Voodoo Detective is a lovingly made point-and-click adventure that almost feels like a recently-unearthed lost classic of the genre. The writing, voice acting, music and visual feel has made my limited time playing the opening hours a total delight. I couldn’t wait to chat with Short Sleeve Studio co-founders (and longtime friends) Eric Fulton and Eric Ackerman, who opened up about the history of their partnership, their design philosophy, their approach to comedy writing, and how they managed to collaborate with beloved composer Peter McConnell on the soundtrack.
Eric and Eric, how did you two meet each other and start your creative partnership? What other projects have you taken on prior to Voodoo Detective?
Eric F.:
We both attended Santa Clara University and lived in the same dorm freshman year. I am a bit of a prickly introvert, but that didn’t stop Eric A. from befriending me. It turns out, we have quite a lot in common and our casual acquaintance quickly blossomed into a friendship that I think has become one of the highlights of my life. Prickly and sentimental. But I can only speak for myself.
Eric A.:
Eric F. and I met freshman year of college. We lived across the hall from each other and I distinctly remember watching him repeatedly bash someone over the head with a wrench and thinking, “I will be friends with this man.”
[Note from Eric F.]
To be clear, Eric A. is referencing BioShock, the game Eric F. was playing when we met.
Eric A.:
Prior to Voodoo Detective, we had been writing together, on and off, for years. We had a weekly sort of “peer review” session where the two of us would exchange our writing from that week for criticism and compliments. One of Eric F.’s short stories from that period of creative exchange was called “Voodoo Detective.”
The first puzzle of Voodoo Detective involves a wacky gag with the game's credits. Do you remember when and how you came up with this idea?
Eric and Eric:
Our philosophy with Voodoo Detective was to try to let the game teach you as much as possible without our explicit intervention. We didn’t want to force people to read instructions or play through tutorials if possible.
To that end, we decided to have the first level be a room you couldn’t escape from without first exploring most of the game’s core mechanics. The physical titles were a gag at first, but we quickly made it into the game’s de facto tutorial.
From the get-go, the game isn’t afraid to go to some wonderfully silly places, even while the characters deliver every line with a believably straight face. Do you have any personal “rules of comedy” you strive to achieve in your work?
Eric F.:
I don’t think we had any hard and fast rules. In general, if either of us pitched an idea that made us laugh, we would put it in the game. Though there were some ideas that made us laugh that would not have been appropriate for the game. So, I guess that’s one rule we followed. We didn’t allow content into the game that would have embarrassed us in front of our respective grandmothers.
Eric A.:
I have some extremely strict “rules of comedy.” I applied none of them to this game. (Though I do strongly believe one should “never punch down”!)
Voodoo Detective’s setting and themes feel pretty unique within the gaming sphere. Did bringing something so new to the table further fuel your team’s passion to create this?
Eric and Eric:
I know there are other games out there that contain Voodoo themes, or at least that borrow from the stereotypes about Voodoo that dominate in the United States. But for Voodoo Detective, we tried very hard not to latch onto those stereotypes.
Instead, we attempted to delve a little more deeply and what we found was an active religion. That’s what Voodoo really is. It’s a monotheistic religion with a pantheon of demigods called the lwa. Perhaps my own ignorance is showing here, but I don’t think that information has penetrated into the realm of common knowledge here in the U.S.
Game information
GAME INFO
Voodoo Detective is an adventure game by Short Sleeve Studios released in 2022 for Android, iPad, iPhone, PC. It has a Illustrated realism style, presented in 2D or 2.5D and is played in a Third-Person perspective.
