doug tennapel
Latest
'Earthworm Jim' returns after 20 years as an Intellivision exclusive
It's been 20 years since there was a genuinely new Earthworm Jim game, and longer still since the original team was involved. However, the gang is coming back -- if you're willing to take a chance on a retro console. Intellivision Entertainment is reuniting ten members of the Earthworm Jim team to work on a new game in the franchise made solely for the Intellivision Amico. The title is still in the very early stages. In fact, Intellivision is livestreaming part of the first design meeting on May 4th at 3PM Eastern. However, it might be comforting news if you want to see more of the anthropomorphic annelid beyond remasters and ports of the classics.
Armikrog Kickstarter concludes at $974K, obtains Wii U stretch goal
Pencil Test Studios' $900,000 Kickstarter goal to create Armikrog, a claymation point-and-click adventure project, has concluded with the team receiving $974,503 in pledges. It will also be possible to continue supporting the game's development through PayPal. The project is being helmed by alumni of the 1996 classic The Neverhood, including Mike Dietz, Ed Schofield and Doug TenNapel – who has made headlines for his less-than-progressive views about same-sex marriage, among other topics. The game is scheduled to ship in July of 2014.
Armikrog stop-motions you toward a Kickstarter from Neverhood vets
Pencil Test Studios, a company manned by one of the designers and two of the artists responsible for 1996's classic The Neverhood, is seeking $900,000 in crowdsourced funding via Kickstarter in order to fuel the creation of its new claymation point-and-click adventure project, Armikrog. While story details are sparse, the game's overall premise is pretty straightforward: Tommynaut, a space explorer, and Beak-Beak, his blind, talking alien dog, crash land onto a "weird planet" and are somehow imprisoned in a fortress called "Armikrog." Assuming it's fully funded, the game will be available in both Steam and DRM-free flavors for PC, OSX and Linux. In addition to being helmed by Neverhood alumni Doug TenNapel, Mike Dietz and Ed Schofield, Armikrog will also feature a soundtrack scored by Neverhood/Skullmonkeys composer Terry S. Taylor, in addition to voice work by Mystery Science Theater 3000/RiffTrax's Michael J. Nelson, Napoleon Dynamite's Jon Heder, Rob Paulsen of every cartoon from your childhood, Tekzilla's Veronica Belmont and PvPOnline's Scott Kurtz.
Armikrog is the new clay adventure game from The Neverhood creators
We heard last month that the folks behind 1996's The Neverhood were at work on a new clay-motion adventure game, and the name has now been revealed: It's called Armikrog. The title has also earned a website, a Twitter profile, and a Facebook page. There's also a very (very) short video clip available, but all it shows is a confusingly full whiteboard, the scrabblings on which may or may not have much to do with the final product.We do know that it's all being put together by Neverhood creator Doug TenNapel, with help from Mike Dietz and Ed Schofield (a.k.a. Pencil Test Studios) and Neverhood composer Terry Taylor.
The Neverhood creator planning new clay adventure game for PC, Mac
While plans for a movie and mobile version of cult adventure game classic The Neverhood didn't pan out, creator Doug TenNapel has said he's working on a new clay adventure game. Over on Facebook, TenNapel says he's cooperating with friends Mike Dietz and Ed Schofield – both of whom worked with him on The Neverhood and Earthworm Jim – to produce "a full sized, PC and Mac point and click adventure game in clay and puppet animation."TenNapel doesn't say much specifically about this proposed game, save for promising new characters in his usual style and confirming The Neverhood composer Terry Taylor is onboard to do the score. TenNapel is currently soliciting feedback from fans on Facebook.[Thanks, Jonathan.]
Earthworm Jim 4 announced by an overenthusiastic Interplay, no platform yet
The announcement of Earthworm Jim 1 and 2 for the Virtual Console was just a warning shot: Interplay is prepared to overexpose the hell out of Shiny's old character, starting with a new game! For Earthworm Jim 4, Interplay has brought back Doug TenNapel, creator and original character voice of EWJ, as a creative consultant. No details of the game, including which platforms it is planned for, have been released, but Wii seems likely given the aforementioned VC announcement.Interplay is getting all the mileage out of Jim they can -- they've also announced both a new cartoon series and a feature film based on Jim. For his part, TenNapel is happy to be reunited with the character, and happy with Interplay's treatment: he states in his forum that "Interplay is being really cool ... they're hungry, so they want to see Jim fly again. That's a different strategy than just sitting on a dead license and try to milk more re-hashes that continue to weaken the brand."
