| Host Master 1-2 | Double Fine | 2009 | |
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Host Master and the Conquest of Humor This is a retro point and click game in the style of early LucasArts adventures done in Flash. And by "in the style of", I mean "constantly making jokes about". Even the very first screen is a reference to the days of DOS, and the user interface is a deliberately clunky riff on classic adventure game awkwardness. In fact, the whole game is a tribute to Double Fine president Tim Schafer, who helped set the standard for game humor in 1990 with The Secret of Monkey Island, and kept the streak going over the years with cult favorites Day of the Tentacle, Grim Fandango, and Psychonauts. You take the role of Schafer, backstage at the 2009 Game Developers Conference, completely unprepared to host the event. (In the real world, the real Tim Schafer is in fact hosting at this year's GDC. Host Master and the Conquest of Humor has so many layers of self-reference, it threatens to collapse in on itself, taking the whole conference and possibly the universe with it.) Your goal is to scour the area, collecting as many of the 22 jokes as possible before you finally walk on stage. The more jokes you find, the better the evening goes. Host Master Deux: Quest for Identity (2013) Though he learned from his previous mistakes and arrived to host the Game Developer's Conference prepared, Double Fine's Tim Schafer never expected to have to prove he really is, y'know, Tim Schafer, to a giant of a security guard who won't let him onstage. Created by Benedikt Hummel and Marius Fietzek, Tim's got to track down everything he needs to convince the burly gatekeeper he's the one and only. He'll need a Schafer-like beard, more Schafer-ly attire, and some classic Schafer-esque jokes, but rounding all of that up is going to be anything but straightforward. Or sane. Though drastically different in style, it's definitely no less funny, albeit in a more surreal way. The art and animation are adorable, with a funky and fitting (though somewhat repetitive) soundtrack by Major Bueno. | ||
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