Xavier Agulló

One day a unique briefing came to my desk: “High School game” …the theme definitely caught my attention. My original proposal was inspired by the tone of “Ferris Bueller's day off” and the wonderful series “Parker Lewis Can’t Lose”. However the design lead of the studio asked me to go in the direction of “Mean Girls” with a climactic ending in the classic prom night. It was a great decision because the game ended up being truly FUN.

You started as the Canadian transfer student who joins a new high school and needs to earn his place in the wild jungle. The gameplay consisted in running errands around, talking to people and the eventual mini-game …nothing too fancy. But it was an explorer’s dream, with tons of branching sections, side missions and crazy secrets. Production back then was quick/cheap enough that you could sneak in an “easter egg” when the producers were not paying attention …and “High School Hookups” is full of them! The story was also really fun, even lovable at some points.
The game sparked a little fire online like I have never seen for a java game. The now defunct Gameloft forums were full of threads asking about the secrets in the game, or theorizing about the fate of the characters. Youtube has plenty of videos that, even to this day, gather great comments from players, asking for a second part in college. There’s also a wiki page, and even some instances of fan art.

But not everyone liked the game. We got a 2 out of 5 in Pocket Gamer, with the reviewer not being amused with how often you had to be a jerk to get ahead on the social ladder …maybe unaware that is the knot plot that resolves in the final act. In any case, this is my favorite professional project ever. I think the game connected with many people on an emotional level, and I consider this the biggest achievement of my career despite the bigger hits on F2P that came later.