each retelling their long and fruitful career in big companies and smaller, independent structures alike. Discover a national industry you had never thought about. Shiver at the gauntlets those people underwent to follow their dreams. Enjoy a “je-ne-sais-quoi” of French culture and idioms while learning about game-making. The creation and development of many games will be discussed, including the following, and many more!
Games covered include: Alone in the Dark, Cold Fear, Evil Twin, Little Big Adventure, Mars: War Logs, North & South, Prisoner of Ice, Seasons After Fall, Styx: Shards of Shadow, V-Rally, and Zombi.
Interviewees include:
Marc Albinet
Veteran from the demomaking era in the 80s, he worked in Lyon’s video game industry scene and now works at Montréal.
Stéphane Baudet
Pioneer of Infogrames’ consoles division and founder of Eden Games, he also created the famous racing series V-Rally.
Bertrand Brocard
One of the “true” pioneers of video game development in France, who worked independently in the 80s and now one of the main forces behind the push for archiving French video game history.
Yannick Cadin
The programmer behind Zombi, Ubisoft’s very first in-house game.
Didier Chanfray
Frédérick Raynal’s partner-in-crime, Didier is the art director behind the original Alone in the Dark and all the games from Adeline Software and Dreamcast era’s No-Cliché.
Hubert Chardot
Infogrames’ fixer who helped in many dire situations for the company for over ten years.
Patrick Charpenet
Art director at Infogrames before moving town in Los Angeles, working for Activision and eventually becoming independent.
William David
Founder of Swing Swing Submarine and creator of Blocks That Matter and Seasons After Fall.
Olivier Derivière
The composer behind the Obscure series, Alone in the Dark (2008), Remember Me and many more.
Julien Dessourteaux
Veteran of Cyanide Studios and creator of the Styx series.
David Legrand
Founder of In-Utero and one of the minds behind Evil Twin: Cyprien’s Chronicles.
Jehanne Rousseau
Founder of Spiders Games and hardcore roleplaying game enthusiast.
Antoine Villette
Founder of Darkworks, the studio behind Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare and Cold Fear.
