Jazzpunk Is Retro Cyberpunk Meets Mel Brooks
Jazzpunk looks special. Very, very special. First off, just, well, look at it. The art style seems like some mad mix of Thirty Flights Of Loving and colors un-glimpsed by human eyes for eons. The original concept art could've been drawn by a pterodactyl. Who knows? The concept, though, is what actually makes it worthy of your precious eyeball fluids. In short, it's retro cyberpunk adventure game that's strongly influenced by '80s spoof films like Airplane and Naked Gun. It's even being developed with its own proprietary Jokes-Per-Minute (JPM) measurement technology. Seriously!
Jazzpunk is a self-described "first-person adventure comedy" that casts you as Agent Polyblank in a series of "gadget-driven" capers. So yes, sounds pretty adventure-y, although it certainly doesn't look it. As for the joke measuring technology, well, it's real - for better or worse.
"Jokes Per Minute Meter (JPM) is a tool we have implemented to help determine where and when comedy is running dry. In the code, each joke calls out to the joke meter to track that event and calculate the average number of jokes per minute. When the jokes per minute (JPM) falls below a certain level, we know we need to add content. This metric is useful for gauging quantity."
"Joke Heatmap is another tool we use to analyze problem areas, and survey joke potentials. It is simply a map a level with joke areas marked in red. This tool allows you to see more of the prospective 'quality' of jokes, as better ones can have a larger area of effect- requiring fewer in the surrounding area."
A bit weird, right? I mean, the best comedic timing tends to emerge organically and on a case-by-case basis - not via a series of preset limits - but traditional approaches and videogames don't typically go well together. So maybe Necrophone's onto something? I really, really hope so, anyway, because JazzPunk looks equal parts silly and stylish in a fashion that's highly relevant to my interests. It's coming "soon." Which really isn't soon enough, if you ask me. Hopefully we'll see more, er, sooner.