Order of the Stick: The Video Game???

[edgiscript]

I'm waiting for the day that OOTS is announced as a new video game to be released on whatever date. I think it has so much going for it to be an amazing video game. The interactive qualities of a video game would give OOTS fans a more personal connection to the franchise. The story combines epic qualities with a Deadpool-like, 4th wall breaking humor. It has the potential to be dramatically absorbing, and comically irreverant at the same time. The multitude of characters would allow for a variety of combat, puzzle solving, or storylines. Intense combat with a dragon one moment, solving the mystery of the doily in the next. The role playing context of the comic would fit neatly into a leveling-up system whether it was a rpg game, a shooter, an actioner, a puzzler, or a combination of some or all of those. Are there hurdles to overcome? Are the challenges to face? Sure. But I hope Rich is considering it and already has answers. I hope it happens. I'm ready to play. Heck, I'm ready to write the thing just to get it moving. Here's hoping it's already being worked on.

[Finagle]

Let me get this straight: you actually want major corporations getting their hands on OOTS? You call yourself a fan? :smallfrown:

[BaronOfHell]

It seems like when people find something they like, and want to turn it into a video game, they try to figure out what kind of genre would fit them best.

What I don't get is why they want a video game in the first place. A video game is not pr. default entertaining. A video game is mainly defined by being interactive, and if you know where in the story you would like to have had a say, then the genre should be obvious.

[Umberhulk]

The board game would be a good candidate for a video game or tablet app.

[Manga Maniac]

When I saw the "The Video Game" subtitle, Lego suddenly popped into my mind. Now Lego Order of the Stick won't leave my mind.

Thanks a lot, edgi.

[KillianHawkeye]

When I saw the "The Video Game" subtitle, Lego suddenly popped into my mind. Now Lego Order of the Stick won't leave my mind.

Thanks a lot, edgi.

I gotta admit, that would actually be pretty awesome.

[NZNinja]

While I feel a canon game that used the main characters or main plotline would potentially detract from the story, I would be interested to see some (even - especially! - fan fiction) games based on the expanded OOTS universe - by which I mean the game would attempt to answer questions like:


What happened to Daigo and Kasumi during the Battle of Azure City after they were last seen on-panel?
What adventures has Lord Hinjo had while clearing the monsters from the ruins on Azure Island?
What happened to the Giggles-worshipping Orcs?
What have the Flumphs been doing when they haven't been cushioning falling adventurers?
How much help (or hindrance) are the demon roaches really?

As for the game's genre, that would depend on the plot - I can easily envisage a few:


An IF adventure following the political intrigues and manipulations of the ruling Houses as they scheme for control of the Azure Island colony.
Or a MUD-style dungeon crawl that follows Lord Hinjo through the clearing of the Azure Island ruins.
Or a J-RPG following Daigo and Kasumi through the battle for Azure City.
Or a tower defence game where you help the Giggles-worshipping island orcs defend themselves from the non-puppet-worshipping infidels.
Or a point and click adventure where the demon roaches must help defend Gobbotopia.
Or a side-scrolling beat-em-up in Tarquin's gladiatorial arena, helping Thog rise from simple puppy loving public urinator to simple puppy loving bloodthirsty arena champion.
Or an RTS where you command the forces of the Empire of Blood against the Kingdom of Tears.
Or a full-blown GURPS RPG following Sir Thumb the Digit Knight's doomed assault on the Glass Elementals.
Or...

If The Giant has something in the works already - be it a script, artwork, or a five game deal with LucasArts - then I'm sure it will be of his usual high quality, so I would like to see it.
However, it would also only be revealed when The Giant feels the time is right.

[Bundin]

I think this art style would not translate well to animation. A storyline for a game also has vastly different requirements than one for a (at times glacially paced, even before Rich's forced break) comic. Video games demand a higher pace, as well as (probably) a fairly high gag/joke-density, and I'm not too sure oots-style humour would hold up in big game-shaped chunks either (like penny arcade's game, I like the comic, but the game's tone/humour doesn't do it for me).

I'm not saying it can't be done well, but I think it's all too easy to end up being very too different from the comic as is both in style and content (and the interpretation/experience everyone makes of the comic in his/her head when reading).

[SowZ]

I think this art style would not translate well to animation. A storyline for a game also has vastly different requirements than one for a (at times glacially paced, even before Rich's forced break) comic. Video games demand a higher pace, as well as (probably) a fairly high gag/joke-density, and I'm not too sure oots-style humour would hold up in big game-shaped chunks either (like penny arcade's game, I like the comic, but the game's tone/humour doesn't do it for me).

I'm not saying it can't be done well, but I think it's all too easy to end up being very too different from the comic as is both in style and content (and the interpretation/experience everyone makes of the comic in his/her head when reading).

The art style could be kind of a cross between OOTS and Sam and Max. In fact, it could basically BE Sam and Max. But with a lot of D&D jokes/D&D related solutions to puzzles and magic. Stuff about how convenient it would be if they could use mind reading. You'd be the chief and the kid in the Cliffport PD.

[Giggling Ghast]

I think this art style would not translate well to animation.

It could work as a 2-D side-scroller, like Heroes of the Lance. (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/VideoGame/HeroesOfTheLance) It couldn't be any WORSE than that game.

[Ninja Dragon]

Let me get this straight: you actually want major corporations getting their hands on OOTS? You call yourself a fan? :smallfrown:

Not necessarily.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/14293468/homestuck-adventure-game

This seems like a good idea. I would play it. It could have the D&D rules adapted to a videogame RPG. Besides, it seems like a good chance to get to know the OOTS world, aside from the places we've already seem in the comic.

[Dr.Epic]

Let me get this straight: you actually want major corporations getting their hands on OOTS? You call yourself a fan? :smallfrown:

In this day and age, you can easily create an independent game without dealing with any major corporations. Where have you been?

[Tragak]

WOW. That sounds like a good idea.



...
I'm not sorry :smallsmile:

[ZerglingOne]

This probably shows my age, but an old-school sidescroller beat-em-up would suit the game perfectly

You give each character their perks. Roy and Durkon would be tough. Roy and Belkar would hit hard, Belkar faster attack rate than Roy. Haley and V use a bow and magic missiles respectively. Elan gets his rapier and attacks fast.

But it wouldn't be a great beat-em-up without ultimate skills whose bars build up into stages.
For example, Roy would start power attacking at stage 1 of build-up and his green sword energy would come out at stage 2.

Belkar would start raging at stage 1 and do homing jump attacks in his classic jump attack pose in stage 2.

Haley would start using fire arrows at stage 1 and use multishot at stage 2.

Durkon would use Thor's lightning at stage 1 and Thor's might at 2.

V would start throwing fireballs and lightning bolts at 1 and a full screen prismatic spray at 2.

Elan would buff allies on the screen at 1 and stun enemies at 2.

Not my best work, but not horrible for right off the top of my head. It could move through the different stages of the story.

I feel like if they can make a fun Simpsons game in this genre, they can make an epic OotS game.

[Shred-Bot]

What about a GTA-style game where you play as Belkar going on an rampage? It wouldn't really work too well with the rest of the order and would probably need to be set before Belkar met the rest of the group... but running around as a sexy shoeless god of war sounds like fun to me!

[mrzomby]

Let me get this straight: you actually want major corporations getting their hands on OOTS? You call yourself a fan? :smallfrown:

I wanna be a fan, before it was cool to be a fan.

[King of Nowhere]

I think the only option would be a point-and-cclick game monkey island style. If done well, it would be nice. Otherwise, it would suck. Any other option would not really have much to do with the spirit of oots.

[Hamiltonz]

{Scrubbed}

[Hamiltonz]

I waited a month before writing this follow-up post.

The complete lack of response (for this long) tells me that only a handful of people actually think a computer game would be a good idea. Based on this it would not be worth the effort for me to write an Oots video game based on the board game.

There are three reasons, as I see it, why people work hard on something like this; money, fame, approval. A free project with no real interest means that none of these are available. My goal was to show that I could do the code work and maybe get some recognition or a job offer. A secondary goal was to show that there was enough interest in the game to inspire Rich to have a commercial video game produced, because I would buy that.

[FujinAkari]

Although I would be very interested in seeing such a product, I saw absolutely nothing in your post indicating that you had gotten Rich's permission to work on reproducing his content. However, discussing the implications of that begins to border board-restricted topics and so I never responded.

So, for my part, please don't assume no one cares, but there is one person you should make sure is on board before you worry about what anyone else thinks :)

[Roland St. Jude]

Sheriff: Indeed. Please don't create copyright or trademark infringing works based on OotS. Also, don't post links to such things here. If you are seeking permission or rights, feel free to contact Rich through the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of the forum, but don't proceed without permission.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled product fantasy.

[Zelkon]

I would love a "simple Skyrim" type thing. I think it would be really cool to work with WotC to make this an officially licensed game, but also walking a fine line. Make it use sort of a generic combo of D&D rules and have it be open world with an overarching story. I would buy that so fast.

[Hamiltonz]

I'm not creating infringing works. I made a personal project for personal use and there has been official persmission given for that sort of thing (edit: not to me directly). Even use of images of the cards has been okay in other areas of this forum for casual play. I was invited to join that game but real life issues (was going out of the country) got in the way.

I respect Rich's IP and have stated so on numerous occasions. I offered to code something up for Rich to distribute. I have not, nor will I ever create an infringing work.

Edit: Over a year ago I did send a contact message informing Rich what I had created for my personal use with an offer to allow it to be distributed with a new boxed set of the board game. I recieved no reply back. At the time interest in the game had ended locally and I had no more incentive to work on this as a personal project. I was hoping other people on this forum would show enough interest to, as I stated above, to get a real game written. I have no illision of being a great game writer. I just wanted something useful to come of my hard work.

[FujinAkari]

Wait... first you said that official permission had been given for a personal project for your personal use... and then you said you had messaged Rich and he had never responded.

Which is it?

[Hamiltonz]

Wait... first you said that official permission had been given for a personal project for your personal use... and then you said you had messaged Rich and he had never responded.

Which is it?

First: I removed the video from Youtube. No one asked me to I just felt it was for the best.

Second: I forget where I read it but somewhere there was talk about fair use and what was okay. It was from there that I understood it was okay to write something up for my own personal use (I own a copy of the game). I remember reading that and thinking, "oh, then this would be okay" meaning writing a video game for myself. I'm sorry if I gave the impression that I had official permission.

Third: And I hope I'm coming across here as sad and frustrated, not angry in any way. No one really wants a video game. No one locally to me wanted to play the game on the big screen in my living room (as a group with me running the mouse). And this was after I had put in all the work to get things to where they were in the Youtube video. In an effort to salvage something from the work that I had put in I tried to get it released as added content for the boxed set. Admittedly I only sent in the one request and I didn't mention anything about being okay with it being given away for free.

I don't know why I never got a response. It could be that the message got lost in a ton of other messages. It could be anything. I have spent the past year simply saying 'hey, I wrote a game' whenever someone else posted a desire for there to be a video game. It was in the hope that someone official would notice and ask about my work. Turns out only about a dozen people seem to care and they express an interest in about a half dozen different game styles. Some want Real Time Strategy. Some want a First Person Shooter. Some want what can best be described as 'follow the treasure trail'. I'm a coinsure, I like all types of games. Any one of these would make me happy. The problem is, as I see it, that there just isn't enough interest in any one type to justify making a game of that type.

There is a game that was released in 1999 called Seven Kingdoms. It recently went open source. I have done work on the port to Linux. All it would take to turn it into an Oots RTS game is approximately 5000 images. Currently the code may be open source but the images are still under copyright (and the sound). Copyright of the Oots images could be maintained in the same way as the original images were. But it runs into the same problem. Creating 5000 images of 'Soldier standing facing south'...'facing southwest'...'facing west'...'soldier fighting south:frame 1'...frame 2'...etc is a lot of work! If there is no real interest in a game then there is no real justification to do that work.

tl;dr I own a copy of the game. Writing a PC game seen as Fair use. No official reply. A game would be easy to create it just takes work. Not enough interest in the idea to justify the work.

[Winter]

I'm not a lawyer and especially not for american law, but I think "Fair Use" does not mean what you think it does.
Here, read up on it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use_(US_trademark_law), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nominative_use, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trademark#Maintaining_rights

Please don't go further in a legal debate, I have nothing else to add. I just want to point out the issue might be more complicated that you (and me and Rich) anticipate.

As for the lack of interest: As I see it people who are interested in games want a typical "computer game", not a "board game on the computer" (if you want a board game, you can already get the board game).
They also do not want something a one-man-project can cobble together but something more flashy.

In general, I also think the usual "I want a game/movie of Oots!" are more "Would it not be awesome if there was a budget of 50 million and..." than "I actually want such a game/movie and think it could be done well".

[Flame of Anor]

I'll just go chalk up another tally mark on the list of "OotS Video Game" threads that devolved into awkwardness and copyright infringement, shall I?