Gaming Companies Examined: Love-De-Lic, Skip, And Punchline

[Forte 0]

I have always been a fan of videogames. I'm always interested in the new releases and am always ready to try something new. I consider myself pretty open minded, but I will admit, when my friend gave me the game Chulip as a gag-gift, my first thought regarding the game was, "I wonder if PS2 disks can fit down the garbage disposal?". It wasn't a bad game! Just weird beyond belief.When I actually progressed some, it turned out to have a really interestingly put-together story, and an intriguing, albeit weird, concept. But I never would have suspected a game like Chulip to be so complex. We'll take a closer look at Chulip later.Right now, let's try to understand how video games can be unexpectedly creative, imaginative, and stimulating, by taking a closer look at storytelling, art, and music.2. PreviewLet's consider the games known as Moon from Love-de-Lic, Giftpia from Skip, and Chulip from Punchline.Moon: Remix RPG from Love-de-Licstorytelling, art, and musicMoon: Remix RPG, commonly shortened to Moon, is an adventure RPG developed by Love-de-Lic, and was originally released in 1997 for the PlayStation. It was suggested to be translated and released in North America but, unfortunately, never was.- Moon's storytelling is very intriguing because it puts you in the role of the protagonist, and antagonist at the same time. Initially you play as a boy who is playing a game referred to as Fake Moon. This game within a game format presents an interesting paradox for you as the player to discover over the course of the game.- At the start of the game, the graphics are presented as being colorful and 2Dimensional- character sprites and background included- but quickly switches over to 3Dimensional environments, with more detailed, edgy, and stylized character sprites.- Like the art style, the beginning of the game starts out using chip music but quickly switches over to more symphonic, complexly composed pieces using a full range of instruments and even occasionally vocals.Moon: Remix RPG is a great game many RPG fans are sure to enjoy. A quote from RPGFan.com says "You'll laugh, you'll cry... you'll scratch your head in confusion... in parts, you'll be very disturbed... but you'll never get bored of it, and you'll definitely enjoy every minute." While it's a great game, it may be a bit too dark and edgy for some. If it's just not your cup of tea, you might like a game called Giftpia better.Giftpia from Skipstorytelling, art, and musicGiftpia is an adventure RPG developed by Skip, and was released in 2003 for the Nintendo GameCube. When Love-de-Lic disbanded, several of their employees made their way to Skip, Kenichi Nishi being one of whom had worked on Moon: Remix RPG, and later Giftpia. Giftpia was also suggested to be translated, seeing as it's last showing at E3 was in English, but as mentioned in an article from PC Magazine, "sluggish sales of it's GameCube game console and software in the United States" caused it to lower "sales estimate by 8 percent" probably derailed any further mention of this.-Giftpia’s storytelling is fairly straightforward, the plot being that you play as a boy whose irresponsibility has inconvenienced the town, which has offended the mayor to the point of throwing you in jail. Initially you have many restrictions placed upon you, but these restrictions are lifted as you progress through the game by helping other characters and taking responsibility for the protagonist’s actions. (Or lack thereof.) Branden M. from iNintendo.net says "It provides a unique game play that is only found in certain RPGs."- Throughout the entire game, Giftpia’s graphics are colorful, cartoon-ish, and comical in design. The world of Giftpia looks like it could have come right out of a storybook, as it has a very bright and friendly look to it.- The music from Giftpia can primarily be described as strange and interesting. It parodies popular genres of music, but at it’s core it’s interesting in that most of it’s ambient music has vocals.Chulip from Punchlinestorytelling, art, and musicChulip is an adventure RPG developed by Punchline, and was released in 2002 for the PS2. A source from Moby Games says "Another Love-de-lic employee, Yoshiro Kimura, went on to found Punchline. Their tribute to Moon was the "kissing adventure" Chulip."- Chulip by far has one of the strangest stories of these games, not for being deeply introspective and metaphorical like Moon:Remix RPG, nor for casting morals and responsibility like Giftpia, but simply because it is a game where the ultimate goal is to level up by kissing things. While this may sound like an idea worthy of questioning sanity itself, the real charm lies in the witty, hilarious, and often times cryptic dialog, which you as the player must decipher clues from in order to solve the game’s bigger mysteries.- While the graphics aren’t very bright or colorful, they are extremely cartoon-y and heavily exaggerate certain features about nearly every character. On the other hand, how much can you really over-exaggerate about a walking trashcan? (include picture)- Nearly all the music in the game relies heavily on vocals as instruments, not making actual words, but just semi-lyrical sounds together to make a song.So, to paraphrase an objective statement from the instruction booklet; the game is all about kissing enough people to level up so you can take on "bigger kissable challenges" around town, "and throughout the surrounding countryside."In conclusion, no matter how weird or small-time a game may seem, they can still be some of the most creative, imaginative, and stimulating experiences the industry has to offer. Imagination and creativity are great in video games, but I'm still getting over how creative Chulip was.

Edited November 14, 2012 by Forte (see edit history)

[rpgsearcherz 5]

In conclusion, no matter how weird or small-time a game may seem, they can still be some of the most creative, imaginative, and stimulating experiences the industry has to offer.

This is very true. Even games like Angry Birds, despite being pretty basic, can make it big by doing something outside the box. This is one of the reasons why I don't understand people that put down indie game studios. Minecraft and Runescape are other examples of basic games created by only one or two people.