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With not less than several games coming out in 2003, Tric Trac could not
miss this interview of Roberto Fraga. There is a sentence that comes
immediately into mind when thinking Roberto : "the more numerous we are,
the more we play !"...
- Dear Mister Fraga, Roberto, Roberto Fraga, this can't be your real name ?
- Indeed it is, and 3 of us in my family bear that name Roberto FRAGA (my cousin, my father and myself !!). Some friends call me Robert and it irritates me tremendously, Rrrrroberrrto sounds more tropical !!
Because, if you did not notice, it doesn't sound too much French !! Yes, I'm sorry, I'm yet another immigrant worker taken from his homeland - Spain - when I was 1 year old, and it is very hard.
- Come on, tell the truth, it's the name of a Comics or adventure novel hero ?
 - I would have liked that, because I'm a Comics fan. Besides, before creating games, I used to draw and caricature (during classtime of course !) until I was "red in the foot" (basic Contrario) !! Moreover, hmmm, now I remember ... when I was "young", I made something cool, not really Comics and not really picture novel either. It was called "THE ADVENTURES OF INFRAGA JONES" (Episode 1 : "Infraga Jones and the cursed limb" and Episode 2 : "The shipwreck victims of Pastistanic"). I had a huge success.
- I was told that in real life you're a customs officer on a ship ! Did you start creating games just to contradict Fernand Reynaud's sketch ?
 - Fortunately I didn't wait to become a customs officer to create games, it's a very long story, which started in 1974 (I was 14 - Now they even know how old I am !!!). What I'm sure of, is that the longer the story and the more various the experiences, the more imagination is stimulated. And this is necessarily very important in order to create games or other things !!
 Here is the main line of these ultra-giga exciting adventures : Driver/Delivery boy - Helmsman on an aircraft carrier - Building supervisor at the SNCF - Draughtsman in reinforced concrete - Sailor on a cruise liner - Student Officer in the merchant navy - Extinguisher representative - Sailor on a fisheries protection ship at l'Ile d'Yeu - and at last customs officer, in a lot of different places - and also underwater diver on a coastguard boat, and now Admiral...hmmm sorry, just Captain of a small patrol boat of the Customs in Saint-Malo. And also Games Creator (and living exclusively from this... this is just a dream !!)
- How do your coworkers feel towards it - if they know about it ?
- Good question !! I make it a rule (which has sometimes been "put through the mill" or "removed from the factory" - basic Contrario !) never to mix my work and my hobbies - on principle !! (but it becomes more and more difficult not to take my hobbies for a job and vice versa !?)
That's why, it is true, being proud, I advertised a little among my friends for the publication of the first games ("Dragon Delta", "Contrario" and "Tops"). Of course I got congratulations from my coworkers during a "fragalien" drink. And then I realized that people, completely dumped by the Monopoly-Trivial Pursuit syndrome, imagined that "A game published on Monday = Fortune guaranteed on Tuesday !", and if it is not the case, then "Your game doesn't sell well !".
At the beginning, I tried to make my colleagues and friends understand that the road to have a game published or even earn some pesetas is a long one, and that this road often comes to a dead end ... hmm ... even sometimes a roadblock surrounded by grumpy customs officers (these guys are really everywhere !!)
From now on, in order to avoid finding myself in the "jazzing/chattering box" (NDLT : untranslatable pun coming from a song by JONASZ), I do not speak of future publications in my working place. I only answers the questions... it's the best for everybody !!
It is true it is difficult to reconcile a repressive job and a creative hobby involving games, but it is exactly the huge contrast between these two activities that I love "beaucoup mucho" !!
 - Some persons consider you are a Geo Trouvetou in the world of games, a wacky man without limits who is able to create a game from anything. Are you aware of this ?
- I thank you for putting me in this category ! It pleases me a lot, all the more that I believe I could never be an author like Kramer, Knizia, Faidutti, Keyaerts, des Pallières, etc. They really created real great games and I admire them for it !
I for one have rather the feeling that I invent "stuff and gimmicks", but that is what I like. I sometimes tried to make "quite big German games", but it was a bit pathetic ! I remember moreover the nice remark from Walter Scholz (ZOHR) in Nuremberg after I submitted a "germanized" game idea : "Mister FRAGA, why don't you create what you create best ?"
You must follow your own road, little beetle !!
- Did you choose this field deliberately, or can't you help it ?
- It's the result of a long evolution, dotted with multiple experiences (often linked with the sea) and with plenty of meetings ... and since I am very easily influenced !!
When I was 14, I was totally devoted to the SF world of DRUILLET, MOEBIUS, MEZIERES (for Comics) and HAMILTON, E.E. « DOC SMITH », CLARKE, SILVERBERG, VANCE, .. (in literature). At that time, the creations were huge galaxy fights in 3D with fleets of thousands of ships (all were hand-drawn !!).To infinity and beyonnnnnnd !!!
Later, I was lost in admiration before the First Empire period and several Napoleonic wargames were created. In one of them, "SOULT" (named after the famous Marshal), the preparatory layout of the pieces lasted for 1 hour !
 Then, naturally, lulled by the Caribbean and Mediterranean waves on the board of the cruise liners from the Paquet company, I created "SCHARNHORST" and "RIO DE LA PLATA" (two naval battle games), and also "FRENCH LINE", a game dealing with maritime trade and the running of fleets of cargo boats and liners. Besides, this game got a special mention for my first participation in the "Concours de Createurs de Boulogne" in the year ... hum ... quite a long time ago !!
The next steps were more standard. Wedding + children = necessary adaptation. But that's precisely what is great with this hobby : it allows to keep in touch with children, and all the more with one's children ... and I had to create games for them, so I had to simplify, to prune and to innovate !!
The last day of the school year is often devoted to playing, and my daughters always bring games from their Daddy in class, because they are proud and also because their friends ask for these games .. and this is quite a reward for me !
Hmm... All this in order to say one has to evolve !
At last, there was the encounter with my tho friends from the French Connection (Odet L'HOMER and Matthieu D'EPENOUX) and the joint prospection we have been making on the European exhibitions for 10 years. All this represents quite a lot of kilometers, more than 300 meetings, liters of beer, more than 450 models sent to the publishers, a lot of illusions and of disillusions, a lot of money spent (not a word to my wife !!), but also games awarded at several competitions and some of them published (not always the same ones !)... and I'm sure this is only the beginning...
 - On exhibitions and festivals, you wander around with a suitcase full of thingamajigs which make noise like wizzzz and sometimes plop ! What are the reactions of the game authorities to whom you present your works ?
- What's the problem ? It's better than games which make noise like Quizzzz and Flop, isn't it ?? (NDLT : in French, "Flop" is a sound meaning approximately "dull"). At festivals, I live to see the astounded faces of the children - and also of the grown-ups in front of a model looking a bit odd, like "CRAZY TONGUES" (game where one uses a straw in order to catch lullabies, like a chameleon would do !) or a mysterious one like "AKHENATON" or "CLING CLANG".
And, because I'm a bit reserved, and I'm not one who would shout "My gaaaaaaaaaame is beautiful, it is beauuuutiful !!", I use the oddity of some of my models to attract the audience. The trouble is,I always bring far too many games and I am never able to explain them all at the same time !
On the professional fairs of Paris, Essen and Nuremberg, where we have been trying to sell door-to-door for 10 years with Odet and Matthieu, I have to admit that the quality of the models and the originality of the concepts helped us a lot to become well-known by the publishers, even if the number of published games is small compared to the impressive amount of games we presented during our meetings !!
Thanks to all these Wizzz and Plop, we have now excellent contacts with the publishers, and in particular with the leaders, like HASBRO and MATTEL ! Of course, despite the 60 models selected during these meetings, despite games that arrived very close to being published, despite "AKHENATON" presented in "STARWARS" version to Studio Lucas Films and then in "HARRY POTTER" version to MATTEL and then retransformed with the look of the Comics "PAPYRUS" for JUMBO... despite hundreds of desillusions... I go on presenting concepts, even if I know that, up till now, no author has ever been published by HASBRO or MATTEL without having an agent or without having sold himself 100 000 self-published copies !!
 So, why does he do all this, Robertotor the Hero ? Well, because he's stubborn like a Spanish-Breton ... and because he knows that he and his two friends Odet and Matthieu are the "dream team" of the French Connection... and the guys from HASBRO and MATTEL like us !! Maybe they tell each other "These guy have nice ideas... not necessarily commercial, but let's keep an eye on them !!"
The meetings with MATTEL and above all HASBRO are designed like a sort of "Show". The order of demonstration of the games is clearly drawn up and the speakers carefully selected (which is not hard, because we are only 3 !!). I believe the longest show lasted for 2h15 on the HASBRO stand, and believe me, when you come close to this impregnable fortress, tension appears !!
I have excellent memories of these meetings. I can remember the Hasbro staff (3, 4 or 5 persons) aligned like a board of examiners and impatient to see which gimmick we were going to show up with. I remember them delighted with blowing in the straws of "CRAZY TONGUES", surprised at seeing the beam of the lighthouse in "S.O.S" sweeping across the board, bursting out laughing while playing like kids in order to test "INFRAGA JONES" (which was going to be "SQUAD SEVEN" !), and a lot of other moments...
Yes, it's true, I believe they consider me as sort of "crazy gimmick-maniac ! " !!
And this year, once more, we will be in ESSEN, from the 18th to the 21st of October, to make the "Show" of the French Connection !!
It's a lot of fun, and it can give a good return !
- Something that will only be of interest for a few readers, but anyway, did you have a subscription to PIF Gadget ?
- Not even, sorry for these few readers. But I was a assiduous reader of the famous PAF Truc !!
- Year 2002 is a bit particular : you bring out Tops, which should not be distributed in France (but which we can find nevertheless), we talked a lot about Squad Seven, nearly mythical before his come-out, but which is not yet available, and now a game by our German neighbors ! What about the French market ?
- You have to keep in mind that my first game, "LES DRAGONS DU MEKONG" ("Dragon Delta") was published by a French publisher, DESCARTES, and I thank Henri BALCZESAK for the trust he put in me at this occasion.
My second publisher is also French. It is COCKTAILGAMES for the game "CONTRARIO", pure product of the French Connection !
As far as "TOPS" is concerned, the strange choices of RAVENSBURGER France opened out onto the game not being published by the Gauls ! But I have the feeling it would change soon... in the right direction of course, but not necessarily the way you imagine !
"LE LABYRINTHE DES CHEVALIERS", created with my friend Odet L'HOMER, will be published by HABA in September but will also be sold in France in the first months of 2003.
"SQUAD SEVEN" will make a sensational arrival in a lot of countries in 2003, among them France of course. This future success will be the result of the exceptional collaboration
between the publisher (FOXMIND Games), the director of the series at Foxmind (Monsieur Philippe des Pallières, yep !) and myself. I really expect a lot from this game because I have been working on interactive action games with tapes or CD for more that 13 years !
And, in February 2003, another game, which is very top secret, created with a Dutch friend and inventor, Lucien GEELHOED, and placed through an agent (BAR DAVID Licensing Agency) should be published by RAVENSBURGER.
Moreover, as soon as possible, I'll tell you the misfortune I lived this summer in the TOYS R'US of La Coruña, my native town in Spain...
That makes 2 French publishers out of 6, a third of the publications ! It is also the ratio of the number of German and French Publishers, isn't it ? I also have to say I came close to being published twice with ASMODEE and GIGAMIC !!
- What released this desire to create, this need to invent games ?
- There are several reasons. The need to invent is like a drug. When ideas become rare, I become grumpy, antisocial, ill at ease and I question myself, I become a tiny "Calimero" who feels useless !
On the contrary, as soon as I surf again on the creative wave, I go from one extreme to another, I become merry, active and proud again... This is typically "Hispano" !
But the main reason of this need to invent... I hesitate to tell you.. in fact, if I were an animal, I would be a bear, a bit zany, but ... a big grouchy bear ! To tell the truth, I'm quite reserved and a bit shy, and creation is my way of communicating with people. Some people create a good atmosphere in a party by telling plenty of over-hilarious stories. That's something I'm not able to do. I try to make people happy, to create an atmosphere, and of course to show off by making them play to my games.
That's why I prefer creating funny games, three-dimensional, with devices and thingamajigs that sound like wizzz and Plop, with interactive CDs, with things you put on your head to look like an idiot and entertain everybody !
In a game, I do not like the long periods of silence and of thought... it has to be moving... I need fun, action, laugh, suprise... like in life, in a way !!!
 - We can notice there are authors who play, authors who try not to play, authors who don't play... In what category of authors are you, in fact ?
- I'm really more a creator than a player. For me, the supreme happiness is to create a new concept, to see it works and people like it. A brand new universe shoots up suddenly !
I liked your interview of Bill PAYNE very much, and I'm a bit like him. I do not like "dissecting" innovations and playing at all the games that come out. I prefer staying isolated in my cave to avoid becoming impregnated with other ideas ! I believe it's the price to pay to have some originality !
Since January 2002, I drive a game club in SAINT-MALO : LE CORSAIRE LUDIQUE.
My goal is to test all my new concepts in this club, and also to make the audience - very familial - discover plenty of games. So I had to discover these games myself and I departed from the rule I explained above, by buying the classical German games from which I knew the themes and basic principles, but to which I had never played. To be continued...
- You find the time to play games that are not yours ? Because, if we understood correctly, you sail in order to chase after smugglers, you create games, you practice sports, you organize game evenings...
- I can't stand staying inactive for too long. I have a job that I like and that allows me to keep close to the sea. I am therefore captain (not Frakas !!) of a coastal patrol boat from the customs in SAINT-MALO.
Roughly, our job consists in watching over the coastal zone from the MONT-SAINT-MICHEL bay to more or less SAINT-BRIEUC, and to process to the search of the cargo boats that berth in the commercial port of SAINT-MALO. We also take part in the sea rescue operations.
When I'm at rest, save game creation, I practice football at a more than weak level... but that's OK for me ! I also belong to a Rollerblade club and we enjoy on our wheels by making a bit of artistic, a bit of hockey, and playing the fools "very much beaucoup mucho" !!
Since it is advisable to have an activity other that "horizontal" in a couple, we practice Latin dances with my love (salsa, chacha, mambo, merengue et bohnanza ... heu no ... that last one is not a dance !).
Add to all this a touch of submarine dive and of mountain bike (VTT in French : Very Fussy Bike") and you obtain a grumpy creator in his forties, who spends his time writing down the major part of his ideas without having time to use them, and who, despite his recent publications and his successes in prospect, is always unsatisfied !!
Go figure why !
- Speaking about smugglers, did you ever feel like creating a game about this theme ?
 - Congratulations, your intelligence service is very efficient. I told you I had a real principle... never to mix work and hobbies ! Well, it's false !!! ... I lied to you ... I was tempted once, and I gave in !
I wanted to draw attention to myself and to get the grade of "naval intercompetent arch-big shot from the customs" to benefit from a substantial rise of 30 euros (pro year !), and I accepted to take part in a competition which aim was to promote the ideas of the civil servants regarding domestic security (well, we have some ideas !!).
I proposed a concept of training game called "CITADELS" (excuse me, Bruno !). It was all about defending the Citadel EUROPE against foreign attacks (mafia, drugs, weapons, etc) by answering correctly to questions coming from the courses of the Customs School of LA ROCHELLE. There was no exceptional "playing richness" but it was working quite well. I even got a price for this idea, a special pass "Innovation".
I got congratulated by all the inter-allied staff, Poutine, Darth Vador, Amélie Poulain, all of them... they all congratulated me during a cocktail party in PARIS !
That was great and I was full of hope... but CITADELLE disappeared 2 years ago in the dark meanderings of the Civil Service.
No, my next publisher will not be the Finance Ministry !
Hmmm... talking about it, who will be my next publisher ?
The one who will answer correctly will will a free copy !
Of course, each person can answer only once.
Note : if this publisher changes his mind abruptly, the last person who will have given his answer will have to commit themselves to publish the game, and to guarantee to give me 90% of royalties and at least 300 000 sales a month !
Good luck, and see you at the Corsaire Ludique in SAINT-MALO
Rrrrobertooo Fraga is moulto sympathico, the way we like them at Tric Trac. We thank him for having answered so openly to our questions...
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