François Mathieu, Designer for Erupting Avocado Talks The Hungry Fly – Interview Series

Like a moth to a flame, or a fly to the animalistic urge to consume death, The Repairing Mantis developer Erupting Avocado has once again slipped back into the realm of weird and bizarre indie horror, effectively creating a world in which you, a fly with an undying desire to feast upon the dead, will most certainly remember. And that, really, is The Hungry Fly, in a nutshell: a bizarre, unconventional, and utterly terrifying adventure of death and grotesque humor.

Suffice it to say, I love a good indie horror—so much, that I simply had to reach out to the team to talk about it.

What’s that irritating buzzing sound? Oh, it’s The Hungry Fly—an indie game that is, with all due respect, currently sending shivers down my spine thanks to its deep fixation on disturbingly grotesque horror. Suffice it to say, I want to hear more about it. However, before we delve into that particular region, would you mind if we asked you a bit about yourself and Exploding Avocado? Who are you, and what brought you to the studio?

François: I am François, the designer at the studio. I’ve always liked to create things with different media (writing, video, games, etc.). Jonathan and I are longtime friends from high school. He followed a technical path studying programming, and I studied interactive media in its creative aspect. We worked together for 3 years to achieve a master’s research-creation. It led us to create a video game where the player experiences a double bind, a communication phenomenon initially used to explain a cause of schizophrenia. It is as a result of the ideas of this master’s degree that the studio was officially born in October 2017 in Sherbrooke.

Of course, we’re curious to hear more about your latest indie horror, The Hungry Fly. Without giving away one too many spoilers, how would you best describe it?

François: The Hungry Fly is a horror narrative game in which you embody a corpse-eating fly and eat your way through a grotesque story that leads to different endings. You experience a dark fairytale. You are a hungry fly searching for dead things, but you live in a swamp where nothing dies, so you leave the swamp and discover a surreal and disturbing world.

It’s a very weird and personal experience made so you can reflect on your journey, allowing you to craft your own meaning from the story. The surreal narrative leaves space for players to complete the story in their minds, and we’re excited to hear how they interpret the game.

So, what brought this idea into existence? Did you have any inspiration from other indie horrors, movies, or forms of literature? Tell us a bit about that initial development and drawing board phase.

François: We wanted to create a grotesque and nostalgic experience, exploring the dark relationship between insects, drawing inspiration from fables like Fables de La Fontaine and the chaotic nature of fairy tales.

As a fly, you eat forgotten moments, then everything turns to chaos. Many narrative elements are inspired by memories from my childhood—old tapes, strange drawings, and forgotten toys. Some of these relics, like my favorite childhood book L’ourson qui voulait une Juliette, were even scanned or modeled directly into the game.

The development length definitely influenced the game in some way. Over time, the game inspirations got wider and allowed for different tones to coexist. There’s a lot of humor. For example, a pathetic caterpillar named Bernadette is crying because she lost her doll’s friendship after losing its hairbrush.

Please could you tell us a bit more about the gameplay and the challenges that The Hungry Fly features? What sorts of trials await us in these twisted boroughs of gunk and swampy waters?

François: In video games, you can embody more than just a human form, and we love creating gameplay where players control unexpected things. We developed that concept in both our games. In The Repairing Mantis, we let players control the thoughts of the characters. With The Hungry Fly, we’ve taken that idea even further. You’ll have to discover it for yourself, but I will tell you some mechanics we have that make you feel like a fly: you get dirty as you eat, scrub yourself, fly, crawl on walls, and more.

Gameplay blends exploration, puzzle-solving, and symbolic storytelling. You’ll have to make narrative decisions in surreal situations where being kind is not always an option.

We would love to grab a few pro tips on how to tackle The Hungry Fly while we have you here with us today. Mind sharing a few quick pointers with those who’ve yet to pick up a copy of the game?

François: I don’t want to say too much as it is a narrative game, but I would say to be attentive to your environment and try different dialogues. It will give you more info on the world and what’s your role in it. Discovering different endings will help you to better understand the story.

Follow the light!

Mind if we ask what your next steps are for Erupting Avocado? If you’re planning to explore another concept in the near future, then we would certainly love to hear more about it/them.

François: We have multiple ideas already in stock plus other ones that are coming up to us. In the next months, we are going to evaluate those ideas and prototypes. One thing is for sure, as for the two first games, the new project is going to happen in the same universe!

THE HUNGRY FLY is OUT NOW!https://t.co/9b5PwpDCVd

🪰 Embody a dirty fly
💀 Eat corpses
📕 Discover a grotesque fairy tale including multiple endings
🐛 Meet depressing caterpillars pic.twitter.com/uFGu1Qfma8

— EAvocado – THE HUNGRY FLY available now! (@EruptingAvocado) October 23, 2024

Is there a way for us to stay up to date with Erupting Avocado and all the latest developments in your catalog? Are we able to share any useful links, social handles, or newsletters with our readers?

François: You can find The Hungry Fly and our previous game The Repairing Mantis on Steam.

We are mostly active on X/Twitter @eruptingavocado and Discord https://discord.gg/5xaS3bGfHd Come chat with us and tell us all about your theories on the game. We love listening to your stories!

Would you like to add any final thoughts or comments to the page before we go ahead and close the book?

François: If you decide to buy the game, leaving a review is the best way you can help us. Thanks for your time and keep trying new and “weird” indie games!

Thanks for your time, François!

You can find more information on Erupting Avocado’s The Hungry Fly by following the official X channel here.