Last night my friend Ben and I were brainstorming about a super-great game concept we have. If it goes anywhere I'll be sure to report our progress here, but for now we're just in the research stage. We kicked things off last night by romping around the YouTubes in search of game art inspriation, my first contribution being a few clips from the claymation PlayStation platformer Skullmonkeys (which has an incredible soundtrack if you haven't heard it yet.)
Ben followed up with two games which may be familiar to some of you but were entirely new to me. The first was Flashback, which he played on the Sega Genesis. I was absolutely taken aback by the opening animation and the stunning detail that appears during small moments in the gameplay. The intro video is shown above and the style is simply breathtaking.
On the flipside, Ben showed me Night Trap, a Sega CD videogame released in 1992 that allegedly brewed lots of controversy in its time due to some offensive scenes of vulnerable women coming to violent ends. After viewing a few of these scenes it's all very reminiscent of a tacky horror film about sexy co-eds, and at times seems to be understandably offensive. That being said, the "Party Scene" is pretty cheesy funny, especially with all that FMV paired alongside that corny user interface.
Are we having fun yet?
Anyway, if any of you all have other quirky games to look at in terms of style, I'd love some suggestions!
Cool, I want to play Flashback! Also, I do not want to play Night Trap. Also also, if you ever catch me vamping out on a tennis racket like it was a guitar, please make sure I come to a violent end.
Posted by: Garth Webb | June 18, 2009 at 05:09 PM
Just forget your tennis racket at home before you come to my party! Yeah, I don't think that Night Trap is that great... but the "perfect ending" is kind of funny (I guess you don't have to play it if you can watch it on YouTube)
Posted by: .tiff | June 18, 2009 at 05:13 PM
Haha, soooo cheesy. Oh no! I've found myself perfectly positioned in front of a trap door! And what's this? Smoke? Noooooooooo!
Posted by: Garth Webb | June 18, 2009 at 05:32 PM
Still no Pieces: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80ob9EWuPMI&feature=related
Posted by: Jeffrey Matulef | June 19, 2009 at 09:03 AM
Flashback is my favorite game of all time. Good choice picking it up. Did you play Eric Chahi's follow up to Another World, Heart of Darkness? The game looks amazing, kinda like Skullmonkeys. Or another game bleeding with style is Vib Ribbon. There was this chef game I played on a Playstation Jampack where you run a resturant and do many of the tasks from pouring beer to counting money using only the analog sticks. If I knew the name, I would totally recommend it.
Posted by: Kenny | June 19, 2009 at 08:45 PM
The name of the chef game is (quite obviously) "I'm The Chef" or "Ore-no Ryori". 'Tis quite dope.
Posted by: Kenny | June 19, 2009 at 08:46 PM
Flashback was so amazing the first time I played it I still love the music. I have to agree with Kenny Vib Ribbon and Ore-no-Ryon are both awesome.
Posted by: Marcus B | June 20, 2009 at 08:22 PM
I remember how "Interactive Movies" were all the rage when CD-ROMs became more widespread. I think most of them where trash... yuck.
I totally forgot about Heart of Darkness!
Posted by: Tim | July 15, 2009 at 05:26 AM
Wow. I remember these being out, but never ended up playing either of them. The flashback video totally reminds me of playing Another World on the Amiga (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zgkf6wooDmw), and Night Trap... Call me crazy, but I think that would be a blast to sit down with. Maybe one would have to make a drinking game out of it or something.
Anyway, good post; and you do good work on Co-op.
Posted by: teezeCrost | July 16, 2009 at 11:55 AM
Oh, and "HEY, You're that GUY!"
Just to acknowledge your Party Down reference, if it was one.
Posted by: teezeCrost | July 16, 2009 at 12:08 PM
Thanks dude, and thanks for stopping by!
Posted by: .tiff | July 16, 2009 at 12:52 PM