I was humbled that videos of it were made by many popular YouTube and Twitch people. Double Action is the opposite of a competitive game, in fact I would say that it’s aggressively anti-competitive in most ways, and it’s difficult to build a lasting audience for a game like that. I had no expectations that it would garner the audience that it did. What were your expectations before the game was released? Double Action has a very loving community behind it, turning the game into a bit of a cult hit.
But there were a lot of problems there so the girl turned into a briefcase, because I’ve seen all of the early Tarantino films, back when they all had briefcases full of money. The original idea was “Save the Girl Mode”, where there would be a Natalie Portman NPC that any player could lead around, and if you got Natalie to a goal point in the level then you win.
“Capture the Briefcase” mode in Double Action was refined from an idea I had from watching The Professional while working on The Specialists. I’m proud to say that we made The Specialists and Double Action before Max Payne 3 had multiplayer! I watched many Hong Kong action movies as a kid, like The Professional and Hard Boiled. I certainly saw all of those movies and played the games even long before I started making Double Action. Were these notable influences during the development of the game? What influenced you specifically? I’m sure you’ve heard a lot of comparisons to John Woo, Heroic Bloodshed cinema and Max Payne over the years when people mentioned Double Action. Years later, fans of The Specialists asked me to make a sequel, but since I didn’t create the original game and I wanted to go in a slightly different direction, I decided instead to create a spiritual successor.
I played it a lot and became active in the community, eventually persuading the original creator to let me take over development.
The simple-minded expression of fun vicariously by way of action movie appealed to me. It was a simple deathmatch game with dives, slowmo, and lots of firearms.
A friend introduced me to a mod called The Specialists. In 2001 or so I was playing a lot of Half-Life multiplayer mods, like Team Fortress Classic and Counter-Strike 1.3. How did Double Action come to fruition and what are its origins? I found out about you from Double Action Boogaloo, which we’ve been sharing footage of a lot recently. For Double Action I wanted to make an emotion in the people who play it: The emotion of feeling like an action movie star. The last item on the list reads “Don’t add anything else to this list!” Sometimes I build things because they’re helpful for other people (like the YouTube math videos) and other times I want to entertain and share an emotion. I have on my desk a list of projects I’m working on, a list that continues to grow more than my time capacity allows for. I like to help people and make people smile. The high-concept answer to your question is: I just like making things that other people enjoy or find useful. What compelled you to get involved in making these games? I understand that you’ve been working on games for a long time now, having worked on numerous projects with many collaborators and even dedicating time to teach others on YouTube. Before I went back to school I was an independent game developer. I built Double Action as my side project while I was a student at UCLA. Hey Jorge, would you like to introduce yourself to our readers and tell us about what you do?