My Idea For A Red Dwarf Game
I've bollocked on and on about this, I'll admit. But I bloody love Red Dwarf and I think it's perfect for an adventure game. If Telltale decided to make it I'd be the happiest man alive. So here are my ideas for how it would work:
Graphics
Since it's a comedy, going for realistic wouldn't feel right. I think a slightly exaggerated but realistic style would be the way to go, perhaps the S&M and ToMI style but with SBCG4AP-styled outlines.
Sound
Getting the original cast is essential, and they're hardly Hollywood superstars, so it shouldn't be too hard. Plus getting an all-British cast was possible for Wallace and Gromit, so hopefully they could do the same here.
The second option would be to just get Chris Barrie, who plays Rimmer, to voice for all the characters, as he is an impressionist and has voiced the entire cast in audiobooks, script extracts and lost episode scripts on the DVDs. As reading audiobooks would naturally take a very long time, he would be used to the worst-case scenario of having to do a Matt Chapman and do the thousands of voice clips necessary for an entire cast.
As for music, pretty much every piece of original music from the show has been isolated and put on the DVD, so this could all be re-used and no new music would be required. However, some more Jared Emerson-Johnson stuff would be brill.
Setup
The good thing about Red Dwarf is that entire episodes can take place purely on the ship Red Dwarf itself. Also, the characters are alone in deep space, 3,000,000 years after humanity has died out. So the compressed locations and limited cast that come with episodic games would fit perfectly into the show's style. Perhaps the bunkroom and drive room could be the two locations seen in every episode (just like Straight Street, the office, the field, the House of Strong, West Wallaby Street and the High Street) with Starbug, other parts of Red Dwarf and other planets or ships as the episode-specific locations.
The iconic shots of the ship flying through space could be easily recreated, the same way as was done in Chariots of the Dogs. The classic flyover shot from the first four series could be recreated for the credits here too.
As for the title screen and tutorial, Holly could appear and give instructions to the player, as the COPS did in Sam and Max. It would also be reminiscent of Beat the Geek.
Gameplay
I really like alternating between characters in Sam and Max, so doing the same with Lister and Rimmer would probably be the way to go. Playing as Kryten, Cat and Kochanski could also work, but could become cumbersome and confusing with more than two sets of inventories.
Conversations should be done in the Sam and Max style, as SBCG4AP picture inventories wouldn't fit the tone of Red Dwarf. Plus they're a bit confusing.
What does everyone else think then?
Graphics
Since it's a comedy, going for realistic wouldn't feel right. I think a slightly exaggerated but realistic style would be the way to go, perhaps the S&M and ToMI style but with SBCG4AP-styled outlines.
Sound
Getting the original cast is essential, and they're hardly Hollywood superstars, so it shouldn't be too hard. Plus getting an all-British cast was possible for Wallace and Gromit, so hopefully they could do the same here.
The second option would be to just get Chris Barrie, who plays Rimmer, to voice for all the characters, as he is an impressionist and has voiced the entire cast in audiobooks, script extracts and lost episode scripts on the DVDs. As reading audiobooks would naturally take a very long time, he would be used to the worst-case scenario of having to do a Matt Chapman and do the thousands of voice clips necessary for an entire cast.
As for music, pretty much every piece of original music from the show has been isolated and put on the DVD, so this could all be re-used and no new music would be required. However, some more Jared Emerson-Johnson stuff would be brill.
Setup
The good thing about Red Dwarf is that entire episodes can take place purely on the ship Red Dwarf itself. Also, the characters are alone in deep space, 3,000,000 years after humanity has died out. So the compressed locations and limited cast that come with episodic games would fit perfectly into the show's style. Perhaps the bunkroom and drive room could be the two locations seen in every episode (just like Straight Street, the office, the field, the House of Strong, West Wallaby Street and the High Street) with Starbug, other parts of Red Dwarf and other planets or ships as the episode-specific locations.
The iconic shots of the ship flying through space could be easily recreated, the same way as was done in Chariots of the Dogs. The classic flyover shot from the first four series could be recreated for the credits here too.
As for the title screen and tutorial, Holly could appear and give instructions to the player, as the COPS did in Sam and Max. It would also be reminiscent of Beat the Geek.
Gameplay
I really like alternating between characters in Sam and Max, so doing the same with Lister and Rimmer would probably be the way to go. Playing as Kryten, Cat and Kochanski could also work, but could become cumbersome and confusing with more than two sets of inventories.
Conversations should be done in the Sam and Max style, as SBCG4AP picture inventories wouldn't fit the tone of Red Dwarf. Plus they're a bit confusing.
What does everyone else think then?
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Comments
Live action? Kind of like those old Sega-Cd games?
Hehe
I can only really see this working for adventure games.
But when I imagine CGI versions of the red dwarf cast, or even an old style hand drawn adventure, it just doesn't work. I'd be happy to be proved wrong.
The biggest problem I would foresee would be paying the cast. But I think this can be overcame if each 'episode' predominantly featured a different character. (Dunno how or if Kochanski would be included since she seems to have either died of 'jumped ship'). Matters can be made more interesting if an episode was played entirely from the point of view of the ship's computer, Holly.
I think it'd be a good idea someday, though. Keep it in mind.