Any work is inherently connected to the medium it’s created for, meaning bringing it to a new platform means making changes. Adaptations are tricky and have to be approached with caution. But a new game, Tintin Reporter - Cigars of the Pharaoh, took that care in taking a beloved and storied property into a new medium: an adventure game.
Created by Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi, better known as Hergé, the Adventures of Tintin comics follows teen reporter Tintin and his dog Snowy as they chase down dangerous cases around the world and boldly save the day. The series has been beloved worldwide for nearly a century, so adapting those comics can be a tough needle to thread. Charles Leveugle, product manager at publisher Microïds, recently spoke with Game ZXC about how the developers went about threading it.
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According to Leveugle, Cigars of the Pharaoh was developed in close consultation with Tintinimaginatio, the company set up to promote the works of Hergé. Microïds has plenty of experience with licensed properties, as do the developers at Pendulo Studios who worked on the game.
“With the great help of Tintinimaginatio and their providing of Hergé’s complete notes and precious remarks and tools to be 100% faithful to the master’s work, Pendulo Studios really did a comprehensive preproduction work to make sure the game was coherent and relatable to the 1930s…There have been a lot of interactions between Tintinimaginatio, Pendulo Studios, and Microïds to make sure to have the best 3D-version of all characters. And we are all very proud of the result!”
Adapting the comic gave developers the ability to dive deeper into the story, as the game adds new dimensions to the comic adventure. A condition for working with Tintinimaginatio was that the game adheres to the comics closely, but the comics only form the game’s skeleton according to Leveugle. The meat added to those bones comes from the developers at Pendulo, expanding on minor characters and environments, creating something not dissimilar from how Final Fantasy 7 Remake expanded on its original work.
That deeper and richer exploration of the world also posed the biggest challenge for developers in the form of the very literal additional dimension the game explores. Tintin, Snowy, and the other iconic characters in Cigars of the Pharaoh were conceived as 2D cartoons, but the game brings them into a 3D environment. Leveugle said getting that right was one of the biggest challenges the game faced in faithfully adapting Hergé’s comics.
The choice to adapt Cigars of the Pharaoh, from Tintin’s fourth album, was a specific one. Rather than starting at the beginning of the Adventures of Tintin or starting with a later title that had some of the series’ most recognizable characters like Captain Haddock, Cigars of the Pharaoh was early enough to make a good starting point but late enough in the series to make a good game.
“‘Cigars of the Pharaoh,’ the comic book, starts with Tintin & Snowy cruising on the Mediterranean Sea. Tintin was assigned a mission to Shanghai, but he decides to take a large detour to reach the Chinese city. On the boat, they meet with Professor Sarcophagus, an Egyptologist who invites them to find and visit the Tomb of Kih-Oskh, a mysterious Pharaoh. This is the beginning of a thrilling adventure for Tintin & Snowy as it will lead them to Egypt, but also Arabia and India – and they will end up fighting a gigantic drug-trafficking network.”
Plus, the story introduces some major characters from Tintin’s adventures. Thomson, Thompson, and Oliveira de Figueira make their debut in Cigars of the Pharaoh, as does the intrepid young reporter’s archenemy. The “Cigars of the Pharaoh” comic also sets up a future adventure, “The Blue Lotus,” which Leveugle says may be adapted if this puzzle adventure proves popular.
As for what cigars a Pharaoh might be interested in, Leveugle admitted research for the game found something potentially shocking for long-time Tintin fans.
“After a little research, it has been proven that Pharaohs did NOT smoke cigars! So we do not know what to tell you guys… but we are quite sure that Kih-Oskh would have been an exemplary sovereign – so that excludes smoking cigars !”
Tintin Reporter - Cigars of the Pharaoh releases November 7 for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.