As part of a series celebrating The Wreck's first anniversary, here's an interview with Horace, the game's lead (and, most of the time, only) programmer. Horace loves to work for the team and provide others with the tools that will make their life easier!.
Who are you and what was your role on The Wreck?
I'm Horace Ribout, I was the main programmer on The Wreck.
What was your favorite moment/thing to do during the production of the game, and what was the one you liked the least?
I really liked to work on the game's gamefeel. "How to make a narrative game feel more alive?" was a challenging but interesting task. The least fun part was the bug correction. Even if a game that seems this "simple", bugs are legion and never ending. And some of them are just weird!
What was something you learned about your craft while making the game that you'd like to share with other artists out there?
I learned many many very specific lesson, but in general : communication is key, and always think about the player. Basic stuff, but it's real in every way. As a programmer, what you do really defines the game (or experience) in the end, so you have to perfectly understand what the writer or game designer intend or want. And sometimes, you need to improvise within the limit when something didn't work, make a proposal to replace it, while staying true to the idea behind the game. It's a weird balance that takes time to find, and will change depending on the team you're in.