The Dream Machine from Cockroach and of course The Neverhood from Doug TenNapel are some fantastic prior art here. TenNapel even reused his skills to make Armikrog two decades later.
I wonder if the creators of these physically rendered games ever get together to talk shop, or even host a conference, on the topic of non-linear animation and storytelling. It’s the sort of thing that I, as someone who merely consumes their content and is absolutely nowhere near being able to replicate their skill, would love to take part in.
Comic-Con but for games done the hard way. Thimbleweed Park, another remake in the animated adventure game genre, actually has a scene in it that’s based on a conference for real-life point-and-click games developers.
Hylics by Mason Lindroth is the only other thing I'd ever seen do the "physical art" thing in a videogame. I love it a lot, so now curious about the other games you've mentioned! Thanks for the recs.
With respect to Doug TenNapel’s contribution to the field, Armikrog is only of interest I think to die-hard nostalgia fans. Maybe one day it will be (or already has been?) remastered into an even better game, but when I played it on release it was more like a mise en place of a great meal than a great meal itself.
The Dream Machine is all out body horror excellence from an indie studio in the truest sense. The fact that they saw the project through to the end, in real time, over the course of several years and while communicating the whole time with their Kickstarter backers is just as impressive as the game itself. Pure brilliance.
Harold Halibut isn't stop motion at all; they made physical puppets and then scanned them into Unity and tried to replicate the look.
It's a gorgeous game, but I was really disappointed in the gameplay. I wouldn't even call it a game; it's basically a movie where you sometimes interact with things, but everything is scripted.
I wonder if the creators of these physically rendered games ever get together to talk shop, or even host a conference, on the topic of non-linear animation and storytelling. It’s the sort of thing that I, as someone who merely consumes their content and is absolutely nowhere near being able to replicate their skill, would love to take part in.
Comic-Con but for games done the hard way. Thimbleweed Park, another remake in the animated adventure game genre, actually has a scene in it that’s based on a conference for real-life point-and-click games developers.