Web is the new tv

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (see previous post) was only the latest and most well-publicized attempt by tv pros to try their hand at making the web a relevant medium for well-produced content, but there are a number of other worthy webseries out there. As with Dr. Horrible, the writer's strike definitely helped spur the growth of the emergent medium by providing a convenient glut of bored and idle creative types who were forbidden from working in the usual avenues. Here's a run-down of some of the projects I've noticed. (In this installment, I'm sticking strictly to professionally-produced live-action comedy series. Wow, look at all those qualifiers.)

If you just like watching webseries with Felicia Day in them, you're in luck, as there are a couple of options. Before Dr. Horrible, she wrote and starred in her own webseries, The Guild, a light comedy about a bunch of World of Warcraft players who are one day drawn away from their computers and brought together in an unprecedented meeting in the real world. A little bit Penny and a little bit Liz Lemon, Day's "Codex" is just a sweet gamer girl trying to make it in a cold and lonely and sometimes pretty strange world.





There's also The Legend of Neil, a webseries written by Sandeep Parikh ("Zaboo" from The Guild) and also featuring Felicia Day. It's a about a guy who gets sucked into a Zelda game one day by improbable means, and the humor, while generally fairly crude, is also pretty irresistible. I'm sure that many hours logged in front of a console playing Zelda will also enhance the viewing experience significantly.

Funny Videos | Funny Cartoons | More Video Clips

Goodnight Burbank, which somewhat grandiosely claims to be the "World's First Character-Driven Comedy Created for the Internet", and further describes itself as "a little 'The Office,' a little 'The Daily Show'" (to which I would probably add "a little 'Sports Night'", a comparison inevitably evoked by the setting), is a fictional nightly newscast in which the anchors let their hair down to gripe and jibe in-between news segments with headlines ripped from real current events. Some of the humor is a bit broad and rather stock, for instance the stereotypically geeky middle-aged newscaster who lives with his mom, remains a virgin, and talks incessantly about Doctor Who and his fantasies involving Klingons, or the episode which is entirely given over to a by-the-numbers retread of an old Abbott and Costello gag (yeah, that one), but the energy and earnestness of the production make it easier to forgive the occasional creative shortcut and just enjoy the simple laughs.





Honesty is a comedy with the simple premise that, when placed in a variety of typical social situations, everyone always says what they're really thinking. This clever, funny series won the 2007 Webby for long form or series comedy.






Wainy Days is billed as the "fictionalized life" of David Wain, which is probably stretching it a bit. Drawing on Wain's sketch comedy roots, the short episodes of the series are absurdist in tone and sometimes dive off the deep end into the simply surreal. Superficially, they're about Wain's romantic misadventures in an outrageous New York City, where people will apparently say and do the darndest things. The series is on its third season and is the winner of the 2008 Webby for long form or series comedy.





Best for last: Horrible People, created by A.D. Miles, is unexpectedly perfect. It's a fake soap opera that takes place during a momentous and very eventful engagement party in which the intrigue and the bodies just keep piling up. The over-the-top plot twists are played straight with a soap's overstated sense of drama, and the tone of the humor, about broken family dynamics and rich people behaving badly, repeatedly put me in mind of Arrested Development. It could be just that the heartless, scheming Mother and Lucille Bluth are drawing from the same archetypal well, or that callous, self-absorbed Michael seemed at times to be channeling Gob (who for his part already behaved like he was living in a bad soap opera), but I could almost hear the ukuleles in the distance.

Creatively, Horrible People belongs to the same The State/Wet Hot American Summer/The Ten talent pool that spawned Wainy Days, and even features a brief walk-on by Wain, but Horrible People benefits from the more structured plot and focused thematic directive of its fake soap format, and presents a more cohesive and rewarding experience than its free-associative, adolescent comedy brethren. The internet is great for fostering that kind of no-rules absurdist comedy, essentially professional versions of kids messing around on YouTube, but Horrible People proves that content produced for the web can be much more, well, televisual.





A golden age of web video seems to be dawning. Having "Horrible" in the title seems somehow auspicious, but I'm hopeful for new projects that can combine the best of uncensored creative freedom and seasoned professional expertise to create exciting shows that comb new territory and tell new stories, without necessarily resorting to college-boy humor and webcam hijinx. If you want to discover more quality work, the annual Webby Awards are a good place to start. Oh, and if you still haven't seen Dr. Horrible, it's still up on Hulu, so I guess that whole "limited time only!" thing was a psych. Off you go.

The Quest for Glory II: Trial by Fire remake is here!

I've been waiting years for this.

Today AGD Interactive finally announced the release of their third project, the remake of Quest for Glory II: Trial by Fire. My favorite installment from the better of Sierra's two fantasy adventure series, the original Trial by Fire was a wonderful game sorely in need of a VGA update. (Sierra did its own VGA remake of the original EGA Quest for Glory I: So You Want to Be a Hero, and Quest for Glory III: The Wages of War was created during the VGA era, leaving Quest for Glory II, with its 16-color palette and much-maligned text parser, rather out in the cold.) I've been waiting for this remake ever since I first fired up the original after finishing Quest for Glory I in VGA, and longed to experience Shapeir in that same shiny, point-and-click, 256-color goodness. And it's finally been done!





Formerly known as Tierra Entertainment, AGD (which stands for "Anonymous Game Developers") Interactive are the people who brought you the superlative remakes of King's Quest I: Quest for the Crown in 2001 and King's Quest II: Romancing the Stones in 2002. Their games are faithful recreations of the Sierra classics using the AGS engine, sometimes incorporating small improvements but overall respecting and honoring the integrity of the original games.





The Trial by Fire project started back in 2000, and pushed back planned releases in both 2004 and 2005, with the development cycle constantly lengthening in order to maximize the quality of the game. Judging by their past efforts, the wait should be well worth it.





On a related note, Himalaya Studios is the commercial venture of the people behind the non-profit fan enterprise AGDI, and so far they've released one great title, the original Western-themed adventure game Al Emmo and the Lost Dutchman's Mine (for a limited time, you can get a free exclusive Trial by Fire poster with the purchase of the collector's edition of the game). If you enjoy AGDI's work, their original offering is well worth checking out -- and since AGDI is not allowed to accept donations for their Sierra game remakes, it's a great way to show your support for the hard work of talented indie developers.





For more Sierra adventure remake goodness, don't miss the also excellent VGA version of King's Quest III: To Heir is Human from Infamous Adventures, who are currently at work on a Space Quest II remake.





Now if you'll excuse me, I have a new game to play.

Excellent webcomics: autobiographies and angst

Barefoot and Pregnant is a collection of comics by Erica Moen, including DAR: A Super Girly Top Secret Diary. Erica doesn't hold anything back.





Scutmonkey by Michelle Au relates the trials and tribulations of the author as a med student during her clinical rotations in various hospital units. A brief peek into a life of stress and strangeness, told in a simple, charming style.






TRACED by Tracy White presents earnest retellings of episodes from the author's adolescence, from the trivial to the life-changing, "guaranteed 95% true".






Imitation of Life is a comic journal by Neil Babra, one of his many series at neilcomics. Single-page vignettes and moments-in-time.

Hot air and fantasy

If you're going to be in or around or able to get yourself to New York next weekend, there's still time to sign up for the second-ever Dances of Vice festival, the Munchausen Time Travellers Ball.





Each DoV event has a different theme -- the last festival was Steampunk, and they also run regular one-night dance club events with themes like Masquerade and Shanghai Vice. This one aims for a fanciful aesthetic inspired by stories about the life of the Baron Hieronymus Carl Friedrich von Munchausen, on which the 1988 Gilliam film The Adventures of Baron Munchausen was only one take. The Baron von Munchausen was known for his wild tales in which he was portrayed as an intrepid adventurer and incurable dreamer who tangled with Turks, gods, bureaucrats, sea monsters, and the King of the Moon.






The events program promises a weekend crammed with music, entertainment, and fashion, with a Victorian and Rococo picnic at the New York Botanical Garden on Friday, a gala at the Montauk Club (shown below) on Saturday, and the ball itself at RebelNYC on Sunday. There will be vendors, fencers, dancers, lectures, fashion shows, and live harpsichord music among the many offerings.





The attractions are always great, and Dances of Vice can be counted on to throw a big party with a great atmosphere and everyone turned out in their best and dressed to the nines (whatever the particular style, whether Victorian, Elizabethan, Romantic, Steampunk, Fantasy, Vintage, or any variation thereupon).

Visit the Dances of Vice Festival site to learn more and reserve tickets. Maybe I'll see you there?

It's not just a train

I just want to give some props to my favorite subway conductor, whom I had again for my ride home from work yesterday. I sometimes catch him on the odd morning riding the A downtown to Brooklyn. I can always recognize him by his distinctive announcements, which aren't only uncommonly audible, but always delivered in a calm, upbeat, cheery voice that's such a pleasant departure from the usual garbled perfunctory mumbling or angry shouting. Best of all, I love the way he refers to the train as the "Downtown A Express Experience to Far Rockaway," like he's welcoming you to a themepark ride.

You make my day, Favorite Subway Conductor.

Update from the Samorost world

No, Machinarium isn't finished yet. But it's coming along, and while we wait, there are a couple new Amanita side projects to explore, plus some other Samorost-style games from new talent (and some older talent I've never gotten around to linking).

First up is Questionaut, a game Amanita created for the BBC. Designed for 11-year-olds, it's an academic quiz game with questions on math, grammar, science, and so on, wrapped up in a whimsical adventure quest through one of Amanita's signature enchanted worlds. The groovy, chill music you hear is by Floex, the musical project of Tomas Dvorak, who did the soundtrack for Samorost 2. It's pretty and sweet and fun and maybe, if you've forgotten everything from school, just challenging enough, too.





The other project Amanita has going on on the side is Podvedomim, a flash art/local installation project that you can unfortunately only experience half of unless you happen to be near Brno, Czech Republic. If you are, then you can take up the challenge and go discover a series of interesting objects and secret spots in and around the city, like an Aeolian harp or a bit of sylvan sculpture; the rest of us will have to settle for interacting with them through the site's lovely flash app, which is a pretty good consolation prize.





Choice is a beautiful experimental flash art game by a student from Taiwan's Ting Lung University. The combination of strange, fantastical imagery and photography of abandoned and distressed places, with a moody soundtrack to match, creates an eerie, evocative aesthetic reminiscent of games like Gwen and 99 Rooms (for more on which, see previous posts here and here). It's a wonderful journey and not to be missed.

The text is all in Chinese, though it is not necessary to read it to complete the game. Should you desire, here is a translation and walkthrough. If you get stuck, before resorting to the walkthrough, you might want to first try clicking on the book in the corner of the screen -- one click will provide hints (in Chinese), and the second will reveal any clickable hotspots. One more tip: remember the number you are shown at the beginning of the game. Really. I wish someone had told me that. I didn't even recognize that it was a number.





Pricilla Gone Missing is a nicely executed game by Swedish designer Johan Törnkvist, the first of a planned multi-part series. A basic Samorost-style flash adventure with inventory puzzles and some very nice scenery.
Walkthrough at Jay Is Games.





Lenses is a short Japanese game in which you must craft and manipulate lenses for various purposes. Due to the language barrier, your task is not always clear; I found some help in a walkthrough, but I'm not sure if there's a more organic way to the solution. Gameplay issues aside, there are a few nice moments and elements in this quickie offering.

Game review: AGON: The Mysterious Codex

AGON, which stands for "Ancient Games of Nations", is a multi-chapter adventure game by Hungarian developer Private Moon Studios. Originally distributed online as short individual games, the first three episodes of the planned 14-episode saga have been collected into the first chapter of the story and released in 2006 as AGON: The Mysterious Codex. (The longer fourth episode, The Lost Sword of Toledo, comprises the entirety of the second chapter and was released in the UK earlier this year.)

Uncovering mysteries.

You play the bookish Professor Samuel Hunt, an employee of the British Museum. The year is 1903, and Professor Hunt is about to be drawn out from the safe confines of the venerable museum and his small but cozy office to embark on a journey spanning continents, in search of of an archaeological treasure and the solution to a puzzle only hinted at by a mysterious missive that arrives on his desk and spurs the chase. After some illicit after-hours prowling around the museum itself in the first chapter, Hunt is off to a remote outpost in snow-bound Lapland for the second chapter, and the third sees him braving the jungles of Madagascar in search of the next piece of the puzzle.

The jungle hides its secrets.

Despite the similarities in profession and milieu, Samuel Hunt is no Indiana Jones. He carries no rope or whip, and his feats are mostly intellectual and personal -- talking to people, solving puzzles, fixing things, making friends. The secret of AGON turns out to involve not occult rituals and mystic talismans, but the sheer, simple pleasure of playing certain traditional board games, a humble pastime imbued with magical significance. AGON is a genuine academic adventure, one that actually engages the intellectual spirit rather than merely borrowing the trappings of academia to dress up the balls-out, guns-blazing exploits of a grizzled treasure hunter (looking at you again, Indy). The puzzles are believable and based whenever possible on real-world systems and phenomena. You'll learn real languages and codes, apply real physics to solve these puzzles. None are terribly challenging -- hardcore puzzlers will have to look elsewhere for their mental workouts -- but they are blessedly logical, nothing arbitrary or overly frustrating. Reasonably original, too. There are no convoluted locking mechanisms or sliding puzzles here, thank heavens. The model is generally explore, read, and learn, then synthesize and apply to the world around you. It works.

Out of the library and into the field.

The various environments in the game are absorbing and convincing, with a careful attention to detail that fleshes out the historical and cultural contexts of the period beyond what is strictly needed to accomplish the mechanics of the game. In the Madagascar section, for instance, the game doesn't use the setting as a mere convenient source of exotic jungle backdrops and friendly brown villagers, but acknowledges the historical realities of piracy and changing social values, and incorporates them into the plot. Environmental details like accurate cartography, art reproductions (check out the Waterhouse in the Director's office) and authentic cultural artifacts lend a rare realism to the adventure.

Follow Professor Hunt's globetrotting in the interludes between adventures.

Above all, AGON is an admirably literate game. Bibliophiles will delight at the expansive libraries available for perusal, both in the museum, with its textbooks and treatises, and out in the field where manuals and travelers' journals are found in abundance; some of the books, most of which look like scans or reproductions of authentic period texts, contain hints and information relevant to the puzzles at hand, but many are there just for flavor, and contain several pages' worth of reading just for the fun of it, if the player is so inclined. I, for one, am just as capable of getting my gaming kicks by reading about dead languages or weather patterns or the scientific properties of crystalline formations as by engaging in feats of derring-do, so I very much appreciated the supplemental material. If you have an itchy trigger finger and just want to get to it, most of the reading is non-required, but it's nice to be able to stop and smell the virtual roses all the same.

A sample page from one of AGON's many books. This one is about the history of tea.

I realize this might sound tedious -- more study session than rollicking adventure, too dangerously "educational" -- but that's not it at all. AGON is full of compelling characters and gorgeous locations with plenty to touch and see and do. It ranks with the best adventure games in that regard, bringing lovely artwork, skilled voice acting, solid sound design and some very pleasant music to the mix, creating a well-rounded environment that's as much fun to move around in and explore as any other. There's no single element I would care to single out for particular criticism. AGON comes off as well-crafted, smooth and cohesive. What elevated it to a favorite in my book is the noble design aesthetic that makes this an intellectual adventure rather than just an adventure about intellectuals. It's a nice world, and I am looking forward to exploring more of it in future chapters.

Lapland's beautiful but forbidding terrain.

Where to get it: AGON: The Mysterious Codex is available from Amazon for Windows and Mac.

Where to get help: You can find a complete walkthrough for the game at Adventure Lantern.