Monster Mash 2014: Final Entry

I need to sleep, so I'm not going to write another blurb about it, but it's worth noting that Toilets, Meat, and Drugs can now be downloaded for the ol' Windows PC.

Please don't be shy about feedback! I would love to hear your thoughts.
I'm so looking forward to playing the other Monster Mash entries this week!

Monster Mash 2014: Midweek report

Development on my Monster Mash 2014 game is going slow, but amusingly. I'm thinking of renaming it from Pink Toilet World to Toilets, Meat, and Drugs. I've got most of the core mechanics down - eating, pooping, physical and mental health, items, and even farming.

I think this is shaping up to be the most mechanically driven game I've made in a while. Waker is all about art and story, Empty Chambers is about art and concept, and Digital Toilet World is about pooping. Toilets, Meat, and Drugs is all about exploration, choice, and survival. The game will take place in a small, but persistent world in which careless resource consumption and acts of destruction will punish the player in the long run. While this wasn't intended to be a political game, elements of environmentalism are managing to creep through in subtle ways, often via the mechanics. I've always been more of a "convey-da-thought-thru-da-plot" kind of guy, so engaging in "procedural rhetoric" is new and exciting for me.

Here's a dev screen - haven't gotten to world design yet. Just testing the items so, you know, items.

And here's the complete growth chart for the player monster. Couldn't resist objecthead:

Monster Mash 2014: Day 1

This week is Monster Mash 2014! It's a game jam in which you have seven days to make a game with a monster protagonist. I've been trying to release two games every year, and I just couldn't resist the jam's theme, so I'm entering.

If you're a close friend of mine, you might know that I have a bizarre obsession with Digimon. Yes, I'm talking about the children's Digital Monster franchise. I'm not sure what it is about it that keeps me replaying the old (mostly terrible) PSX games, rewatching the show with subtitles, and creating evolution charts.  Maybe it's because Bandai successfully brainwashed me when I was little. Maybe it's because Megadramon looks really freaking cool.

Also, can you say "rabbit-with-jeans-and-gattling-gun-hands?" Because whenever I try to say it out loud, all that comes out is, "hot damn! I would totally give up my dexterity to be that fashionable!"

In any case, Digimon is one of the reasons I started making games. Ever since I was 8, I've wanted to make a game with metamorphic fighting dinosaurs. Although I'm increasingly growing more interested in making more philosophical, political, and subversive games, the urge to make something stupid with fighting dinosaurs is still there. And I need to get it out of my system.

Hence, I'm entering the Monster Mash.

The game I've started working on today is currently called Pink Toilet World. It is the spiritual successor to Digital Toilet World. In it, you will play as a monster who will grow into many forms depending on your choices. You must find food, plant seeds, and avoid getting sick. You can befriend, escape, or kill other monsters. You must find toilets (although there will be more than one this time around!)

My right hand is still in a cast, and this is a jam game, so it's gonna look a little rough. I'm going for a cutie/pink aesthetic, even though the monsters will be a tiny bit ugly. I'm trying to find a way to justify the general immaturity of this project, so I've decided to use it to reject the gendering of colors. Pink is for everyone.  

Here's some monsters. You start as the little guy up top, and grow into one of the guys at the bottom:

Cheers!