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in 2007. While Pope did not have a strong programming background, he felt that
Naughty Dog had hired him because of his interest in developing the tools and interfaces needed to help in programming their games. Pope's strength in developing GUI tools augmented Naughty Dog's weakness at that time,
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for retail distribution, and gave
Ratloop sufficient funds to try a number of experimental games, something which had interested Pope. However, none of these were published, and facing competition from other studios, particularly from Eastern Europe, that could make games at substantially lower
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for teaching him how to focus a game's design around core concepts to make the game fun, even if this meant sacrificing work that had already been completed. Former
Naughty Dog President Christophe Balestra said of Pope's work on their design tools: "We were desperate to find a good tools
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system. In the game, players manage a community center among aliens on Mars. The character art for the
Martians is procedurally generated, and the voices are synthesized using a system Pope developed. Pope said that he created the game with his children in mind. Wes Fenlon, writing for
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to study mechanical engineering. He found that the reality of what constituted the field was less desirable than what he wanted, but did take strong interest in the computer programming side of his coursework. During this period, he got involved with the
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programmer. He was part of the people who saved the day." Specifically, Pope developed GUI tools for the games' menus systems, save systems, level layout to assist level designers, and a system to organize sound and text files for various languages.
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would help distribute their game, the chain required
Ratloop to have 5,000 copies ready to ship within 24 hours at any time, requiring Ratloop to secure a publisher to help. After a first failed 3D game, Ratloop decided to develop a car repair game,
160:, and the two of them would take retail robot kits, take them apart, and reconnect them to their own computers to see how they could control them. Inspired to continue into the mechanical and robotics field, Pope attended
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was financially successful; the game had sold about 1.8 million copies by August 2016, and through 2018, still sold enough that Pope was not worried about his financial security as he was developing his next game,
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for about a year with frequent trips to the United States. During these travels, Pope came upon an idea for a game involving a passport inspector, which served as the inspiration for Pope's breakout game,
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with Pope stating that at the time of his hiring, "there was no full-time GUI tools guy at all...Just command-line, back-end tools people." Pope had been hired about halfway through the development of
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469:, Japan, with two children. They met while both working at Realtime and continued their relationship while Pope was at Naughty Dog and Ishizaka was at nearby
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409:, and took about four and a half years, principally due to Pope's expanded narrative. On its release in 2018, it received similar high praise as
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152:. His father was a handyman, which gave Pope access to a well-stocked array of parts and tools that led to an interest in
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285:, a small game based around creating 3D levels from camera scans of a 2D drawing, and its title a play on the phrase "
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930:"Lucas Pope's new Playdate exclusive is a delightful riff on Papers, Please, but for farty Martians and sad cyclops"
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899:"Papers Please is 3 years old today. 1.8 million units sold across all platforms/bundles/sales. Thank you all!"
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Over the next few years, Pope and
Ishizaka worked on a number of experimental games. One of their first was a
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417:(including a second Seumas McNally Grand Prize), as well as being named one of the top games of 2018.
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as a free game. Both Pope and
Ishizaka decided to quit their current jobs in 2010 and moved to
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Pope collaborated with other video game modders, including working on an officially-sanctioned
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Pope states he plans to still develop games but wants to keep these at a small size;
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and other games, principally working on the art used for the characters in the mods.
773:"From Uncharted to Obra Dinn: Lucas Pope dishes on his illustrious game-dev career"
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was meant to be a small-scale game but ballooned out larger than he anticipated.
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in 2003. While at
Realtime, he was part of the team that developed the game
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in 1997. Ratloop struggled with distribution through retail channels. While
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had shipped in 2009, Naughty Dog was set to continue onto the next sequel,
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development had started shortly after Pope had completed all the work on
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release, Pope has stated he intends to return to develop games for PC.
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297:(IGF) where it was nominated for one of the awards, and which led to
201:. Pope and another set of modders decided to form their own studio,
156:. When he got to high school, he met a friend who was interested in
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was critically praised, winning several awards including several
334:, which won the 2011 IGF for Best Mobile Game. Another title was
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354:. This work required him and Ishizaka to temporarily live in
847:"Lucas Pope: 'I'm kind of sick to death of Papers, Please'"
720:"Papers, Please: The 'boring' game that became a smash hit"
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in 2012 which he had come up with originally as part of a
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385:for Best Simulation Game. For Pope and his wife,
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320:Pope at the 2014 Game Developers Conference
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812:"Lucas Pope on life after Papers, Please"
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465:Pope and his wife Keiko Ishizaka live in
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46:1977 or 1978 (age 46–47)
16:American video game designer (born 1970s)
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771:Machkovech, Sam (January 12, 2019).
120:. He is best known for experimental
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383:British Academy (BAFTA) Games Award
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882:. January 20, 2014. Archived from
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287:The pen is mightier than the sword
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810:Wood, Austin (November 2, 2017).
692:List sourced from Pope's website.
845:Cullen, Johnny (March 5, 2014).
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231:prices, Ratloop became dormant.
171:community and helped to develop
1076:American video game programmers
874:"The Making Of: Papers, Please"
347:Rocketbirds: Hardboiled Chicken
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928:Fenlon, Wes (March 14, 2024).
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897:Lucas Pope (August 8, 2016).
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373:and IGF awards (including the
301:contacting Pope about putting
278:Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
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1071:American video game designers
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427:In March 2024, Pope released
234:Pope left Ratloop and joined
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718:Lee, Dave (March 12, 2014).
444:called the game "pleasant."
344:game jam. He helped to port
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1086:American emigrants to Japan
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375:Seumas McNally Grand Prize
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260:Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
254:Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
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140:alongside other awards.
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551:Created as warm up for
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133:Return of the Obra Dinn
86:Return of the Obra Dinn
371:Game Developers Choice
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205:, releasing the total
183:Video game development
154:mechanical engineering
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955:"Games by Lucas Pope"
561:6 Degrees of Sabotage
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1096:People from Virginia
886:on January 22, 2014.
606:The Sea Has No Claim
433:exclusively for the
1043:Mars After Midnight
664:Mars After Midnight
450:Mars After Midnight
430:Mars After Midnight
246:and got a job with
236:Realtime Associates
118:video game designer
63:Video game designer
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289:". They submitted
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964:December 27,
962:. Retrieved
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937:. Retrieved
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913:– via
907:. Retrieved
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884:the original
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821:. Retrieved
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778:Ars Technica
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37:Pope in 2019
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858:October 19,
823:October 19,
784:January 14,
731:October 19,
622:Unsolicited
326:mobile game
273:Uncharted 2
248:Naughty Dog
195:to promote
122:indie games
51:Nationality
1060:Categories
1007:Lucas Pope
959:Dukope.com
700:References
553:Ludum Dare
490:Platforms
379:indie game
342:Ludum Dare
240:Re-mission
228:Activision
144:Early life
124:, notably
114:Lucas Pope
59:Occupation
25:Lucas Pope
939:March 15,
909:August 8,
817:Eurogamer
580:Windows,
422:Obra Dinn
400:Obra Dinn
377:for best
356:Singapore
934:PC Gamer
670:Playdate
647:Xbox One
610:Browser
502:Mightier
471:2K Games
455:Playdate
441:PC Gamer
435:Playdate
303:Mightier
291:Mightier
283:Mightier
198:Anaconda
158:robotics
150:Virginia
104:Children
54:American
915:Twitter
590:Android
588:, iOS,
547:Browser
513:Ratloop
507:Windows
467:Saitama
328:called
293:to the
217:Walmart
203:Ratloop
191:mod by
1046:(2024)
1038:(2018)
1030:(2013)
1022:(2012)
651:Switch
594:PSVita
493:Notes
487:Title
447:After
403:'s
305:up on
271:After
212:Malice
96:Spouse
903:Tweet
852:VG247
680:Notes
659:2024
631:2018
618:2015
602:2014
586:Linux
582:macOS
570:2013
536:2012
519:2010
498:2009
484:Year
307:Steam
299:Valve
207:Quake
189:Quake
177:Quake
168:Quake
966:2022
941:2024
911:2016
879:Edge
860:2018
825:2018
786:2019
733:2018
175:for
173:mods
130:and
43:Born
725:BBC
643:PS4
555:23
530:iOS
453:'s
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107:2
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