Burn After Reading - Part 1

Last year we worked together with video game publisher giant SEGA to produce a Happy Tree Friends download only game called False Alarm for XBox 360 Live and PC. We usually get the developers/publishers side of things on how games are made so, I just wanted to share the process from our side and show you guys some really fun development stuff that we generated along the way.

As many of you might know, I LOVE games. I've been a gamer (both video and board) from the moment I held my first pair of dice (2d8, if some of you fellow nerds out there are keeping track) and joystick (Atari 2600) and continue to enjoy a healthy obsession passion for the hobby. I can quit anytime. Honest! Ok, who am I kidding, I'm in this for the long haul!!!

Ahem. Anyway, one would think that a violent cartoon like Happy Tree Friends would work really well translated into a violent video game (what could go wrong?) so, this pairing was only a natural evolution that we would eventually explore. In fact, before doing Happy Tree Friends full-time, many of us on the show worked in the video game industry doing various art and animation jobs so, it's only fitting that it comes back full circle.

In the initial brainstorms I was adamant about NOT wanting a regular platformer game that has been done to death by licensed properties that come from other mediums. It's definitely the easy route to go have some of the characters jumping around avoiding obstacles and hazards while collecting (insert shiny object to collect here). Ironically enough, we ended up with a semi-platformer type game (much to my disappointment) but we'll get to that a little later. I also heard a lot of fighting game or even first-person shooter ideas which, frankly, doesn't quite fit the world of HTF. Unless there was a good spin or new dynamic to these genres we ruled them out in favor of doing something more original and befitting of the property.

There were two concepts that floated to the top of the heap, both of which I really loved. The first idea was a collection of micro-games, Ala Warioware. I'm a HUGE fan of this series and thought that type of crazy and frantic collection of micro-games would be perfect with a bloody HTF twist! I also love how inherently unfair those games are. Just when you're ready to throw your Gameboy/controller against the wall the game devilishly drags you back in for more. Genius! I remember Ghostbot Director, Alan Lau and I getting COMPLETELY obsessed with it during an E3 trip, many, many years ago (back when E3 was still awesome. Sigh...). We were holed up in a hotel room, passing the Gameboy back and fourth at all hours of the day and night, trying to beat each other's score. Unfortunately, the market had been saturated with these type of mini/micro game clones that didn't really do all that well so the bean counters didn't like that idea and it got shot down.

The second, and more original idea was the one everybody gravitated towards. This leaned more towards clever puzzle-solving than twitch gaming. Most of the credit for this goes to Jeff Tseng, who was formerly a Director over at Secret Level, with whom we were originally developing the game with along with Phill Simon from our very own sister company, Mondo Studios. The concept was a 2D based game that retained all the look and charm of the Flash episodes. Players would be tasked as firefighters trying to rescue trapped victims from calamitous situations. Puzzles are solved by an Incredible Machine approach where players are given a number of basic tools like water, fire, gasoline, etc... that would then interact with the environment. I did some concept art as part of the pitch for the game below:

This was what I envisioned the game to look and feel like. In this scenario, you would control Lumpy and The Mole, both of whom had individual "powers." Part of the original concept is that you had to chose your crew before you went out on a mission and each crew member had a specific "power." Lumpy can throw matches and start fires while The Mole could spray water. So, in the puzzle above, Petunia is on fire and will die if not rescued. Obviously, Mole can't just spray water on the roof because it just drips off. So, the clever player (that would be you!) has to find a solution on how to get water to Petunia.

Notice as well that there are electrical sockets inside the house and explosive barrels outside (that's where I would keep them too 'cause sockets outside and explosives inside just doesn't make sense!). So, even if Mole was able to get water into the house somehow Petunia would be saved from burning to death but die from electrocution. The idea was that all these materials would keep their properties and behave as you would expect them to. Water would douse flames but also conduct electricity. Fire would burn flammable objects and ignite explosives, etc... We thought that this would add to the unexpected nature and bring some comedy into the game as players experimented on different processes (with hilarity ensuing injuries along the way) in search for the optimal solution. Heck, some of you sadistic deviants (you know you you are!) might just want to set fire to everything, just to watch it all burn! The idea was to allow all these interactions for a rollicking good time!

In our example level, the first step would be for Lumpy to throw a match to the power lines.

The lines would burn but it would also sever the power source from the electrical sockets.

Then another match to the roof of the house, which would cause the house to burn. At this point, some timing would be needed because if the flames reached all the way down to the explosive barrels everything would go up in smoke. So, the player would need to use Mole to manage the fire, burning just enough of the roof to provide and opening and saving Petunia.

Here's an attempt at the User Interface (UI). We toyed around with having a limited amount of resources like water and matches to solve the puzzles to add an extra level of complexity or adjust difficulty settings. I'm a big fan of really clean and simple UI and this was a stab at what it could have looked.

Here was my design for the main menu which actually got incorporated into the final game.

In our original idea, players would be awarded pins on how they completed the levels (bronze, silver and gold) which would then be pinned on the map. So, you would be able to go back and re-play a level to get a better score.

We pitched this concept to SEGA and they green-lit the project! We were all excited to get started but the nature of development (especially video game development, it seems) is like trying to ride a mad tornado. Lots of things change quickly and monkey wrenches are liberally thrown into the mix for some odd reason.

At this point, the project was put on hold for a few months. Losing much of our momentum we were dealt another blow from SEGA. For reasons unknown to us, SEGA decided to re-shuffle their resources. Word on the street was that our original partner and developer, Secret Level got too busy with the bigger, higher profile titles that they were working on at the time so a new developer was brought into the fold, Stainless Games.

Our story takes a turn here as we begin talks with the Stainless blokes, based in the UK. Our original concept was now in jeopardy because Stainless had a whole different skill-set that didn't quite line up with the current state of the title. Complicating matters, the game engine that we had proposed to use was proprietary to Jeff Tseng and the Secret Level gang so, we would need a new approach to the whole problem.

Sadly, this original game concept was mutated and later abandoned all together for a different type of game entirely. I regret, very much, the decision to go this direction because I really LOVE the concept and mechanics of this original game. I still hold a candle that one day we'll be able to make this game!

In the next exciting chapter, we'll travel to the Isle Of Wight and and somebody will die!!! Ok, maybe not, but how else can I get you guys to come back to read the next chapter.