Author: Kate

 

Gameplay:

• Weird fleshy naked body horror, but in a cute way
• local multiplayer game for 2-4 people, separated into 2 teams
• Each team controls a two-headed catdog like human and can determine when to stretch and shrink the body
• There are different modes with different numbers of balls, but the general goal is to keep the ball on your teams half of the ring for as long and as continuous as you can

Authors:

House House

An Australian game company made up of four friends: Jacob Strasser, Stuart Gillespie-Cook, Micheal McMaster (art and visual design), and Nico Disseldorp. A hip artsy bunch.

Context:

• Inspired by Noby Noby Boy and Hokra
• Quick couch sport game

Development:

Originally planned for release in 2014 and was exhibited at GDC 2014 and Play Station Experience 2015 before it was announced for the PlayStation 4 in November of 2015. It was released for PS4 in May 2016 and computers in July 2016.

Design concerns came up with issues of the tendency to identify characters/teams by their race since they’re so naked and fleshy. These were addressed by emphasizing team colors as opposed to skin tones in various UI elements with easily distinguishable colors and more ambiguous skin tones. More can be read about the design process here.

Reception:

Reviews are overall positive with an 8/10 on Steam and with critics giving it high marks for its strangeness, quickness to pick up, and fast pace. It’s a fun game to be played with a group of people every once in a while, but it’ll get old after a couple days.

I found this article/blog post relevant to more than just games, but to creative practices as a whole. Forcing yourself to regularly crank out creative ideas is a good way to flex your creativity muscles but it’s hard and exhausting by the end. It’s obvious that one of the points of making things quick and frequent is that they don’t all have to be good, but embracing the possibility of failure is hard especially when you know if things start to go south, you have to kill the baby and start over. I want to be attached to my work because then it feels more meaningful but making everything deep and meaningful is also a hard thing to do.

I really felt the brainstorming point they made because whenever I try to sit down and come up with an idea early on in the timeline of a project I’m always stumped. I always want a great big and meaningful thing but coming up with big and meaningful ideas on the spot is near impossible for me. Sadly, like these boys, it usually takes the pressure of an approaching deadline to get my butt in gear and start making things, even if I’m not super attached to them.

 

Website that hasn’t been updated for a good while

 

1. Cat Whisperer: Walk until you find a cat on the street. Whoever the cat allows to pet them first wins the trust of the cat, but doesn’t win the game. The cat decides the winner and you’re all losers in the eyes of a cat.
2. I’m not the stalker, you are: Follow a person around all day. If they confront you, accuse them of following you before they can accuse you of following them. If you convince them that they’re the creep, you win.
3. Marriage: Pick a flower and give it to the first hottie you see. Ask them out. Go on a date. Get married. Live the rest of your lives together. If they reject or dump you, you lose.
4. Someone Else’s Shoes: Find someone you don’t see eye to eye with and get them to give you their shoes. Put them on even if they don’t fit and walk a mile in them. Give them back and tell them what you think their life’s story is. Get into the nitty gritty details, like maybe their relationship with their estranged father or why they think their girlfriend cheated on them. If you don’t get slapped, you win.
5. Bedtime: Stay up talking until people fall asleep. If you’re the last one up you win! Your prize is loneliness and the existential dread that comes with sleepless nights.
6. Mystery Pen Pal: Pick a random address in a phone book and send them a letter. Include a return address. Keep writing letters until they contact you back. If they tell you to stop sending them things, you lose. If you gain a friend, you win.
7. Dish Licker: Are the dishes in the dishwasher clean or dirty? Pick up a plate and lick it to find out. If it’s clean, now you have a dirty plate and need to wash it again and you lose. If it’s dirty you win an unexpected snack!