Lucas Pope, the solo creator of games like Papers, Please and Return of the Obra Dinn, received the Pioneer Award from the annual Game Developers Choice Awards this year. It’s a major achievement that puts him in a league with industry giants like Gabe Newell, Yu Suzuki, and Roberta Williams.
“Now that I’m an official pioneer, I have some requests,he said in his brief acceptance speech. “World peace, obviously. But for this crowd, I’d be happy if you kept making the kinds of unique off-beat, experimental, creative, and especially personal games that I love.â€
It was similar to something Pope had said to me earlier especially the personal part. I had asked him what advice he might have for developers just starting out. Make something personal, make it small, release on [Itch.io]. Try to find the people who like the same things you do and then make the things you enjoy.
“I want this kind of game. I like looking at documents.â€
Games, for him, have always been about “making something that I want to play,†Pope said.
