| Game Info | |
| Name: | ESKIMO: The Video Game |
| Year: | 2015 |
| Made in: | Game Maker Studio |
| This game has no download link. | |
After my previous game based on an album by The Residents, I knew I wanted to make a follow up. But what Residents album would make a good game? Duck Stab? No... Demons Dance Alone? Nah... AHA! I bet Freak Show would make a great video game! ... Oh wait...
Ultimately I ended up picking the 1979 album Eskimo as my next game candidate. It seemed a bit unorthodox at first (even if you ignore the fact that making a video game out of any Residents album is an unorthodox idea). The album is basically 40 minutes of white noise with occasional nonsensical chanting thrown in for good measure. While the album does have a story in its liner notes, it's still a bit of a stretch to make it into a video game.
But make it a video game I did! And much like my earlier game Hymn of the Moles, this project was the final game project for a Game Development class focused on Game Maker. This time it was for university and I took the class a bit more seriously, making an actual game in Game Maker instead of making a silly launcher that would launch a game made in another programming language.
I think that ESKIMO: The Video Game is one of the most important games in this whole Gamez Archive. Some of that is because I was (and continue to be!) very proud of this game upon initially finishing it (literally hours before it was due LMAO). But also it kind of lives on in infamy as a game that I've been trying to make perfect for years and yet it still has no public release. You might notice that this game does not have a download link. There is a reason for that. I'm not satisfied with the quality of the Game Maker version of this game, and I am dedicated to remaking the game from the ground up in a new engine.
... I have to admit that at least some of that is due to the sunken cost fallacy at this point. After all this time I'm quite aware that this project is stuck in a death loop, but I still want to see if this death loop ever finishes. I know I've definitely posted older, less polished games on this very archive, but with all the buildup to the "pREServed" release of ESKIMO: The Video Game, I still feel strongly that I want to deliver the more polished "pREServed" experience. In the time between the original release and now I've thought of so many ways to improve the game experience. I want those to be part of the real game.
Until then, this page stands as a record for the Game Maker version only. I'm hoping that one day soon I can post the follow up. Then my friends can finally play the 30-40 minute experience they've been waiting years for.
Credits:
ESKIMO: THE VIDEO GAME
Developed by THE RESIDENTS
with guests:
- Mew
- n/eve
- C. Garrison
- N. Martin
Based on the album by THE RESIDENTS
Featuring these songs:
- "The Walrus Hunt"
- "Diskomo"
- "Ship's A Goin' Down"
- "Constantinople"
- "The Festival of Death"
Special Thanks:
- C. Gielda
- K. Mattern
- C. Garrison
ESKIMO IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED TO N. SENADA WHO STARTED THIS WHOLE THING
Images:
Links:
While there is no download link available, here is the original development blog and website for the "pREServed" edition (then called the "Game of the Year" edition).