indigozeal (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
indigozeal) wrote2014-03-15 01:19 pm
indigozeal) wrote2014-03-15 01:19 pm
Entry tags:
Games converted to other media
There's a manga version of Yume Nikki now. Well, it was released as far back as July, but it's news to me, let's put it that way. This seems to be a trend - I'm delighted to discover that Ib is getting a variety of merchandise, and RPG Maker stars The Witch's House, Houchou-san no Uwasa, and Ao Oni all have manga now. (Amazon Japan, as a matter of fact, sent me a targeted ad for the Ao Oni manga a while ago, even though, save for the 999 novels, I haven't ordered anything remotely like it. That's creepier than anything in the game, for my money - Ao Oni has now gained sentience and come looking for me.)
I like this turn of events in general, as it allows people to give the creator of a free game money. I see, though, that the Yume Nikki manga has words, which is all wrong for an adaptation of such a silent, abstract game. Then I got to thinking how Yume Nikki would be great as a Fantasia-esque collection of animated shorts, scored by the 24 Effects CD.
Which got me in turn to thinking about games whose stories might work nicely in other media:
- I'm sure that the number of players required would be prohibitive, but it'd be interesting to try to run one of 999's nonary games via a Dungeons & Dragons-type setting. You'd probably need more than one dungeonmaster for when folks got split up, but 999's story-heaviness and emphasis on group dynamics and decision-making would seem to fit D&D quite well. I also wonder if certain elements of a nonary game could be adapted for a Clue-type boardgame - try to divide players or have them team up at certain points so you can get through a gate and access more of the board, etc.
- Ib might not make for a bad live-action film, were it handled correctly. No schmaltziness, no big, splashy special effects (save for the "town" at the end) - something like Paperhouse that lives in imagination but is removed and subdued enough where there's room for darkness, too.
- It's not like Baten Kaitos doesn't have a good deal of concept art, but so much of its character lies in the lavish beauty of its settings. (I wasn't disappointed when I bought the game's artbook, but I wish it had more on the creation of its physical world.) I'd love to see something like a series of rich landscapes set in various corners of the Baten Kaitos world, with each tableau telling its own little story - something in the vein of what artist Naohisa Inoue did to illusstrate her world of Iblard.
- I know that half of Daventry is taken from old fairy tales anyhow, but the whole King's Quest collection seems like it would make a great kids' book series.
- The score to the first Silent Hill is great driving music; you're really reliving the experience as you go down the road. While not all parts of the game's narrative are conducive to an audio-only presentation, scenes like meeting Dahlia and the confrontation in the Good ending make me wonder if, with a little narration from Harry, the game couldn't be a quite effective audio drama.
- A note on an adaptation that's already happened: Clock Tower: Ghost Head is way better as an audio drama. It's far more effective with the heroine narrating her own psychological break, and the narrative that in the game is fractured and unsatisfying here actually works to the story's advantage - Yuu is, after all, being pulled through a series of Grand Guignol events that she only half-understands.
- On the other end of the spectrum: From its open-coated abulousness to the juvenile grimdark storyline to the awful dialogue to MY WHIP IS MADE OF BLOOD, you can't tell me that '90's comics aren't the natural habitat of the Castlevania: Lords of Shadow series. (Countdown Vampires, meanwhile, actually has a '90's comic book already, but it's too essentially good-natured and, though it talks a good game, ultimately disinterested in attitude to fit the genre.)
.
I like this turn of events in general, as it allows people to give the creator of a free game money. I see, though, that the Yume Nikki manga has words, which is all wrong for an adaptation of such a silent, abstract game. Then I got to thinking how Yume Nikki would be great as a Fantasia-esque collection of animated shorts, scored by the 24 Effects CD.
Which got me in turn to thinking about games whose stories might work nicely in other media:
- I'm sure that the number of players required would be prohibitive, but it'd be interesting to try to run one of 999's nonary games via a Dungeons & Dragons-type setting. You'd probably need more than one dungeonmaster for when folks got split up, but 999's story-heaviness and emphasis on group dynamics and decision-making would seem to fit D&D quite well. I also wonder if certain elements of a nonary game could be adapted for a Clue-type boardgame - try to divide players or have them team up at certain points so you can get through a gate and access more of the board, etc.
- Ib might not make for a bad live-action film, were it handled correctly. No schmaltziness, no big, splashy special effects (save for the "town" at the end) - something like Paperhouse that lives in imagination but is removed and subdued enough where there's room for darkness, too.
- It's not like Baten Kaitos doesn't have a good deal of concept art, but so much of its character lies in the lavish beauty of its settings. (I wasn't disappointed when I bought the game's artbook, but I wish it had more on the creation of its physical world.) I'd love to see something like a series of rich landscapes set in various corners of the Baten Kaitos world, with each tableau telling its own little story - something in the vein of what artist Naohisa Inoue did to illusstrate her world of Iblard.
- I know that half of Daventry is taken from old fairy tales anyhow, but the whole King's Quest collection seems like it would make a great kids' book series.
- The score to the first Silent Hill is great driving music; you're really reliving the experience as you go down the road. While not all parts of the game's narrative are conducive to an audio-only presentation, scenes like meeting Dahlia and the confrontation in the Good ending make me wonder if, with a little narration from Harry, the game couldn't be a quite effective audio drama.
- A note on an adaptation that's already happened: Clock Tower: Ghost Head is way better as an audio drama. It's far more effective with the heroine narrating her own psychological break, and the narrative that in the game is fractured and unsatisfying here actually works to the story's advantage - Yuu is, after all, being pulled through a series of Grand Guignol events that she only half-understands.
- On the other end of the spectrum: From its open-coated abulousness to the juvenile grimdark storyline to the awful dialogue to MY WHIP IS MADE OF BLOOD, you can't tell me that '90's comics aren't the natural habitat of the Castlevania: Lords of Shadow series. (Countdown Vampires, meanwhile, actually has a '90's comic book already, but it's too essentially good-natured and, though it talks a good game, ultimately disinterested in attitude to fit the genre.)
.