The people behind 1112

A three- to four-person studio in Lyon made 1112, with friends on the music, former colleagues on the art, and family and friends as the faces of its characters. Before that, the story was a student project called Fade.

Everything here comes from the games’ credits, our interviews and the studio’s own public pages, with the sources at the end.

Agharta Studio

Founded in Lyon in 2008 by three people who had met at Étranges Libellules and Eden Games, and joined by a fourth in 2012. “Most people didn’t realize that we were only a 3-4 person team.”^[4]

Alexandre Leboucher

Alex · “Insane”

Concept, story, lead artist · Fade (2001)
Game director, design · 1112 Episodes 01–03

Alex created Fade with friends from his student days, and later turned it into 1112. He wrote the story and design of every episode, and was around twenty when Fade came out. His first game credit is on the art team of Demise: Rise of the Ku’tan (2000).^[1][2][3]

Aurélien Kerbeci

Aurelien · “Compulsive”

Technical director, code, engine · 1112 Episodes 01–03

Agharta’s CEO and programmer, Aurélien came from Eden Games and had worked on the engines and tools of Astérix & Obélix XXL 2, Asterix at the Olympic Games, Arthur and the Invisibles and The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon.^[4][8]

Valerian Taramon

Val · “Nihilist”

Art director, 2D art · 1112 Episodes 01–03

Val was 1112’s art director and 2D artist. He came from Étranges Libellules with Alex, where he had illustrated The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon and Alice in Wonderland, and the two shared a flat while making 1112.^[1][4][15]

Jean-Edouard Fages

Jed · “Workaholic”

Additional art · 1112 Episode 03

Before Agharta, Jed was an environment level designer at Arkane Studios on Dark Messiah of Might and Magic (2006), and did additional development on Call of Duty: World at War. He joined Agharta in 2012 to work on 3D and design. He is credited for additional art on Episode 03, where he also lent his face to Fish.^{[18][4][14][19]}

Art

Friends from Étranges Libellules, the Lyon studio behind the Spyro games, helped with art on the first two episodes.

Aimé Jalon

Additional art · Episode 01

Alex first explored 1112’s look with Aimé while they were at Étranges Libellules, for the Nintendo DS version that never went further than a couple of rooms.^[2][1]

Philippe Garibaldi

Additional art · Episodes 01 & 02

An artist on The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon at Étranges Libellules, on sets and cinematics.^[27]

Farid Dridi

Additional art · Episodes 01 & 02

A shader designer and artist on The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon at Étranges Libellules.^[27]

Michael Intilla

Additional art · Episodes 01 & 02

A set artist on The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon at Étranges Libellules.^[27]

Music

Each episode found its music through friends: a neighbour with a laptop full of loops, a jazz singer who wrote in after playing the game, and a Lyon band.

Dimitri Pachkov

Odessae

Music and sound effects · Episode 01
Music · Episode 02
“Feldweg” · Episode 03

Alex’s friend and neighbour in Lyon, who had made music on computers since 1992, starting with FastTracker 2 on an Amiga 500. He played Alex some unfinished loops on his laptop, and they became the Episode 01 soundtrack, often finished at Alex’s house, next to him.^[33][1]

Julia

Vocals on “Falling” · Episode 01

A friend of Dimitri’s who sings only for fun. Her voice on “Falling” began as a trip-hop experiment on his laptop.^[33][1]

Ida Landsberg

“Song For Her” · Episode 02
“Feldweg” · Episode 03

A jazz and bossa nova singer who grew up in Berlin and works in Italy. She loved Episode 01’s main theme as a player and wrote to Dimitri to work with him.^[35][36]

Wendy Martinez

Bye-Bye Dubaï

“Flowers” (main theme) and the ending theme, “No Me Recuerdo” in the credits and “Ahora” to Wendy · Episode 03

A Lyon singer and composer who performed as Bye-Bye Dubaï, introduced to Agharta by a friend of a friend of her drummer. She wrote “Flowers” about a loss, and the Spanish-language ending song after Agharta asked her to write about amnesia.^[37]

Elie Granger

Arrangement, recording and mixing · Episode 03
Music · Shufflepuck Cantina

Recorded and arranged Wendy’s songs, adding the sound design and ambiences she credits with making “Flowers” so dreamy.^[37]

Jonathan Girerd

Drums · Episode 03

Bye-Bye Dubaï’s drummer, through whose friends Agharta found Wendy.^[37]

Stéphane Souchon

Guitar on the ending theme · Episode 03

Of the band Inlakesh; played guitar on Wendy’s ending song, recorded after her trip to Mexico. He isn’t in the game’s credits.^[37]

Also in the credits

Music, Episode 01: Les Mal Barrés (“Paris”) · Counterfeit (“A Midnight Feast”) · MAÏNO (“Ros’merta”)
Sound effects, Episode 02: Thomas Simoes
Localisation, Episode 01: Daniela Schinteie, Paul Levering and Armbruster (English) · Lorenz Pollak (German) · Filippo Trevisan (Italian)
English localisation, Episode 02: Christelle Bellici
Localisation, Episode 03: Active Gaming Media
French proofreading, Episode 03: Didier Bibard

The faces in the game

“Most of the characters in the game are based on real people that we know,” says Alex: friends for the main cast, family members for the older characters, and private jokes all over Episode 03.^[1]The credits of Episodes 01 and 03 thank each of them next to the character they became.^[14]Episode 02’s credits name no faces, but the studio’s own team illustration draws Aurélien as the weird customer and Val as the jeweller.^[13]