New video game features local talent

ALBUQUERQUE — A Westside Albuquerque video game developer will include local Rio Rancho talent in a next installment.

Think Ten Media Group’s Ramon Hamilton, who will direct and act as a detective in the game, and Jennifer Fisher will release a third video game in the “Case Files” series available on computer PC and PlayStation. The company is also working on getting the game on Xbox.

“This is actually the third installment in our series and definitely the most ambitious,” Hamilton said in an interview June 16.

“Case Files: Internal Affairs,” a full -motion interactive game, has players review interview footage from six characters, according to Hamilton. The game opens with the news that two officers in a fictional police department have died of apparent self-inflicted gunshot wounds. Each of the individuals interviewed in the game have a unique relationship with the deceased, and players must discern if foul play is involved in order to crack the case.

According to Hamilton, this game is the first installment that includes only Albuquerque and Rio Rancho actors. One key role in the game is played by Rio Rancho’s Daniel Zuniga (disclosure: Zuniga is a correspondent for the Observer).

“Daniel was phenomenal. And that particular role was just written differently, with a whole different character name, and Daniel had submitted. We hadn’t auditioned anything, just basically going off of resumes and photos, and so we did our first audition through Zoom. He was just so good that we rewrote it to fit him,” he said.

He added that Zuniga will play a character that has been wrongfully convicted for a crime, which he served four years for. The character, also named Daniel, holds a grudge for the officers that “set him up” for the crime.

“Two of those four officers are suddenly dead, and it’s proven that they were actually killed, that it wasn’t suicide. They were actually two cases of homicide, and he then becomes a suspect. Now as to whether or not he did it ... you’ve got to play the game to find that out, but he is one of the key suspects,” he said.

Hamilton said Zuniga handled the emotional turmoil of his character well.

“When he’s doing these interviews, he’s coming into this law enforcement department carrying the weight of staring these people in the eye, the same people in the same building that are responsible for him being wrongfully convicted and serving time in prison for something that he did not do, and now here he is, and they’re looking at him as a suspect for a new crime that he swears he didn’t do,” he said.

Zuniga talked about what it was like to step into that role.

“He (the character) already kind of has an image to him. People don’t really see him as an outstanding citizen, per se,” he said.

He also said he connected to the character because of some of his own experiences in life. “A handful of times, I have been accused of stuff I hadn’t done and I have had to prove people wrong,” Zuniga said.

He added he was glad to put that experience on the screen.

“If you play the video game, you’re seeing me put out my truth,” he said.

The game not only takes influence from local talent, but also local crime. There are familiar themes in the game people experience in real life, according to Hamilton. He doesn’t worry about the game being “too real,” though. He sees it as an opportunity to call attention to those issues.

Hamilton added that this game will be a hit because of the local talent brought to the table, saying that the cast met every challenge thrown at them, including a tight schedule and difficult scenes.