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Hands-on with the sci-fi game that falls apart as you play
You're never going to play Clunker Junker in your living room or on your desktop PC, no matter how many GPUs it has. Hardware is the issue here, but it's not a matter of processing power -- Clunker Junker requires two LED-adorned arm cranks, plus four crates with glowing lights and doors that come crashing down when they're unlatched during gameplay. The game itself, to be fair, runs on a laptop, but that's about as traditional as this thing gets.
Giant scissors are your controller in this quirky first-person action game
There's this small world inside GDC 2018 called Alt.Ctrl.GDC, where you'll find a booth full of quirky games that incorporate physical objects into their story. With Scissors the that than (the latter part pronounced "da da dan," according to its Japanese developer), you use giant scissors as your controller and as the main weapon inside the actual game. Before we get into the premise of Scissors the that than, you should first know that the physical pair that acts as a controller only has a joystick on the left handle (which you use to move) and a red button on the right one that starts the game.
Bring out your inner 'Calvin and Hobbes' at Alt.Ctrl.GDC
Ah, the Alt.Ctrl.GDC booth. It's the real reason thousands of people flock to downtown San Francisco every year, under the guise of attending panels, networking and showing off their work at the annual Game Developers Conference. Alt.Ctrl.GDC is a collection of games that use experimental controls -- that means no keyboards, no mice and no gamepads. Instead, the booth is filled with things like laser harps, spaceship control panels, giant inflatable dark rooms, DIY bookcases, record players, furry cat hats, cardboard boxes and waist-high, carpeted treadmills.
The world of weird video games at Alt.Ctrl.GDC
Video games aren't all about fancy graphics on HD televisions and high-end PCs. Back in the day, innovation relied partially on building better cabinets, ramps, buttons, joysticks and all manner of arcade-based hardware. This aspect of the industry hasn't disappeared -- the third-annual Alt.Ctrl.GDC exhibition at the Game Developers Conference is packed with outlandish new games that use wild, wacky and weird input methods. We tried out a few of the games on display, such as Crank Tank, a two-person base-race game where each player controls a vehicle with a giant, wooden crank machine. There's also Hello, Operator!, which takes place at the helm of a refurbished telephone switchboard from the 1930s, and Please Stand By, a game that exists inside of a 1951 Capehart television, bunny-ear antennae and all.
GDC's alternative arcade: a gallery of crazy, homemade game controllers
The idea of the gamepad is so entrenched in our mind, it's easy to forget that there are other ways to play video games. No, we're not talking about the PC gamer's keyboard and mouse, or even the traditional arcade stick -- but custom, purpose built controllers made to augment a specific experience. At GDC 2014, we found an interactive gallery full of them. The event, Alt.Ctrl.GDC serves as a showcase for indie game experiences that aren't fully accessible without specialized hardware, but to us, it was simply an alternative arcade of creativity.
