Editing Grim Fandango (section)

===Themes and influences===
The game combines several [[Aztec]] beliefs of the [[Mictlan|afterlife and underworld]] with 1930s [[Art Deco]] design motifs and a dark plot reminiscent of the [[film noir]] genre.<ref name="Schaferinterview">{{cite journal |first=Celia |last=Pearce |date=March 7, 2003 |title=Game Noir&nbsp;– A Conversation with Tim Schafer |url=http://www.gamestudies.org/0301/pearce/ |journal=International Journal of Computer Game Research |access-date=March 6, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130914232305/http://www.gamestudies.org/0301/pearce/ |archive-date=September 14, 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref> The Aztec motifs of the game were influenced by Schafer's decade-long fascination with [[folklore]], stemming from an anthropology class he took at [[University of California Berkeley]], and talks with folklorist [[Alan Dundes]], with Schafer recognizing that the four-year journey of the soul in the afterlife would set the stage for an adventure game.<ref name="sfgate review"/><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://popwatch.ew.com/2015/01/26/grim-fandango-tim-schafer-interview/ |title='Grim Fandango' creator Tim Schafer talks his magnum opus -- a classic game lost for 16 years |first=Joshua |last=Rivera |date=January 26, 2015 |access-date=January 26, 2015 |magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150128230503/http://popwatch.ew.com/2015/01/26/grim-fandango-tim-schafer-interview/ |archive-date=January 28, 2015}}</ref><ref name="TechRaptor Grosso 2015"/> Schafer stated that once he had set on the Afterlife setting: "Then I thought, what role would a person want to play in a Day of the Dead scenario? You'd want to be the grim reaper himself. That's how Manny got his job. Then I imagined him picking up people in the land of the living and bringing them to the land of the dead, like he's really just a glorified limo or taxi driver. So the idea came of Manny having this really mundane job that looks glamorous because he has the robe and the scythe, but really, he's just punching the clock".<ref name="sfgate review"/> Schafer recounted a Mexican folklore about how the dead were buried with two bags of gold to be used in the afterlife, one on their chest and one hidden in their coffin, such that if the spirits in the afterlife stole the one on the chest, they would still have the hidden bag of gold; this idea of a criminal element in the afterlife led to the idea of a crime-ridden, film noir style to the world.<ref name="psblog remake"/><ref name="TechRaptor Grosso 2015"/> The division of the game into four years was a way of breaking the game's overall puzzle into four discrete sections.<ref name="sfgate review"/><ref name="pcgamer preview"/><ref name="TechRaptor Grosso 2015"/> Each year was divided into several non-linear branches of puzzles that all had to be solved before the player could progress to the next year.<ref name="TechRaptor Grosso 2015"/><ref name="eurogamer puzzle doc"/>

[[Image:Grim-fandango-puzzle-layout.png|right|upright|thumb|The team created a puzzle design document in the planning of the game, laying out branching non-linear puzzle paths for the player to solve within the context of each year of the game.<ref name="Eurogamer 2008">{{cite web |title=Grim Fandango design doc now on net |url=http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/grim-fandango-design-doc-now-on-net |first=Robert |last=Purchese |publisher=[[Eurogamer]] |date=November 6, 2008 |access-date=October 11, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140429222917/http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/grim-fandango-design-doc-now-on-net |archive-date=April 29, 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Canard PC 2008">{{cite web |url=http://www.canardpc.com/news-30466-grim_fandango___tim_schafer_exhume_un_tresor.html |title=Grim Fandango: Tim Schafer exhume un trésor |trans-title=Grim Fandango: Tim Schafer exhumes a treasure |language=fr |date=November 6, 2008 |publisher=[[Canard PC]] |location=France |access-date=October 12, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140821164011/http://canardpc.com/news-30466-Grim_Fandango___Tim_Schafer_exhume_un_tresor.html |archive-date=August 21, 2014 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Kotaku 2008">{{cite web |url=http://kotaku.com/5077780/tim-schafer-publishes-original-grim-fandango-design-doc |title=Tim Schafer Publishes Original Grim Fandango Design Doc |first=Michael |last=McWhertor |date=November 5, 2008 |publisher=Kotaku |access-date=October 12, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120701131656/http://kotaku.com/5077780/tim-schafer-publishes-original-grim-fandango-design-doc |archive-date=July 1, 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="TechRaptor Grosso 2015"/> |alt=A flow diagram consisting of text boxes connected by arrows; the contents of each box list out the summary of a puzzle that is to be completed before following puzzles can be completed.]]

Schafer opted to give the conversation-heavy game the flavor of film noir set in the 1930s and 1940s, stating that "there's something that I feel is really honest about the way people talked that's different than modern movies".<ref name="eg remastered retrospective"/> He was partially inspired by novels written by [[Raymond Chandler]] and [[Dashiell Hammett]].<ref name="eg remastered retrospective"/> Several film noir movies were also inspiration for much of the game's plot and characters. Tim Schafer stated that the true inspiration was drawn from films like ''[[Double Indemnity]]'', in which a weak and undistinguished insurance salesman finds himself entangled in a murder plot.<ref name="Schaferinterview"/> The design and early plot are fashioned after films such as ''[[Chinatown (1974 film)|Chinatown]]'' and ''[[Glengarry Glen Ross (film)|Glengarry Glen Ross]]''.<ref name="sfgate review"/><ref name="TechRaptor Grosso 2015"/><ref name="Schafer design diary">{{cite web |first=Tim |last=Schafer |year=1997 |title=Grim Fandango Design Diaries |url=http://www.gamespot.com/features/fandango_dd/110597/110597_3.html |website=[[GameSpot]] |access-date=September 25, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071014202209/http://www.gamespot.com/features/fandango_dd/110597/110597_3.html <!--Added by H3llBot--> |archive-date=October 14, 2007}}</ref> Several scenes in ''Grim Fandango'' are directly inspired by the genre's films such as ''[[The Maltese Falcon (1941 film)|The Maltese Falcon]]'', ''[[The Third Man]]'', ''[[Key Largo (film)|Key Largo]]'', and most notably ''Casablanca'': two characters in the game's second act are directly modeled after the roles played by [[Peter Lorre]] and [[Claude Rains]] in the film.<ref name="bwire080997">{{cite web |url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/LucasArts'+Grim+Fandango+Presents+a+Surreal+Tale+of+Crime,+Corruption...-a019726667 |title=LucasArts' Grim Fandango Presents a Surreal Tale of Crime, Corruption and Greed in the Land of the Dead; Dramatic New Graphic Adventure from the Creator of Award-Winning Full Throttle Expected to Release in First Half 1998 |publisher=Business Wire |date=September 8, 1997 |access-date=December 2, 2007 |archive-date=February 2, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202113513/http://www.thefreelibrary.com/LucasArts%27+Grim+Fandango+Presents+a+Surreal+Tale+of+Crime%2C+Corruption...-a019726667 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Schaferinterview"/> The main villain, Hector LeMans, was designed to resemble [[Sydney Greenstreet]]'s character of Signor Ferrari from ''Casablanca''.<ref name="sfgate review"/> His voice was also modeled after Greenstreet, complete with his trademark chuckle.

Visually, the game drew inspiration from various sources: the skeletal character designs were based largely on the ''calaca'' figures used in Mexican Day of the Dead festivities, while the architecture ranged from Art Deco skyscrapers to an Aztec temple.<ref name="Schaferinterview"/> The team turned to LucasArts artist [[Peter Chan (artist)|Peter Chan]] to create the ''calaca'' figures. The art of [[Ed Roth|Ed "Big Daddy" Roth]] was used as inspiration for the designs of the [[hot rod]]s and the demon characters like Glottis.<ref name="sfgate review">{{cite news |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle |date=October 27, 1998 |first=Laura |last=Evenson |title=Fleshing Out an Idea |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/1998/10/27/DD89817.DTL |access-date=March 15, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714224854/http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Fleshing-Out-an-Idea-Day-of-the-Dead-inspires-2982510.php |archive-date=July 14, 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Originally, Schafer had come up with the name "Deeds of the Dead" for the game's title, as he had originally planned Manny to be a real estate agent in the Land of the Dead. Other potential titles included "The Long Siesta" and "Dirt Nap", before he came up with the title ''Grim Fandango''.<ref name="eg remastered retrospective"/>