Unless we hit our heads or something and completely lose it, this strip should represent the final chapter in our two-chapter, chapter thing.
When I saw HomeLan's interview with John Tynes from Flying Lab Software, I remembered that I met those guys like three months ago and said I would write something about their stuff. It was a fairly profound experience, so I don't know why I never dealt with it here, but I feel bad about it and I'm going to fix that shit right now.
I think about games essentially all day. I rationalize this massive time investment by saying that I have a "fascination with logical systems," which I believe sounds very fancy, and I try to wear a stern look when considering them so as to give the impression of great exertion. I know that it is regular human beings that create these things, I know it as a fact, but when you go somewhere they actually make games and it looks like some kind of Goddamn dentist's office it throws you off. But there it was, true enough - there's a Safeway right across the street, there's a place Brenna and I like to eat like three blocks away, and it's right in the middle of stuff. I found this exciting - they're making something in there I think is going to be extraordinary, and it's so ordinary outside that it almost hurts. It begs the question: are marvelous things are happening, everywhere, all the time, in places that look (to the casual observer) like Goddamn dentist's offices? I paused outside to wonder.
Delta Green is a collaboration between a Seattle developer called Flying Lab Software and the authors of a supplement called Delta Green for the Call of Cthulhu pen-and-paper game. When I went for my visit, I wondered exactly to what extent these two groups were "collaborating" - i.e., were they just licensing the property, how often were they in contact, that kind of thing. As near as I can tell, and I was only there for one day so maybe I have this all wrong, but I get the impression that the Delta Green guys are completely integrated into the company and are essentially full developers. I wish I'd had the presence of mind to ask John Tynes what he thought about designing for sit-around-the-table-and-roll-dice games as compared to videogames, but I always feel like a jackass when I meet new people so I think the question may have caught in my throat.
In terms of motif, if you are not already familiar with the Cthulhu Mythos of H. P. Lovecraft - frankly, I'm disgusted with you. I'm exaggerating, of course - I don't actually blame someone for not having the stamina to read the things he writes. It's an acquired taste, like Monkey Head, and some people will never have the urge to wade in adjectives. Obviously, it gets me all the way off. The fundamentals of his horror sub-genre are easy to grasp, however: terrible, long-forgotten gods, the twisted creatures in their thrall, and their mortal supplicants are constantly trying to eradicate reality, though the destruction of every living being would also be fine. Delta Green posits the existence of a governmental agency which keeps these forces in check, and in the videogame you recruit brave souls of varying law-enforcement disciplines to root out dark cults and their otherworldly patrons. You might be wondering what such a thing might look like.
It's a strategic combat game! From just above the action, your officers clear doors, throw grenades, and utilize special-forces techniques to defeat monsters. Your pool of agents is drawn from different backgrounds - SWAT, FBI, SEALs, and so on - that make them better at clearing doors, searching rooms, or shooting things with a lot of eyes. They said that they looked to sports games for a way to control an entire group with a unified purpose, and it was easy to see what they meant in action - like you might call plays in an NFL game, you can set behaviors and maneuvers in real time and it makes perfect sense.
The interview made it sound like they might switch to another project, and then come back to Delta Green if they can't scare up a publisher. E3 isn't long out, and even the strength of the year-old demo I saw was pretty convincing, so I hope things go well for them. It's a promising, original project that deserves a corporate sugar daddy.
Flying Lab also put out a game called Rails Across America a ways back, which I can't recommend enough. It's a real-time strategy game of rail dominance that has esoteric board game depth with a lightning pace. God, that game is great.
Writing this newspost got me out of virtually every holiday chore, for which I have every one of you to thank. Who knows if you'll even get to Penny Arcade this weekend, but I wanted to make sure you had something here, whenever you got to it. We'll see you Monday.
(CW)TB out.
you've got nothing but sticks the rest of the year
