Paco Portalo is a computer games pioneer from Spain when he and his friends create the computer game “Bugaboo (The Flea)” in 1983 under “Indescomp”. Originally done for the ZX Spectrum as this one was just released in UK. The game was published by Quicksilver and caused a kickstart of the “Golden Era of Spanish Software” in which Spain became the second largest 8 bit computer entertainment software producer in Europe (just behind UK). The game was also the first game to ever use animated non-interactive scenes (later coined as “cutscenes” by game designer Ron Gilbert in 1987 when this technique gained wide audience awareness due to his point & click adventure “Maniac Mansion”) In this interview, Paco Portalo also talks about the beginning of computing in Spain, correcting Spanish computer game history in 2009 by writing the book Bugaboo, un hito en la Historia del software español by Francisco Portalo Calero.

Leave a comment