Francisco "Paco" Menéndez (1965–1999) was a Spanish computer

game programmer A game programmer is a software engineer, programmer, or computer scientist who primarily develops codebases for video games or related software, such as game development tools. Game programming has many specialized disciplines, all of which fall ...

who wrote games for 8-bit computers. His most famous work is '' La abadía del crimen'' which is regarded as one of the best games made for the

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer developed and marketed by Sinclair Research. One of the most influential computers ever made and one of the all-time bestselling British computers, over five million units were sold. ...

Early works

Menéndez's first work was ''

Fred Fred or FRED may refer to: People * Fred (name), including a list of people and characters with the name Mononym * Fred (cartoonist) (1931–2013), pen name of Fred Othon Aristidès, French * Fred (footballer, born 1949) (1949–2022), Fred ...

'', an arcade maze game released in 1983 which was followed by a sequel, '' Sir Fred'', in 1986. Both games were later distributed in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and translated into English.

Quicksilva Quicksilva was a British games software publisher active during the early 1980s. Quicksilva was founded by Nick Lambert in 1980. The name Quicksilva was inspired by a particular guitar solo in a track on the album Happy Trails by Quicksilver Me ...

distributed ''Fred'' while

Mikro-Gen Mikro-Gen was a UK software company based in Bracknell, Berkshire that produced games for home computers in the early to mid-1980s. The company was formed by Mike Meek and Andrew Laurie in 1981, in order to capitalise on the growing boom of mic ...

handled ''Sir Freds UK release. Both games were well received with critics, and ''

Crash Magazine ''Crash Magazine'' is a French independent magazine published biannually that features articles on women's fashion and cinema. History and profile ''Crash Magazine'' was founded in 1998 by Frank Perrin and Armelle Leturcq; art critics before ...

'' gave ''Sir Fred'' a 91 percent rating.

''La abadía del crimen''

In 1988, Menéndez teamed with Juan Delcán to write '' La abadía del crimen'' (''The Abbey of Crime'') for Opera Soft. The game was to be a version of

Umberto Eco Umberto Eco (5 January 1932 – 19 February 2016) was an Italian Medieval studies, medievalist, philosopher, Semiotics, semiotician, novelist, cultural critic, and political and social commentator. In English, he is best known for his popular ...

's book ''

The Name of the Rose ''The Name of the Rose'' ( ) is the 1980 debut novel by Italian author Umberto Eco. It is a historical fiction, historical murder mystery set in an Italian monastery in the year 1327, and an intellectual mystery combining semiotics in fiction, ...

'' but a license was not obtained as Eco never replied to Menéndez's request, so the game was renamed ''La abadía del crimen''. Originally made for the

Amstrad CPC The Amstrad CPC (short for "Colour Personal Computer") is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the ZX Spec ...

, it was then ported to other 8-bit computers the

and the

MSX MSX is a standardized home computer architecture, announced by ASCII Corporation on June 16, 1983. It was initially conceived by Microsoft as a product for the Eastern sector, and jointly marketed by Kazuhiko Nishi, the director at ASCII Corpo ...

. The game was critically acclaimed for its graphics, sound and detail. The game helped Menéndez claim the Best Spanish Programmer award from Spanish Spectrum magazine MicroHobby. Despite its very positive critical reviews, and its moderate commercial success, the game was never officially released outside Spain.

Aftermath

After ''La abadía del crimen'', Menéndez left the scene in order to finish his degree in Telecom Engineering. It is believed that the progressive commercialism in the videogame market and bad experiences with Mikro-Gen's distribution of ''Sir Fred'' was Menéndez's reasons for his sudden departure. Though he only made three games, Menéndez is widely considered as one of Spain's greatest ever game programmers.

Death

In 1999 Paco Menéndez committed suicide jumping from his apartment in

Sevilla Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Seville ...

. He was aged 34.Information regarding Paco Menéndez's suicide

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Menendez, Paco 1965 births 1999 suicides People from Avilés Suicides by jumping in Spain 1999 deaths