Monday, May 05, 2014

Nightmare Bruce x My Famicase Exhibition 2014 = 'Busy Planet'

My only issue with the "My Famicase Exhibition" that's been held at the Tokyo-based retro-game shop Meteor for the last decade or so: no one ever seems to turn any of the awesome fake Famicom cart labels (which serve as the event's focus) and ideas into actual, playable products.

Will blogger Nightmare Bruce buck that trend and find a way to transform his entry in this year's event, Busy Planet, into an honest-to-goodness game? I doubt it, but I'll be the first to celebrate if he does.

Although the cart label the "Ribbon Black" proprietor concocted is chiefly responsible for my interest in Busy Planet becoming a full-fledged title, I also consider its premise to be pretty appealing:



"The neighborhood is getting so crowded these days! As the only human on a planet full of new creatures, you have to try hard to fit in. Everyone may have their differences, but we can make friends if we work together!"

Admittedly, said premise is more than a tad nonsensical, but that's what's so perfect about it in my mind. I mean, how many Famicom/NES titles didn't feature wackadoodle backstories?

For more information about Busy Planet, check out this recent "Ribbon Black" blog post, and go here (or here) to see more this year's "My Famicase Exhibition" entries.

18 comments:

Justin Difazzio said...

It hurts my soul to look at this exhibition. There are so many great idea and premises. It just breaks my heart to know that none of them are or ever will be real games.

thegaygamer.com said...

Yeah :( I mean, I guess it's possible a *few* of them have been made into actual games, but I've never heard of such a thing happening. I wonder why? It's not like folks -- or small groups of folks -- don't make similar games all the time. Gah!

Nightmare Bruce said...

Awesome, thanks for the exposure! At the level I'm pixelling and the level my brother is programming at I'm afraid a real Busy Planet game (or at least one that would live up to the way I imagine it) is a bit out of our reach, haha.

HOWEVER, Famicase game ideas actually have been made into real games! Check out "A Game By Its Cover" http://www.agbic.com/, a contest they had back in 2012 to do small games based on the cartridge art/descriptions of the entries. Plus, the title bar for the site says BACK IN 2014 so who knows, maybe somebody will tackle Busy Planet this year. Thanks again!

thegaygamer.com said...

You're very welcome, Jeremy! Also, I completely understand you and your brother not yet being at the level where you could make a game like this happen. Here's hoping you reach that level someday, though!


(BTW, is your brother the person who's helping you make Best Burger??)


Also, thank you for letting me know about the "A Game By Its Cover" contest. How cool is that? Hopefully it really will be back this year, as I'd love to see someone try to tackle your game, in particular :)

Nightmare Bruce said...

Yup...I actually got an offer from someone on Tumblr to help me develop it, but as I've never collaborated with a programmer before I wanted to start with someone whose work I could nitpick endlessly without worrying about being mean, haha.

thegaygamer.com said...

That's so cool. How far along are you guys anyway? Or, when do you think Best Burger finally will see the light of day? I'm already looking forward to it!

Nightmare Bruce said...

It's hard to say...the core gameplay is figured out and coded already, and we are in the endless process of fine tuning the timing, positioning and animations--when it comes to such a simple game we really want it to look as nice as possible.

In addition to that we're making plans for additional minigames and even boss levels. Hopefully they'll come together because I'm really excited about them. Right now we're almost done with stage 1 though, and all other stages will be a simple graphics swap from there. All I need is to figure out how to make music with Garageband and we'll have ourselves a demo! I'll keep posting updates on Tumblr.

thegaygamer.com said...

Thanks for the update! I'll keep an eye on your Tumblr then. Really can't wait to give it a go :)

Marc Manuello said...

Hey Bryan did you spot my entry? ;)

thegaygamer.com said...

I don't believe I have, Marc! Is there any way you'd link me to it? I'd certainly love to see it :)

Marc Manuello said...

what do you think? :s

thegaygamer.com said...

I loved it! Now you have to go and make that game :)

Marc Manuello said...

I wish :)

thegaygamer.com said...

Why not? You could always try to find a programmer who would help you bring the idea to life :)

Marc Manuello said...

Well I created the character some time ago "Pin Pon chan". But besides him and the play word "Pin de Pon" (Panel/Puzzle de Pon) I don't have much. To be honest I struggled with the game description :D

Marc Manuello said...

It was supposed to happen in 2013 as well but was cancelled. Hope it will come back this year :)

thegaygamer.com said...

Ah, I hope so, too!

thegaygamer.com said...

I love/d "Pin de Pon" especially, I have to say :)