By John Walker on July 17th, 2008 at 11:20 pm.
Looking at you, I’d say what you need just now is an adventure game to play. Too many E3 videos and arguing in comments threads about things that ultimately just don’t matter has left you gaunt and frightened. It’s okay. It’s oooookay. Get yourself some Ben There, Dan That. (I can’t bear that they put an exclamation mark at the end of the title, so I’m pretending they didn’t – Dan, you’re a writer for heaven’s sake).
Created by Dan Marshall and his best friend Ben Ward (Zombie Cow Studios), it’s an AGS adventure which features some stand-out writing. And some pretty nifty 2D old-timey animation too. The game features, well, Dan Marshall and his best friend Ben Ward, the two of them stuck on an alien vessel after a botched attempt to fix the television to watch Magnum PI.
It’s a sharp and funny collection of knowing and sarcastic references to the cliches of old-school adventure gaming, which is actually a fairly impressive feat. Far too many games are now collections of eye-rolling references to how silly it is to pick up everything, and the ludicrous nature of clicking the bucket on the hedgehog to make a windmill or whatever – the biggest problem being: THE GAMES FROM THE EARLY NINETIES MADE THE SAME JOKES THEN! Lordy lawks, everyone thinks they’re being so terribly clever for pointing out that a ladder can’t fit in an inside pocket, as if Space Quest wasn’t already mocking itself for this twenty years ago (yes, twenty). Anyway, point being, BTDT makes all these jokes without being patronising, or acting as if it’s genius for having thought of them. If anything, it’s the post-ironic approach, celebrating what we all already acknowledge.
Perhaps it occasionally goes too far with the in-joke adventure references (seriously, that’s enough references to Monkey Island everybody), but thankfully it supports these by thinking of original puzzles of its own. The highlight for me is the enormous dedication to unnecessary gags, with lines written for the most ridiculous of things you might choose to do (like clicking Dan on the moon, for instance). There’s also a decent use of timing, with pauses before the written dialogue appears (although this is of course incredibly annoying when you accidentally trigger the same response a second time).
My favourite exchange comes when using Dan on himself:
Ben: There’s no way I’m allowing Dan to interact with himself. Who knows where it’d lead.
Dan: Wanking
The game’s free, which is my favourite of the prices, but of course you’re welcome to donate if you enjoy it. However, as Zombie Cow point out, “We’ve had over 1300 downloads so far, and raised £10.” So bloody well give them some money, you tight-pocketed sods. How many games are you making for free, eh?
17/07/2008 at 23:32 Pace says:
I could be absolutely wrong on this, but didn’t it used to be “Rock, Paper, Shotgun!” (exclamation point left carefully inside the quotation marks)?
17/07/2008 at 23:44 Kieron Gillen says:
Never. And if it was, we’ll Stalinistically revise history until it wasn’t.
The game also features friends-of-RPS The Triforce.
I’m not sure what to say.
KG
17/07/2008 at 23:46 Alex says:
Didn’t they use to be “The Triforce!” ?
17/07/2008 at 23:48 Kieron Gillen says:
They used to be Three Guys Who Just Drank A Lot.
KG
17/07/2008 at 23:50 Alex says:
And “Three Guys Who Just Drank A Lot” with an exclamation point just doesn’t work. It just.. doesn’t.
18/07/2008 at 00:07 Pace! says:
(I think this has a tad more life in it yet.)
18/07/2008 at 00:26 Kelduum says:
It appears the RPS History Editors have got to the Wayback Machine already…
All Hail Rock Paper Shotgun!
And thats my exclaimation mark, by the way.
18/07/2008 at 00:28 ste says:
We’re drinking a lot on Saturday! Everyone is welcome, even Kieron, who is busy.
18/07/2008 at 08:02 thezombiecow says:
Thaaaanks John!
We toiled over an exclamation mark, and as I recall Ben was dead against it and I had to talk him into it. I think my reasoning was that it gave the whole thing a slightly more farcical, show-tunes-esque ‘Oklahoma!’ sense of nonsense. If you like, I’ll do you a custom version without an exclamation mark.
Apologies for any upset caused. :(
18/07/2008 at 09:15 cliffski says:
I would have kept the ! and gone whole hog with some !!!!1111 or even a !!!111ONEONEONE.
Cliffski!
18/07/2008 at 10:12 Kieron Gillen says:
I think it was Orwell who described exclamation marks are like laughing at your own joke.
Alternatively, I’ll quote one of my first production editors: Exclamation Marks Are For Wankers.
Be careful with ‘em. The Irony shield needs to be strong.
KG
18/07/2008 at 10:29 Caiman says:
Here at the Society for the Prevention of Extinction of Exclamation Marks! (SPEEM!) we deplore this continual dissing of the humble exclamation mark! It’s a perfectly legitimate piece of punctuation, and is no less worthy of being ignored than the diaeresis, the macron, or the pilcrow! Or even the period.
18/07/2008 at 10:40 Jochen Scheisse says:
The exclamation point was introduced into English printing in the 1400, and was known as the “note of admiration” until the mid 1600s. In German orthography, the sign made its first appearance in the Luther Bible in 179.
The mark was not featured on standard manual typewriters before the 1970s. Instead, one typed a full stop, backspaced, and then typed an apostrophe.
In typesetting or printing (and therefore when spelling text out orally), the exclamation mark is called a screamer or a bang. “Bang” is also common in computer programming slang. Less common names in publishing include “gasper” and “startler”.
18/07/2008 at 10:51 John Walker says:
Let me give everyone the Official Rules For Exclamation Mark Usage:
They are for when you are exclaiming something.
Those were the Official Rules For Exclamation Mark Usage.
18/07/2008 at 11:04 Chris Evans says:
I once tried to use an exclamation mark….I got my arse kicked for it =[
Ben There, Dan That is a great game nevertheless =]
18/07/2008 at 11:11 Ian says:
The exclamation mark is worst when being preceded by the word “zany”.
18/07/2008 at 11:24 John P (Katsumoto) says:
Trouble is, around my friends, lack of exclams is often taken as being a sign that you’re taking life far too seriously. For instance, a traditional email to my tutor “Dear Claudia, I hope you’re having fun in Australia! Just to let you know bla bla bla bla bla what do you of so and so *Tens pages later* will that be okay do you reckon?”
“Dear John. Yes.”
See, that’s just mean! (there I go again). What was wrong with, “Dear John, totally!!!”.
Exclams have their place (yes, yes, when exclaiming something ;). Okay just for you guys i’ll experiment with being totally down to earth this week and see how I do.
18/07/2008 at 11:31 cliffski says:
Best thread evar!!
18/07/2008 at 11:35 Fazer says:
BTDT has a truely remarkable writing… Pitty I failed to solve the very first puzzle and am still looking for any kind of walkthrough or clues.
18/07/2008 at 11:41 Chris Evans says:
Must admit I am stuck with the TV puzzle…phail…!
18/07/2008 at 11:56 Fazer says:
I eventually read on some forum you have to use a… well, that you have that object in your inventory… wait, you have an inventory?! Why the game didn’t tell me about it?!
Remember, kids – always show me the menu when I press Esc. Show me the inventory, when I press “i” or “Tab” (“i” does nothing, “Tab” is bugged). If you design a new form of interface – frickin’ show me how i works.
Thank you for helping us help you help us all.
(Hint: Move your mouse to the upper part of the screen.)
18/07/2008 at 12:17 thezombiecow says:
There’s an instruction manual here: http://www.zombie-cow.com/?page_id=21
18/07/2008 at 12:20 Alec Meer says:
(testing a thing. Ignore me)
18/07/2008 at 12:21 Alec says:
(also testing)
18/07/2008 at 12:30 Vasara says:
Protip: read the “how to play” page on the site if you’re not familiar with adventure games.
Excellent game, very entertaining. The writing is excellent.
18/07/2008 at 13:03 Fazer says:
I am familiar with adventures, I’ve beaten all Monkey Islands, The Longest Journey and some other. And I don’t wanna read no manual outside of any game.
Right now I already solved telly situation. I must say the writing is brilliant. The death of adventures joke is a stroke of genius!
18/07/2008 at 14:18 Smee says:
How do I get the spanner. How do I get the Yin.
I just know there’s a Sam and Max-style Jesse James’ Hand puzzle around here somewhere. I just need to find a broken golf ball retriever.
18/07/2008 at 15:20 Mark says:
Really enjoying this so far.
@Smee: It sounds like you’re just about where I am. I haven’t got either of them yet, but I was stumped at that point for a while before noticing something new in the hub. I had to stop playing shortly after, so don’t know how much help that’ll be…
18/07/2008 at 15:33 JohnG says:
I’m stuck :/ Got a few of the doors open on the alien ship, but I’ve got to a point where I don’t seem to be able to open any new doors, or do anything in any of the open ones :/
Last one I opened was the volcano one, got some laav, but don’t seem to be able to do anything with it anywhere. Got a dead dino, one playing a video game, and a side quest to make one work harder.. but I dunno which one that one is, or how to do it.
18/07/2008 at 15:52 thezombiecow says:
JohnG/ Smee: There’s something new in the alien ship once you come out of the Dinomension…
18/07/2008 at 16:20 Duoae says:
@John:
Should those words be capitalised? :)
18/07/2008 at 16:40 Smee says:
Well, I’m stuck again, on the Yin and Yang. I’m not sure if I should have been able to pick up the Yin by now and use it to get the Yang – if so, I appear to be missing something. Are there any useful lengths of rope hiding anywhere? I’ve done the lamp post, the camera…
JohnG, have you searched the male toilets thoroughly? There’s an item you need to finish Dinoland. The one who has the x-wing is the lazy one you need to distract. Now, what do x-wings fight?
18/07/2008 at 16:46 JohnG says:
Finished it now.. it was fun, except the (rot13)(frperg ebbz) which was just out of place.. the whole game is about finding the right thing/use, yet there’s one place where you have to almost know in advance there’s something to look for to find it.. kind of breaks the flow.
18/07/2008 at 16:52 Gap Gen says:
Sometimes I use exclamation marks in e-mails to people I don’t know that well or if English isn’t their first language when the context is unclear, say (so something ironic might just seem like you’re a raging idiot). But yeah, it does kinda kill the humour.
18/07/2008 at 16:57 JohnG says:
Looks like I solved the dino puzzle before finding out what it was.. I just wanted the x-wing and clicked on stuff.
18/07/2008 at 17:05 Vasara says:
I just finished it. In addition to the quality writing, it’s also a very good adventure game. The puzzles were logical but challenging enough, I never had to resort to trying random objects to see if anything works. The ending was… surprising.
18/07/2008 at 17:16 thezombiecow says:
What’s a (rot13)(frperg ebbz)?
18/07/2008 at 17:17 Smee says:
Just finished it, I am invincible. Thanks for the tips, all.
I was sad that the Yin didn’t destroy the cow universe. The force field puzzle was also a bit obtuse. Anyway, great writing.
18/07/2008 at 17:34 Vasara says:
thezombiecow: rot13 is a cypher. Put (frperg ebbz) through a rot13 decryptor, such as http://www.rot13.com.
18/07/2008 at 17:39 thezombiecow says:
Thanks Vasara. And to think I’m ‘reading’ Cryptonomicon.
I say reading, I mean ‘waiting for it to not be shit and get to a good bit’.
We thought the frperg ebbz was fairly obvious. At very least, not annoyingly impossible to find. But I guess it’s the break-neck pace at which people seem to play through pointy-clickies these days.
18/07/2008 at 18:47 Radiant says:
Something new in the hub?
Are you talking about the pir ni eht llaw?
What do i do with the loo cakes?
18/07/2008 at 20:08 Radiant says:
ok right invis doors done Got the yang but wtf am I to do with the lamp post to get the yin?
18/07/2008 at 20:50 Okami says:
The moment I realized what it was that I needed the sponge for,I had to laugh just a little bit. And I usually don’t laugh when gaming.
Well done. Well done indeed.
18/07/2008 at 21:08 Okami says:
V’ir tbg gur Lnat. Naq V’ir tbg gur Mbzovr Unaq pbirerq jvgu tyhr. Ohg jung qb V fgvpx gb gur unaq?
18/07/2008 at 21:12 Radiant says:
Gurer’f n ebcr va gur vpr jbeyq juvpu jnf ubyqvat hc gur snyyra fvta.
Gnxr vg naq gunj vg bhg [phaavat phaavat] naq lbhe tbbq gb tb onfu lbhe urnq ba guvf tbq sbefnxra ynzc cbfg.
18/07/2008 at 21:14 Radiant says:
Fcbatr jnf uvynevbhf.
18/07/2008 at 21:22 Okami says:
Thanks Radiant. Though I was able to figure it out myself in the end, by sheer coincidence.
And I’m now merrily bashing my head in, just as you predicted :)
18/07/2008 at 22:10 MisterBritish says:
The forcefield, it defeats me!
Brilliant so far though.
18/07/2008 at 22:16 Okami says:
@Mister British:
What kind of stuff that’s vaguely sugar lump sized do you not want to touch, let alone have in your drink?
Hope that helps..
18/07/2008 at 22:56 MisterBritish says:
haha, finished, that was superb.
18/07/2008 at 23:08 Radiant says:
Wait what?!?!
LAMP POST!
HELP ME!
18/07/2008 at 23:25 John Walker says:
Wow, we really need to implement spoiler tags, don’t we?
18/07/2008 at 23:34 Radiant says:
@ Jnyxre Anu jr’er tbbq.
@ Rirelbar ryfr BU PUEVFG URYC ZR JVGU GUVF CBFG!
19/07/2008 at 00:34 Vasara says:
I was stuck on the lamp post for a while as well, but it’s not that hard when you stop and think about it.
Uvag uvag: Lbh arrq n gbby gung lbh pna phg zrgny jvgu. Vg jnf bar bs gur guvatf crbcyr va gur “qnex ntrf” hfrq gb hfr, onpx jura gurl unq ab Lnat cbjref.
Spoiler tags would be lovely, yes.
19/07/2008 at 11:56 Okami says:
I liked how the game just ends and drops you back to windows after the ending credits..
19/07/2008 at 12:22 Fazer says:
I’m stuck and need serious help (spoilers ahead).
I’ve read somewhere you need a can-opener to cut the lamppost, but I don’t know where can I find it (opener, not lamppost).
19/07/2008 at 12:46 Fazer says:
Spoilerish:
How can I obtain the spanner?
19/07/2008 at 13:15 Radiant says:
@Fazar Vasara gave you the answer:
Vg’f va bar bs gur rkuvovgf va gur fhcre zhfrhz.
Guvf tnzr jnf znqr ol onfgneqf!
19/07/2008 at 13:51 Fazer says:
@ Radiant: Ubj qb V trg gb gur fhcre zhfrhz?
V fgvyy qba’g unir nal vqrn ubj pna V ernpu gur fcnaare.
19/07/2008 at 14:18 thezombiecow says:
There’s now a Digg for BTDT, via me.
If you love it, will you Digg it, please??
19/07/2008 at 14:23 Radiant says:
Qb lbh xabj jurer gur fcnaare vf?
Unir lbh qbar gur qvabfnhef?
Gurer vf n frperg qbbe va gur uho gung nccrnef nsgre gur qvab jbeyq [vg'f orgjrra gjb qbbef vg'f rnfl gb zvff] va gurer vf n pebjone [VG'F GUR BAYL GUVAT GB QB VA GURER; VTABER GUR YVTUGF] tb gb gur svfu naq sevrf naq erzbir gur cynax sebz gur qbbef. Hfr gur cynax gb pebff gur ynin.
rg ibvyn fcnaare
19/07/2008 at 14:29 Radiant says:
The problem with that door is that you’re disparaged for looking at the other details on the wall so when the door appears you don’t notice it or you ignore it.
19/07/2008 at 14:43 Fazer says:
@ Radiant: Netu, V fjrne V gevrq hfvat gur pebjone ba gur Svfu ‘a’ Sevrf jvaqbj naq qbbe, ohg ur jbhyqa’g qb nalguvat! V’z tbvat onpx gb OGQG.
19/07/2008 at 17:38 Fazer says:
I’ve beat it. Sadly, these days I hate adventures, but that one was neato! Lots of laughing, rather logical yet challenging puzzles. Good luck in creating more games, Zombie-Cow!
19/07/2008 at 20:43 Ted says:
The writing was a bit hit and miss (stupid ending) but good game overall. I’m not getting a paypal account just to give these guys money, but if they set up a more straightforward way to donate I would.
20/07/2008 at 00:57 Gap Gen says:
Just finished this. Good work, guy(s)! Impressive amounts of dialogue for every possible interaction.
20/07/2008 at 01:13 02sheslop says:
Wow, first adventure game i’ve ever completed without having to look at hints.
I’m pretty chuffed with that.
20/07/2008 at 20:21 Fazer says:
I’ve already donated them, Ted, for a price of a standard indie game from Steam ;-) PayPal is really easy to use, just write the amount of money, click on a confirmation button and that’s it. You should give it a try ;-)
23/06/2009 at 22:26 Darren Mullen says:
Oh my warmed soul.
This game has made me excited about adventures again. More so than Tell Tales Monkey Island.
Mostly because it features Curran, Byron and McCarthy (It might have been the exclamation mark.)
12/10/2009 at 14:02 oceanclub says:
I finished it! One of the few adventures I’ve ever finished (last one was Broken Sword on the GBA). Funny, and logical puzzles – two things most adventures forget about.
Now for the sequel….
P.