Lucas arts

The Papers, Please and Obra Dinn creator talks burnout, managing expectations, and the joy of Playdate development

Four years ago, insurance adventure multiple awards and near-universal acclaim for its creator Lucas Pope and made enough money that he could afford to take it relatively easy for a while. Still, it came at a cost: Pope was close to making that hiatus permanent, admitting to considering retirement after the game's four-year development left him burned out. Happily, he's since changed his mind; forthcoming Playdate release Mars After Midnight has rejuvenated his love of game-making, while he has another mystery project in the pipeline, too. After his appearance at this year's LudoNarraCon for an online panel about detective games, he joined us for a candid and wide-ranging chat about solo creation, design philosophies, and the magic of 1 bit art.

You've talked about potentially quitting after finishing Obra Dinn - and also that you didn't consider it 'finished'. What prompted those feelings? Was it just a case of working on a single game alone for such a long time?

It took a lot out of me, basically. Obra Dinn wasn’t really ready to be shipped when I shipped it, or I’d say it needed another six months – but I decided that if I didn’t ship it in two months, I wouldn’t be able to finish it. I was just really burnt out on that game: four and a half years is a long, long time for me.

Was it simply the complexity of the game that made it so time-consuming, or was there more to it than that?