Pendulo Studios

Pendulo Studios S.L. is a Madrid-based video game developer founded in 1993 by Ramón Hernáez, Felipe Gómez Pinilla, Rafael Latiegui and Miguel Angel Ramos. Since the company's 1994 debut project, '' Igor: Objective Uikokahonia'', it has specialized in graphic adventure games. Pendulo first achieved mainstream prominence in Spain via '' Hollywood Monsters'' (1997), which met with critical and commercial success in the country but was never released beyond Southern Europe.

The company broke into the international market with its third game, '' Runaway: A Road Adventure'' (2001), whose hit status in Europe contributed to the reenergization of the adventure game genre. It also saved Pendulo from bankruptcy, following the closure of its publisher Dinamic Multimedia. Thereafter, Pendulo created two sequels to ''Runaway''; the series collectively had sold more than 1.5 million units worldwide by 2010. After the release of '' Yesterday'' in 2012, Pendulo entered another period of financial uncertainty, but in 2014 signed a deal with Microids that led to the creation of '' Yesterday Origins'', '' Blacksad: Under the Skin'' and other titles.

As of 2019, Pendulo Studios was Spain's longest-running active game development company. The company has been cited as a major force in Spanish game development, particularly in the adventure genre. In 2017, the Spanish publication ''HobbyConsolas'' declared Pendulo "synonymous with graphic adventures in Spain" and one of the country's most significant developers.

History

Early years: 1993–1997

Pendulo Studios was established in Madrid during September 1993 by Ramón Hernáez, Rafael Latiegui, Felipe Gómez Pinilla and Miguel Angel Ramos. The founders had been students together in college, and they formed for the purpose of creating a graphic adventure game. While Spanish developers like Aventuras AD had released successful interactive fiction games in the 1980s, including those with graphics, a fully graphic adventure game had never been made in Spain.

The result was '' Igor: Objective Uikokahonia'' in 1994, a game developed in dire economic circumstances by Pendulo's four founders, assisted by two contractors. While Spain's game industry had thrived in the golden age of Spanish software, the 16-bit era had heralded a market collapse for game development in the country. Pendulo later noted that "there was practically no national production and the prospects were not too encouraging" when ''Igor'' began, and Latiegui recalled a moment when the team nearly abandoned the project because of low financial projections by publishers. The team's funds were limited—Gerard Masnou of '' GameLive PC'' reported that ''Igor'' was made on a budget under 400,000 pesetas—and working conditions were poor. Pendulo was located for a time in the corner of a warehouse in Madrid's Arganda del Rey municipality. According to Latiegui, ''Igor''s development was "absolutely amateurish", and he noted that the team was self-taught throughout production. In retrospect, Pinilla summarized Pendulo's situation during ''Igor'' as a serious challenge. Nevertheless, Latiegui later called the game successful enough to inspire Pendulo to pursue game development as a profession.

Ramos ultimately left Pendulo after ''Igor''s completion, but Latiegui, Ramón Hernáez and Felipe Gómez Pinilla chose to continue the company alone. Pendulo's second game was '' Hollywood Monsters''. The team found it to be a significantly greater challenge than ''Igor'' had been, and its budget was tight. It required a long production cycle of around two and a half years. Including the voice cast, roughly 40 people contributed to ''Hollywood Monsters'', most of them outside contractors. Hernáez said that managing the large number of contributors was the "most important change" to Pendulo's development process since ''Igor''. Pinilla told ''Game 40'' that development would have gone faster with more contributors, but that it was "impossible to have more people." Spain's game development industry remained weak during production: Francisco Delgado of '' Micromanía'' cited ''Hollywood Monsters'' as one of the few Spanish-made games under development in 1997. To obtain a theme song for ''Hollywood Monsters'', publisher Dinamic Multimedia hired the band La Unión to record an original track.

Upon its launch in December 1997, ''Hollywood Monsters'' became a hit. In 2011, a writer for ''MarcaPlayer'' called it "one of the most played and best-selling adventures in Spanish software" history. It had sold 250,000 units in Spain alone by that date. As a greater commercial and critical success than ''Igor: Objective Uikokahonia'', ''Hollywood Monsters'' marked a turning point for Pendulo Studios. It has been cited by publications such as '' PC Actual'', 3DJuegos, Vandal and MeriStation as the title that put Pendulo on the map. It became a classic in its home country, although it failed to see releases outside Southern Europe. In 1997, a ''PC Manía'' writer cited ''Hollywood Monsters'' as proof that Pendulo "is to graphic adventure in Spain what LucasArts is to the rest of the world." Xan Pita of '' El Mundo'' later remarked, "Thanks to this game, ... Pendulo made a good dent in the industry."

Financial upheaval and recovery: 1998–2003

''Hollywood Monsters'' success led Pendulo to begin a sequel. However, the project changed shape to become '' Runaway: A Road Adventure'', conceived during summer 1998. ''Runaway'' became Pendulo's largest production to date, and '' GameLive PC''s Gerard Masnou wrote that it "was the most ambitious graphic adventure ever developed in Spain" at the time. According to Joan Font of ''GameLive PC'', the industry still suffered from a dearth of professional talent while ''Runaway'' was in development. Spain's education system lacked courses for game development, and the country's existing industry professionals often migrated to foreign companies for better working conditions and pay. As a result, most of Pendulo's staff on ''Runaway'' consisted of autodidacts who learned in part on the job. The game's team was small: Rafael Latiegui said that ''Runaway'' had nine core members during most of its creation, assisted by a series of part-timers on elements such as music. Despite the industry's limited workforce, Ramón Hernáez said that Pendulo had a "relatively" easy time finding talent.

Originally planned as a 2D project, ''Runaway'' was revamped during development to utilize 3D aspects, and after numerous delays debuted in Spain during July 2001. Early sales reports were positive, but the game's performance was severely hampered by the bankruptcy of its publisher, Dinamic, that September. The closure was a major blow to the Spanish game industry: ''MarcaPlayer'' later called it "probably the most traumatic event that the Spanish video game industry has experienced in history". Although English, Italian and German localizations of ''Runaway'' had been planned, the closure of Dinamic cast doubt on the game's future outside Spain. Latiegui remarked at the time that, unless a deal to repurchase the rights from Dinamic emerged "very quickly", Pendulo could go bankrupt. Pendulo proceeded to undertake lawsuits and engage the publisher in a legal battle for the rights, a process that lasted roughly one year. Pendulo struggled to stay solvent. Latiegui later called the period an extreme challenge; the company had to lay off the majority of its staff to make payroll, and Pendulo ceased game development activities.

Pendulo secured the rights to ''Runaway'' in July 2002. At the time, Latiegui said that the developer could recover if the game sold well enough, noting that Pendulo had "never stopped having development ideas". It was released in the German market by DTP Entertainment, and met with commercial success there. Pendulo soon landed deals to launch the game in Poland and France, the latter through Focus Home Interactive. By January 2004, ''Runaway''s sales totaled 400,000 units at full price in Europe. The game's success financially stabilized Pendulo, which rehired most of its layoffs from the Dinamic turmoil. Felipe Gómez Pinilla dubbed the game "a turning point for" the company; in 2015, researchers Víctor Manuel Martínez and Manuel Garin cited ''Runaway'' as the start of Pendulo's own brand of adventure game. Its later games reused ''Runaway''s cartoonish aesthetic. ''Runaway''s popularity also helped to reinvigorate the adventure genre as a whole, which had been seen as a declining field in countries such as Germany and France. ''Runaway'' has been cited as a contributing factor to the reenergization of adventure games by publications such as ''La Libre Belgique'', '' Gameblog'', ''GameStar'', ''Hamburger Wirtschaft'', '' Jeux Video'', ''PC Games'' and '' MeriStation''.

''Runaway'' sequels: 2003–2009

Pendulo Studios began to plan a sequel to ''Runaway'' soon after the first game's international launch. Rafael Latiegui later said that the team "wanted to immediately get ntoa video game" after spending a year away, and that a sequel was the "quickest way" because of the groundwork already laid. He noted that ''Runaway'' had not been developed with a sequel in mind, but that a large number of unused ideas nevertheless remained after the first game's release. The first game's commercial performance, combined with the team's desire to explore ''Runaway'' further, ultimately became a key inspiration to greenlight a sequel.

''Runaway 2'' was first announced by DTP Entertainment in August 2003, at the Games Convention in Leipzig. Pendulo opted to reuse the same game engine from the first title, with upgrades. The project was initially scheduled for late 2004. Because of ''Runaway''s high profits, Pendulo was able to put its own money into ''Runaway 2'', although most of the game's funding derived from French investments. The game underwent numerous delays, first to mid-2005 and then to late 2005, spring 2006 and September 2006. Discussing these setbacks at the time, Latiegui argued that it was "important for the quality of development" to take precedence over deadlines. Released in November 2006 as ''Runaway 2: The Dream of the Turtle'', the game continues the story of Brian Basco and Gina, who fall into trouble because of a plane crash during their vacation to Hawaii. ''Runaway 2'' received an international release roughly 8 months before its mid-2007 Spanish launch.

A third ''Runaway'' game was considered during ''Runaway 2''s creation, and Pendulo unofficially confirmed that it was under development in November 2006. It received an official announcement at Games Convention in August 2007; certain outlets initially reported that ''Runaway 3'' would be set in Japan and would take place immediately after its predecessor. The game was first shown in February 2008 at the Game Developers Conference, where its name was revealed as '' Runaway: A Twist of Fate''. Pendulo and publisher Focus Home Interactive hoped to attract series newcomers with the numberless title, and Jeux Video reported that the game was "not the direct follow-up" to ''Runaway 2'', but a relatively standalone project. A new engine was adopted for ''A Twist of Fate'' that offered improved graphics, although the game retained a pre-rendered 2D visual style. ''A Twist of Fate'' tells the story of Brian's attempt to escape from an insane asylum, where he is detained after being accused of murder. Unlike the first two ''Runaway'' entries, the game features Gina as a playable character alongside Brian. ''A Twist of Fate'' was first released internationally in November 2009; its Spanish version, again delayed, launched in early 2010. By the time of its Spanish release, global sales of the three ''Runaway'' games had reached 1.5 million units, according to ''ABC''.

Diversification and renewed financial trouble: 2010–2014

Pendulo opted to retire the ''Runaway'' franchise after ''A Twist of Fate'', although the team retained ideas for potential sequels. Latiegui explained in 2011, "After almost a decade with the saga, we needed a break." The team reported that it was particularly tired of Brian as a character. Instead, the team chose to pursue a new project under the name '' The Next Big Thing''. Fan requests for a sequel to ''Hollywood Monsters'' were ongoing throughout the creation of the ''Runaway'' trilogy. Latiegui said of the situation, "To each new game that we have been making, the reaction of the Spanish public has been the same: 'When is the next ''Hollywood Monsters''?' " This pressure from fans became a key motivation for the team to return to the ''Hollywood Monsters'' concept. In April 2010, Pendulo and publisher Focus Home Interactive announced '' The Next Big Thing''. Commentators from Adventure Gamers and Jeux Video noted the project's close similarity to ''Hollywood Monsters'', and in April 2011 the game was retitled ''Hollywood Monsters 2'' in Spain.

At the start, Pendulo conceived ''The Next Big Thing'' as a high-definition remake of ''Hollywood Monsters'', but it increasingly drifted from this framework over time. Latiegui explained that the final product "is not a second part, nor a remake"; rather, the team borrowed heavily from ''Hollywood Monsters'' and attempted to take its ideas in new directions. Sue Bergman and Ron Ashman were removed in favor of new protagonists: reporters Dan Murray and Liz Allaire of ''The Quill''. As with ''Hollywood Monsters'', ''The Next Big Thing'' takes place in a fantasy version of Hollywood where monsters act in films. The story explores the film industry's shift away from monster movies, which threatens to leave their casts out of work. ''The Next Big Thing'' first launched in April 2011, and it proved to be a "huge failure" commercially, according to Pendulo's Josué Monchan.

Rethinking the company's style and brand after the failure of ''The Next Big Thing'', Pendulo opted to create a game with a darker, more serious tone and more casual gameplay. Monchan stated that Pendulo could not find funding for a more traditional project. As a result, the team created '' Yesterday'' (2012), its first fully dramatic title. However, Pendulo was hit hard by Spanish economic turmoil; ''Yesterday''s budget was significantly smaller than the one for ''Runaway 3''. Monchan noted that ''Yesterday'' again underperformed, which he blamed in part on a publisher that had lost faith in the team's ability to succeed. Pendulo undertook a new ''Runaway'' title in 2012, under the name '' Hidden Runaway''. Unlike Pendulo's earlier work, ''Hidden Runaway'' is a hidden object game aimed at casual players. The game was released for iOS devices in October 2012, and proved once again to be a commercial failure.

Unable to find an investor for another game, Pendulo turned to a crowdfunding campaign in 2012 for the tentative project ''Day One''. The campaign proved unsuccessful; Monchan stated that Pendulo had not spent time building a network of connections that would allow it to survive without a publisher. Following Pendulo's failure to fund ''Day One'', the company entered a two-year period in which it released no original games. Albert Garciá of ''La Vanguardia'' noted that "the future of this company was uncertain" during the period. To survive during these two years, Pendulo downsized and spent time porting its existing catalogue of games to iOS. Monchan compared the strategy to one that Revolution Software had previously used to stay solvent, and noted that ''The Next Big Thing'' and ''Yesterday'' saw more success on mobile devices than they had on personal computers.

With Microids: 2014–present

In November 2014, Pendulo Studios began an undisclosed new project with publisher Microids, ending its hiatus from original releases. The two companies announced the deal that December. Pendulo and Microids proceeded to release a sequel to ''Yesterday'', entitled '' Yesterday Origins'', in November 2016. Directly after the game's completion, Microids proposed the idea of adapting the ''Blacksad'' comic series into a game. The publisher was owned by the same media conglomerate as ''Blacksad'' publisher Dargaud. Although Pendulo had never worked with a license before, the developer's Josué Monchán noted that the team had "been ''Blacksad'' fans for a long time" and agreed to the idea immediately. The team then storyboarded a pitch and submitted it to Dargaud and ''Blacksad''s authors, who approved it. YS Interactive initially assisted Pendulo.

'' Blacksad: Under the Skin'' was unexpectedly announced in June 2017. Gameblog's Vincent Elmer-Haerrig called the project a "gamble" for Pendulo, as ''Under the Skin'' is aimed at "a fringe of players who are both comic-philes and video game lovers." It was Pendulo's first game to use fully 3D visuals. Lead animator Carlos Hernández told ''Mundo Deportivo'' that the game's production was "a great difficulty" for the team, particularly because of its small size: Pendulo numbered 17 members by 2019. ''Under the Skin'' was released in November 2019. In late 2020, Pendulo reported that "the impact 'Blacksad''has had on the market has been much greater" than Pendulo's other recent titles, which the company attributed to the project's "more narrative, modern adventure" style.

In March 2018, during the production of ''Under the Skin'', Microids announced that Pendulo would develop an adaptation of Alfred Hitchcock's film ''Vertigo''. The publisher obtained the rights to Hitchcock's "name and likeness" for the game, ''Rock, Paper, Shotgun'' reported. According to Microids, the game would be "loosely" inspired by the film, following it aesthetically and thematically. In November 2020, Pendulo revealed that development of ''Vertigo'' was "quite advanced" and that it would be a "narrative adventure" title. The game was first shown at the Guerrilla Collective Showcase in June 2021, where its title was announced as ''Alfred Hitchcock – Vertigo''. The game follows the story of Ed Miller, a man who enters therapy to cope with the mysterious after-effects of a car crash. Monchan noted that "''Vertigo'' asnot our only frame of reference" for the story, also citing Hitchcock's '' Spellbound'', ''Rebecca'' and '' Psycho'' as influences, among others. The game was first released for computers in 2021, followed by a console release in 2022.

In August 2022, Microids revealed that Pendulo Studios was developing ''Tintin Reporter: Cigars of the Pharaoh'', an "action and investigation adventure" based on the comic of the same name in the ''Adventures of Tintin'' series. Microids had announced its plan to publish an unnamed ''Tintin'' video game previously, after striking a deal with the Hergé Foundation in 2020.

Games developed

Canceled

*''Day One''

See also

*Daedalic Entertainment
*Frogwares
*House of Tales

References

External links

*

{{Pendulo Studios

Companies based in Madrid
Spanish companies established in 1993
Video game companies established in 1993
Privately held companies of Spain
Video game companies of Spain
Video game development companies