We say "handmade" when we want to evaluate the thoughtfulness and thoroughness of execution. But sometimes, as in the case of a legendary game NEVERHOOD and her spiritual follower Armikrog, This expression ceases to be metaphorical. A ton of plasticine, a couple of dozens of cardboard boxes, one camera in a paramedic shooting mode, a whole year of painstaking work-and as a result, a game of truly piece manual dressing is born.

Matches in the belly

► Tommy Master ship looks … strange.

In the mid -nineties NEVERHOOD It became a white crow among traditional classic quests of the subspecies Point-And-Click. The plasticine hero Claiman (aka Glinko in one of the Russian translations) woke up in an unfamiliar room, having no idea how he found himself there. To understand what happened, it was necessary to collect twenty video tapes throughout the unprecedented with the imprinted history of the world.

An exciting story and unusual plasticine graphics were not the only trump cards of the game. She did not bore boring pixelhanting and overloaded equipment. Selected items – for example, matches – the hero masterfully hid his stomach in his stomach and took them equally carefree from there. The puzzles did not require the enforcement of incompatible objects in the inventory (it was not), it was necessary to rely on their own attention and logic.

Fun bright action still vividly in the memory of many questoms of old hardening. If you do not treat them or if you are a player of the "New School", review the cartoons "Plasticine crow" And "Last year's snow fell" – They are very close in spirit to levels NEVERHOOD.

► And here is the first guest! Maybe you shouldn't behave so carelessly?..

In a wave of success, the developers released the continuation SkullMonkeys, Only this was no longer a quest, but a “plasticine” platformer for the first PS. However, the console audience did not appreciate efforts DreamWorks Interactive. After a couple of years, I bought a studio with all giblets Electronic Arts , Whose bosses on the future fate of Claman put a cross.

You need more plasticine

Creators NEVERHOOD Hands, however, did not lower. All the rights to the game remained with EA, but who makes them cling to the past? After all, you can call a new game not NEVERHOOD 2 , Ah, let's say .. Armikrog! And let the hero call differently, and even his eyes will be a different color!

The main thing is that the whole old team is back again. Animator Douglas Ten-Napel (in addition to the Claman, he came up with a jim worm from Earth Worm Jim ), Mike Dits and Ed Skofield, who founded Pencil Test Studios , They work together again. And even the composer Terry Scott Taylor writes new melodies for Armikrog , While his previous works sound in her commercials.

There was not enough million dollars to complete the picture. Kickstarter traditionally helped this, and an independent studio was able to purchase tons of plasticine to create a new world and new characters, so similar to some old.

► … after all, what this tail is attached to can be far from harmless!

All work is done exclusively by hand. First, level designers sculpt from multi -colored plasticine the scene in several copies. At the same time, artists build metal frames for characters. After the skeletons are surrounded by flesh: based on a plasticine layout, a mold is made, and then a “living” hero is cast from latex. There are trifles: coloring and adding small details – patch lips, eyes and hair.

Masters use a variety of natural materials: shreds of fur, handfuls of dry grass, sticks, ropes, woods. According to the animator of the ten-reipel, the variety of textures does not destroy the artistic plan, but only makes the picture visually more interesting.

Then the most painstaking part of the work begins: the smallest movement of the hero is built manually and https://sister-site.org/slotonights/ is recorded on the camera. Frame after scenes, seconds in a second, step by step … Of course, developers are actively using modern technologies. Politing by post -string and final reduction of the footage occurs on the computer, but manual work is still at the forefront. A person is characterized by inaccuracies, small flaws and imperfection. And all this is transmitted to the characters, making them touching, ridiculous and very alive. And the game is the author. On some frames, you can even distinguish the fingerprints left by the developers. Almost a unique signature.

What is an Armicrog?

► stakes, of course, are plasticine, but still they can pierce our hero literally through.

So, get acquainted: the new plasticine hero is the name of Tommymin, and so that we do not forget about it, the huge letter “T” decorates his T -shirt. It is engraved on the hull of a square spaceship. Interplanetary traveler is not alone, a chatty blind dog is wandering around the universe with him.

In the conversation of the heroes there is an important difference from the original. If earlier the characters knew how to pronounce only their name, now they are cracking. Rob Polsen, aka Donatello, and John Hider, aka Napoleon Bonafrog from the television series are involved "Turtles-Ninja". Helps them Michael J. Nelson, well -known by "The Mysterious Theater 3000 years".

The new story traditionally begins with an emergency. During a regular trip to Tomminavt's ship, the cosmic monster suddenly attacks, who took him as a treat. A broken starship tolerates a crash on an unknown planet, and the heroes are locked in one of the rooms of the Armicrog fortress. The tie is exactly the same as in NEVERHOOD! However, everything develops further already completely different. Although the developers still promise Easter jokes, jokes and references to the original.

► This is the recording studio. Wooden frame, cardboard boxes and many, many multi-colored plasticine.

We will have to look for salvation in a classic way: Point-And-Click. Slowly we examine the halls of the fortress, looking for usefulness, press on the buttons, move objects, collect all sorts of things – Tommy, like Claiman, deftly hides the junk found in his belly.

As before, no one will torment an overloaded interface and dull overkill of objects. Here we are waiting for the tasks based on sound logic and communication with unusual creatures inhabiting this abandoned corner of the universe. And the authors also promise to do without long empty corridors, which had to wander around for hours NEVERHOOD.

And the main innovation – the blind dog will become the second playable character. Many puzzles are built on the interaction of heroes. The simplest examples: a four-legged friend will be able to squeeze out between the rods of the lattice of the locked gates and pull behind the flare-redfish, opening them, or to cross the moat around the fortress.

► one of the most difficult puzzles. To solve it, you will need to collect items and tips for a long time, and then calculate the procedure.

But this is not limited to the fantasy of the developers. Tommint uses a dog also as a tender pipe. Blinding, the dog gained “astral vision” and now sees tips over the surrounding objects. Little inconvenience – Tommy is forced to peer into the distance literally through the animal. As an eyepiece – he, sorry, priest.

The version for Wii U promises even special management: it will be necessary to aimed at the console tablet on the TV screen, looking for astral tips.

* * *

“We are engaged in the art that you can play,” said Douglas Ten-Reipel and did not deceive. Today there is a lot of conveyor games created by marketing. Here we have a pure work of several enthusiastic people. When ultra -modern graphic technologies successfully replace simple plasticine, and the Hollywood setting is a chamber story of one alien, you begin to guess that these are such games in the era of modern consoles.

Success factors
Risk factors
  • The team that created NEVERHOOD And for many years she dreamed of making his continuation, one can believe;
  • The new world and new riddles are always interesting;
  • There are never many games of manual dressing;
  • Get ready to hum songs from Armikrog , As once from NEVERHOOD!
  • It is very easy to get carried away with form and lose history;
  • The release date is still not defined;
  • The developer team is growing, if they have enough modest million?

We will wait?

Isn't it worth waiting a little more to plunge into the ironic and magical world NEVERHOOD? So what, what is now called differently, we know-it has changed only for the better.