Night in the Woods is a 2D video game created by Alec Holowka and Scott Benson. It’s… different, to say the least. And it involves a lot of funny animal characters. “All Mae wants to do is run around with her friends, break stuff and hang on to a life of aggressive aimlessness. She dropped out of college and returned home to her crumbling old mining town to do just that, but she’s finding that nothing is the same anymore. The old town seems different. Her old friends have grown in their own directions. Mae herself is undergoing some sudden and unexplained changes, giving her mysterious abilities that grant her access to a side of town she never knew existed. The world is changing, things are ending, and the future is uncertain. Up behind the park at the edge of town, back in the trees by the old mine- there’s something in the woods. And it could mean no future at all.” The game creators have had a very successful Kickstarter campaign; already they’ve earned pledges way beyond what they were asking for and they still have nearly a month left, as of this writing. Check out the Kickstarter page to see a video preview of the game as well.
Games
Out of the Shadows and Into Your Game Console
The pizza-loving ninja-boys are back, in a brand new game created by Red Fly Studios and published by Activision. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows is a down-loadable game based largely on the current hit TMNT series on Nickelodeon, as well as the original comics of course. A 4-person co-op game (convenient huh?), it also features an optional 2-player off-line mode. It was released on August 28 for Xbox Live Arcade and Steam, and it will be released on September 24 for PlayStation Network. There’s a preview video of the game currently making the rounds on YouTube. You can also check out the game’s official page on Facebook.
Help the Fighting Monkey
Jed Henry of Provo, Utah is a big fan of Japanese wood block artwork — so much so that he’s joined up with on-line efforts to preserve and encourage the craft, which has suffered in Japan of late. Now he’s taken things up a notch or two and created Edo Superstar, a new animated game that incorporates the wood block style. In it we meet Masaru, a headstrong young Japanese monkey who quits the shadowy world of ninja warriors to become a fighting hero in the light of day, working his way toward the capital city in his quest for glory. Edo Superstar is being developed both as a computer game and as a smart phone app. Jed Henry and artist Dave Bull have set up a Kickstarter campaign to finance the project, and the perks for various levels of contribution include various t-shirts and art print sets. The Kickstarter page also includes several animated video previews of the game.
Return of the Killer Bunnies!
No, it’s not a big budget re-make of Night of the Lepus. You wish. No, in 2013 the well-known card game Killer Bunnies (created by Jeff Bellinger and published by Playroom Entertainment) marked its 10th anniversary. In celebration, Playroom have recently released a new game, Killer Bunnies: Heroes vs. Villains. Here’s there description: “Drawing and playing cards from a shared deck, players may choose to be a defender of goodness, courageousness and virtue by playing the Hero Super Bunnies or a generator of chaos, evilness and deceit by playing the Villain Super Bunnies. Whoever they are, the players use their bunnies’ powers to build cities, attack opponents, and protect themselves. The first player who has a predetermined number of bunnies in the Bunny Circle and cities in the City Circle wins!” Playroom’s Killer Bunnies web site has more, including sample artwork from the game.
Dragons Help You Learn
Jump Start is a creative company best known for designing and developing games that help to teach young children the basics of reading, writing, and ‘rithmetic. Since 1991 they’ve released several lines of teaching games under the banners of Jump Start and Math Blaster. More recently though, Jump Start has hitched up with Dreamworks Animation to create a new line of teaching software and on-line games based on the Madagascar series of animated movies. Yes, kids even learn from the penguins! The first release is called Madagascar Preschool Surf n Slide. Even more recently, there’s a new line of on-line games based on How to Train Your Dragon called School of Dragons. Check it all out at the Jump Start web site.
Fur-Opoly?
Well sort of… and face it, you knew it was coming! First up is Monopoly: The My Little Pony edition — by which they mean My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic of course. It’s available for pre-order at Comics Infinity. “Welcome to Ponyville! A big adventure and tons of fun await you in this playful My Little Pony edition of Monopoly! Favorite locations in Ponyville are up for grabs including Cutie Mark Clubhouse, Sweet Apple Acres, Manehattan, and the Crystal Empire. ” The six game tokens are, of course, the “mane six” characters from the series. What, not into the MLP phenomenon? All right, head on over to Coin-Op.TV and check out the Monopoly: Skylanders edition, also in pre-orders now. They’ve got just about everyone covered!
Indie Animation Looking for Help
Jerry Beck’s Animation Scoop has an interesting article about a pair of independent animation projects in the works — both of which just happen to be very furry. First up is Ghost of a Tale, a new video game designed by Lionel “Seith” Gallat. Lionel has worked as a supervising animator at Dreamworks on movies like The Prince Of Egypt, The Road to Eldorado, Spirit, Sinbad, SharkTale, and others. More recently he’s been a director for Illumination on films like Despicable Me and The Lorax. Ghost of a Tale follows the adventures of a medieval mouse battling rat zombies on a mysterious island. In a very different vein is Dogonauts by Shel and Justin Rasch. “Mortal enemies, a Dogonaut Pilot and a Space Flea, shoot each other down only to awake, marooned side by side on an alien desert planet.” Justin is a stop-motion animator known for films like Paranorman. He and his wife Shel completed Dogonauts in their garage, all the while both of them working full-time jobs. Both of these projects are seeking crowdfunding help to move from their current levels of production up to the next, and hopefully get them out into the world. The Scoop article features trailers as well as the official pitches for each of these projects. Check ’em out.
Furry Lego??
Where have we been? Looks like even classic toys are taking on a furry angle. Legends of Chima is a new line of Lego toys the world-famous plastic brick system introduced this year. From the Wikipedia entry: “Chima is a land where anthropomorphic animals lived in peace with one another until a conflict caused a civil war with the eight animal tribes: Lion, Eagle, Raven, Wolf, Gorilla, Rhino, Bear, and Crocodile. The members of the factions fiercely battle over a powerful natural resource called Chi, which could allow its possessor to create or destroy.” The toy sets are already available — and a TV series based on the line has already been produced by Prime Focus for the Cartoon Network. Later this summer, a free MMORPG of Chima will be available on line as well.
Ratchet & Clank: The Movie
After a wildly successful run of Ratchet & Clank releases for the Sony Playstation, Insomniac Games have announced they are teaming up with Sony Computer Entertainment, Rainmaker Entertainment, and Blockade Entertainment to bring the planet-hopping lombax and his little robot companion to the big screen in a brand-new CGI animated film — set to be released in 2015. According to an article in Forbes, Insomniac’s own TJ Fixman will be lead writer on the film, and voice talent will feature James A. Taylor as Ratchet, David Kaye as Clank, and Jim Ward as the lumbering human Qwark — all of whom are well-known from the game series. The article on-line also features a new teaser-trailer for the upcoming film.