developed by Jay Tholen & A Jolly Corpse, published by Devolver Digital.
[gfycat data_id="DimpledTenseAlligatorsnappingturtle"]
[gfycat data_id="KindheartedHeftyGoosefish"][gfycat data_id="DenseLikableBittern"][gfycat data_id="MaleWholeHusky"]
A hand animated open world point-and-click adventure featuring a clown that loves to hug everything. Releasing September 10th on Steam for Windows, Mac, and Linux.
I made an extra trippy version of the first gif here.
I usually try to avoid walls of text, but I came across an impromptu AMA by the developer and thought this particular comment was excellent (I love stuff that challenges my perception):
“The concept of inherent worth that transcends our arbitrary value systems is THE central theme of the game. No jokes are made at the expense of Dropsy’s perceived disorder, and any laughter a player directs at him would be fueled by their own perception of what’s worth being laughed at. The game doesn’t reward or encourage it, and you’ll probably find yourself bored if that’s why you’re playing it.
If anything, I hope people DO play it with that mindset, because they’re the exact types of people who’d do well to play something like Dropsy.
Most characters in the gameworld either fear or hate Dropsy at the beginning. Some have seemingly justifiable reasons due to a fatal circus fire that took a few lives, but most are just reacting to him as one would an urban legend.
Dropsy, however, is the only blameless, completely pure character in the game. In that sense, I’d definitely call it a bit of an empathy game. Though I’d say it’s more about Dropsy having empathy on a broken miserable world than the other way around. We’ve had a few beta testers even come back and say that it was surprisingly sad and/or bittersweet because of this.
Of course there are farts and jiggly butts and stuff, but those are universal to the human experience. :)
I understand that some may be uncomfortable with a video game (especially one that looks like mine) addressing themes like this, but I think it is good (and needed) if well handled. I have close family who have developmental disorders, and I’d definitely be making a different game if it weren’t for them.
I understand that this may be a hard sell with how vibrant and crazy the aesthetics are, and I wouldn’t blame you for not wanting to play it, but what the game says about developmental disorders has been very carefully considered.
He’s also not actually disabled, but I can’t go into that without ruining the game.”
[Follow on Tumblr: dropsytheclown] | [Follow on Steam]
via /r/IndieGaming
