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Grim Fandango's interface doesn't have a fresh look, especially when compared to other titles within the adventure genre. In fact, Grim Fandango doesn't have an interface at all. Gone are the obtrusive pull down menus and icons littered across the screen. Even the pesky mouse pointer has taken a vacation. In their stead Lucas Arts has implemented an "invisible interface". In essence Manny himself is the interface of the game.
Throughout the course of the game Manny will come across various items to aid him in his journey. These include everything from keys, to a fire extinguisher to some balloons. All of these will have a specific role in or around the area they were found. In other adventure games, it was up to the player to locate these items, and while it wasn't particularly difficult to spot them, items were easily missed. Lucas and Schafer changed all that. As part of the invisible interface, Manny will turn his head to look at an item as he approaches it, and will continue staring until he's become a sufficient distance away.
Manny will do this to other things of interest as well, including people, doors, ladders and anything else that holds significance to the game. When looking at one of these objects Manny can either identify it or perform an action on it. The "action" varies from scenario to scenario. When Manny is looking at another character, the "action" is actually just dialogue. When he's looking at a door, the "action" opens it. When looking at an item, the "action" will pick it up, and so on and so forth. Identifying an object simply involves Manny making some kind of off the wall comment. "That's Eva", says Manny of his former secretary, "my ex-boss's ex-secretary".
Managing a functional and stylish inventory screen into Grim Fandango's invisible interface must not have been easy. Leave it to Schafer, however, to deliver brilliantly. Grim's inventory selection screen is a close-up image of his jacket. Manny can then scroll through his inventory by removing them from his inside breast pocket one by one. Each item can be identified by Manny within the inventory screen. Once he finds the item he's looking for, the screen will revert to its previous gameplay mode and Manny will be holding that object in his hand. By having the inventory screen entwined so closely with the actual gameplay, it serves to retain the heightened level of believability (not to be confused with realism) that Grim Fandango captures. The same way other games use their 3D engines for the cut scenes in order to maintain fluidity, Grim's unique inventory serves to keep the player "in" the game as well.
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