software, he also had experience designing video games by practicing with the vector graphics system provided to him while he worked for the UK Ministry of Defence. The haunted house premise arose from a cartoon image of a haunted house that Gray had purchased, choosing to design the game around this image. He also cites Hammer House of Horror as an inspiration for the game's theme. Following the game's completion, Gray uploaded it to CompuServe forums before it saw success as shareware and as a retail game. The original DOS game was written in Microsoft Quick C, and the port to Windows was written in Visual C++. Hugo's House of Horrors was inspired by Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards, which uses a similar text-parsing format. Gray noted the long list of credits for the game and sought to produce a similar game entirely on his own. The title was also chosen to imitate Leisure Suit Larry, as it allowed the executable file to be titled HHH.exe, similar Leisure Suit Larry's LLL.exe. Other major inspirations cited by Gray include the use of sprites and animation by Captain Comic and the atmosphere of Colossal Cave Adventure. He has also said that the Windows point-and-click port was inspired by Beneath a Steel Sky. Reception Meghann O'Neill of PC Gamer praises the game's focus on exploration and puzzles without excessive exposition. Richard Cobbett of PC Gamer criticizes the game for its poor art design, its limited puzzles, its lack of narrative, and its short length. Jenny Hanlon of Adventure Classic Gaming praises the game's "refreshing" challenges as well as its accessibility and replayability, though she criticizes the game for its dead ends and sudden endings as well as its limited parser. Hugo's House of Horrors has been compared to the point-and-click adventure game Maniac Mansion, which features a similar premise. Gray has responded that he had never played Maniac Mansion and was only aware of the game's similarities after it was released. Two direct sequels have been released: Hugo II, Whodunit? in 1991 and Hugo III, Jungle of Doom! in 1992. The first person shooter Nitemare 3D was released in 1994 featuring the characters of Hugo and Penelope. All three of the main Hugo games were re-released for Windows as the Hugo Trilogy in 1995. References External links Official site Hugo's House of Horrors at GameFAQs Classic DOS Games