The Next BIG Thing

The Next Big Thing is a 2011 comedy graphic adventure game developed by the Spanish company Pendulo Studios and published by Focus Home Interactive. The spiritual successor to Pendulo's Hollywood Monsters (1997), it takes place in an alternate-history 1940s Hollywood where real monsters portray themselves in monster movies. The game follows reporters Dan Murray and Liz Allaire as they uncover a conspiracy within the film industry. Assuming control of Dan and Liz, the player navigates the game world, converses with non-player characters and solves puzzles. Pendulo began developing The Next Big Thing in the late 2000s, after years of fan requests in Southern Europe for a sequel to Hollywood Monsters. The company planned the project as a remake, but decided that the original game's design flaws—and what the developers retrospectively called its "male chauvinist" outlook—necessitated an overhaul. Pendulo reworked the puzzles, game structure, plot and characters, dedicating significant time to the creation of protagonist Liz Allaire. The game was produced in roughly 18 months by a team of 12 to 15 people. The Next Big Thing received generally favorable reviews, according to Metacritic, but was a commercial bomb upon its initial release for computers. The game's performance hurt Pendulo's business relationships and forced the team to rethink its style; Pendulo moved away from comedy to create Yesterday, its first fully dramatic title. The Next Big Thing's later port for iOS saw more commercial success, but earned moderate reviews.