Grim Fandango: Challenges of Remastering
Grim Fandango was originally released in 1998 by LucasArts, but Double Fine Productions acquired the game’s licensing and released a remastered version in January 2015. The game follows the adventure of Manny Calavera as he travels throughout the Land of the Dead, trying to find justice for the souls whose tickets to the Ninth Underworld have been stolen. Highlights of the remastering include upgraded graphics, modified controls, and a re-orchestrated score. Although I never played the original, Grim Fandango Remastered allows you to switch between the improved and original graphics; you are also able to play through the game using tank controls, the control system that was implemented when initially released. While the remastered version obviously has a nostalgic draw, it can be challenging to see why developers would decide to remaster an almost two decades old game; that is, it’s hard to understand until some context is added. In the interest of better comprehension and appreciation for remastered games similar to it, I’m going to look into the challenges faced in remastering Grim Fandango and their impact on the game.
To be clear, a remastered version of a game still shares the core of the original release but improves graphics, fixes glitches, and can add small pieces of new content; the focus of a remaster is basically touching up what already exists. For Grim Fandango, many of the issues faced in remastering came from the time difference between the original’s development and the remastering’s.
Because development for the original Grim Fandango began in 1995, many coding standards and technologies used were outdated by the time Double Fine Productions acquired Grim Fandango’s license in 2014. Reportedly, plenty of critical game files were missing or formated so archaically they were unusable. Backup files were generally made on Digital Linear Tapes, a magnetic tape data storage technology that was pretty much made obsolete by 2007 when the market focus shifted to Linear Tape-Open data storage. In the hopes of filling in more missing files, Double Fine took the time to contact former employees of LucasArts to track down any files those employees may have taken with them at the conclusion of their employment. For improving the graphics, lots of time and energy went into searching for the original’s concept art because the game’s artwork was of such a low resolution that some elements were practically indecipherable.
To better present the overall look on modern computers, the Grim Fandango Remastered developers greatly enhanced the texture and lighting models, especially those of the main character Manny. By switching between the original and remastered graphics every now and again to see the difference, the remastered graphics offer more detailed visuals. The differences in the backgrounds are minimal, but the lighting and texture updates generally make the scenes look better and more appealing. Some models can appear outdated or unimpressive given how current graphics look, but when compared to the original’s, it’s easier to see what improvements have been made. With that in mind, I think the ability to toggle between visuals was especially a good design choice, considering many in the game market in 2015, like myself, were born after the release of the original and had never seen what it initially looked like; it really helped add perspective to the gameplay experience.
Double Fine also worked a lot with the community in improving assets. Specifically, they reached out to players that made patches and updates to Grim Fandango’s assets so that it was still playable on ResidualVM, a cross-platform 3D game interpreter explicitly designed to play certain 3D LucasArts adventure games. One of the most notable features that came from these outside developers was the modified control system; the original’s tank controls were converted to a point and click interface by Tobias Pfaff, who voluntarily shared his code for it. Grim Fandango Remastered allows you to play with both controls, but the interconnectivity between both systems can sometimes cause issues. When playing, there was occasionally a bit of a struggle to navigate the environment, most notably when leaving or entering locations. Instead of being able to play the entire game with one control system, it seems like players are stronghanded into using both a few times to properly proceed in the game. None of the small control issues were game-breaking or overly frustrating, but they were definitely noticeable and trivial annoyances at times.
In terms of the game’s soundtrack, the original audio development data was all successfully extracted, but the quality of the sound files was not up to par, some songs using fairly disconnected samples the original soundtrack used because of its limited budget. For Grim Fandango Remastered, the development team opted to re-orchestrate the entire soundtrack, ensuring its quality would reach their standards. The game’s original music composer and producer Peter McConnell worked on the remastering, using the original score and including new compositions and arrangements. The amount of effort and emotion inside the music is so well intertwined with the game’s story and presentation that I think Grim Fandango’s soundtrack is possibly one of the best musical works for a video game that I’ve ever listened too. As someone who played the clarinet for over a decade and enjoys going to live orchestras perform, the impact of an orchestral score and hearing all of the different instruments and embellishments of jazz and various cultural music styles are an extremely positive and memorable part of the game. Without such a strong soundtrack, Grim Fandango would still be a challenging adventure game, but the music takes it to the next level.
As Tim Schafer was the founder of Double Fine and the project lead for the original Grim Fandango, it’s really no surprise just how much work and love went into developing the remastered game. If those involved in the remastering had not really cared about it, I highly doubt Grim Fandango Remastered would have gotten far into production, considering the specific and timely challenges creating a faithful remastering included. So thanks in a huge part to those who truly cared about this game and its legacy, Grim Fandango Remastered gives both curious new players and nostalgic gamers an opportunity to play one of the most critically acclaimed and beloved adventure games of all time.
*References are included in text.
