Return Null’s Michael Lückgen discusses the point-and-click trilogy and how the recently released episode two sets the scene for what plans to be an intense finale. Listening to gamers’ feedback Lückgen was able to bring the project to Digital Tribe Games, who then brought the series to Steam.
For more on “Return Null: The Trilogy,” click here.
Patrick Hickey Jr.: What has the development process been like?
Michael Lückgen: Originally I started to work on the game as a private project in order to tell an interactive story, one worth telling, and to learn more about games and game development in the process without intending to sell it on any platform. At that time I had a prototype ready for mobile devices but then decided to port the game to desktop platforms, because one is able to reach a broader audience on these platforms. even though at that point I didn’t plan to sell the game, I wanted to make sure that the story of the game can be experienced by as many people as possible.
I planned to do everything myself, the writing, coding, art and music. After a while, when I had a playable alpha version of the game I realized that it would be a better idea to outsource some of the work, like art and music to people who are way more talented in this stuff than I am. This was a huge step from a private project to an actual independent game development process. Since the game came a long pretty well with professional art and music, I decided to approach Digital Tribe Games in order to get the game published on Steam. So basically the process was from starting with a private project to an actual indie game, which luckily got published by DTG.
Continue Reading The Article From Review Fix Editor-In-Chief Patrick Hickey Jr. at Examiner.com
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports.
Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders.
His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023.
Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief.
Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale.
Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.
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