WHAT'S UP HOLMES?

Frogwares founder WAËL AMR on designing puzzles for the Sherlock games

- Luke Kemp

Like most people, Waël Amr entered the industry at a young age. Unlike most people, he began with his own company, and never looked back. After a stint in the French army, Amr founded Frogwares at the age of 24. It began with a few people, and today employs around 90.

Initially, Frogwares developed point-and-click adventures, beginning with Sherlock Holmes: The Mystery of the Mummy. Three games later, in 2005, it had moved on to its first 3D game: 80 Days. “The game was a flop market wise,” says Amr, “but it was very ambitious. The idea of going 3D was to modernize the genre. It was taken positively by some, but negatively by others because, you know, there are a lot of people that are looking backwards. Interesting, by the way, to have so many conservative people in modern media.”

For Amr and his team, the move to 3D was a way to try something new while still keeping the core idea of a puzzle-based genre. Players could now explore 3D spaces in addition to solving the puzzles, rather than the more limited movement in what he describes as the previous “2.5D”.