Piposh (Hebrew: פיפוש) is an Israeli media franchise that started as a series of comedic point-and-click adventure video games developed by Guillotine and published by Hed Arzi Multimedia for Windows.
The series consists of point and click adventures, requiring players to interact with an inventory and with characters in order to complete puzzles and advance the story.
[7] After he left the Israeli army and while his brother Roy was still a member, they set up a small graphics business in Pardes Hanna (פרדס חנה), where they did routine projects for commission.
[8] In 1997, one of their projects reached the desk of the CEO of video game distributor Hed Artzi Multimedia (הד ארצי מולטימדיה), the multimedia arm of Israeli record label Hed Arzi Music, who liked the illustration style of the duo and suggested they create a Hebrew-language computer game.
[8] Despite having no experience in the video gaming industry, the team went to work and after nine months of development, released In the Interest of Ratings (בתככי הרייטינג), a title which focused on the incompetent detective Elimelech Egoz (voiced by Moshe Ferster), who goes on holiday at the fictional Nofei Hadera Hotel only to be greeted by a bizarre murder case.
The Gluzman brothers wrote the text and the code, drew the backgrounds and characters, and created the animations; in addition they convinced actors Shai Avivi, Amos Shuv, Anat Magen, Ilan Peled, Dudu Zar, Meni Pe'er, and Ilan Ganani (as Piposh) to voice characters voluntarily.
[10] Glutzman recalls that Guillotine was not particularly well managed, lacked business planning and didn't have a financial focus, and instead consisted of a naive team who wanted to simply make something "fun and cool".
[10] Ynet asserts the duo was irrational for choosing set up a development company for Israeli games that only appealed to the local market.
[1] Ronen would later describe the contemporary Israeli video gaming industry as an imaginary thing to pursue, for four young developers working from their garage.
[20] After leaving, Roy moved away from sensationalist nature of the entertainment and gaming industry, and instead focused in personal creative projects.
[1] Piposh 3D was the series' first foray into 3D graphics, after using traditional animation for the previous games; this title was directed by Roy Lazarowitz.
[16] By this point the developers had grown tired of their distributor and sought to use Indogram, which represented fewer games and could therefore invest more time into each.
[8] They were not targeted at a worldwide audience, instead appealing to Israeli teenagers who were not necessarily gamers, but who wanted immature content with cultural references they would understand.
[8] Haaretz contends that despite the development team tapping into the minds of local youth, the rampant pirate copying phenomenon prevented them from making a living of their games.
[10] Soon after the release of Piposh, the duo started creating a weekly comic section in the local youth newspapers Rosh 1 and Maariv LeYanar,[26] and also created a comic book which was published by Hed Artzi,[27] released under the title "Piposh and Other Vegetables" (פיפוש ושאר ירקות)[28][16][29] which could be purchased from the official Guillotine site.
[38] The last title developed by Guillotine was the network-strategy nonsense game Vajimon, which saw players fight against each other over the internet using a variety of vegetables.
[15] In 2005, the brothers lectured for a Gameology course at Beit Berl College as part of the first Israeli curriculum course for video game development.
[40] The program was started by Dr. Diana Silverman Keller who discovered while writing her thesis that there was no formal education in the field of game creation in the country.
[41] Keller contacted Ronan, who at the time was known as the "spiritual father of the Israeli gaming community", and he soon became a central figure in the program.
[10][20] Tal Dinovich, a fan of the series who had volunteered for years on the site and answered phone calls from stuck players, helped locate all the game files and create updated versions that would work on Windows XP.
[39] The plot, taking place immediately after Piposh 2, saw the protagonist try to find the magic 'vase of life' that can be used to resurrect characters that died in the previous game.
[45] The producer/director was Ben Werchizer, the artist/designer was Daniel Avdo, the music and dubbing producer was Itay Jeroffi, and the writer was Shahar Kraus;[39] they were looking for professional programmers in Director or Flash[39] as well as voice talent.
[50] Over the years, the large community of fans who love and reminisce over the series "ran Facebook groups, organized events and constantly asked for a new game".
The games became a cult hit in Israel, known for their unique humor, original characters and a satirical look at Israeli society.
[55] The Hebrew site Eser, despite having sympathy for Israeli game developers, who are "forced to work in almost impossible conditions" when compared to their American and European colleagues, gave Piposh 3D a scathing review; while calling its premise amusing, and noting that the patient Piposh fanbase would overlook its inferior graphics the site felt the game was very bad, likening it to a "singer singing without makeup".
[65] The paper believed Piposh to be possibly the most successful and profitable Israeli computer gaming project, deeming Guillotine a champion of the local industry.
[17] Makorrishon deemed Guillotine a "stubborn pioneer" due to persisting with making a game in Israel, though noted that despite their bravery, the company did close down a mere 6 years later.