Interviews

May 9, 2008

Are You Cool? Are You Attractive? Strong Bad Makes the Call in His First Game
By Louis Bedigian

“This is a Wii Remote only affair. We thought letting Strong Bad get anywhere near something called a nunchuck would be a bad idea.”

Homestar Runner, the birthplace of the hit Web cartoon Strong Bad Email, is about to get his first crack at gaming with Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People. Set for release as a WiiWare exclusive, SBCGFAP hopes to bring the series’ wacky, pop culture-mocking humor to the world of Wii.

“Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People is a hilarious episodic adventure that will allow the player to take control of Strong Bad as he attempts to achieve his often convoluted schemes to achieve total awesomeness, usually at the expense of others!” said Lead Designer Mark Darin. “It’s cool because Strong Bad has deemed it so. And when a short, pudgy, wrestling-mask-wearing, boxing-glove-wearing, email-writing, megalomaniac declares that something is cool, you better listen!

“To ensure the attractiveness of players, the Wii Remote will automatically configure itself to read the bio-non-ugly aura of the player as they attempt to purchase the games through WiiWare. If the player passes Strong Bad’s digital attractiveness filter (which was programmed using several bits and bytes of data, he’d like you to know) then the purchase will go through and you’ll know you are an attractive person!”

Given that SBCGFAP is only for attractive people, what will Strong Bad do if unattractive people play his game?

Mark Darin: Oh man! If unattractive people do get their less-than-pretty hands on this game… Geez, I don’t even want to think about what he’d do. He’d probably march right over to Homestar’s house and give him a knuckle sandwich… or a turkey sandwich… or maybe just some sand.

Are there any characters in the game that aren't cool? Maybe a villain or two?

MD: According to Strong Bad, most of the characters are not cool. Like his little brother Strong Sad who always seems to be whining about something. Or that jerk, Homestar Runner and his dumb hat. Or Coach Z… that guy is about as un-cool as they come. As for villains, well it would take a lot to be more dastardly that Strong Bad, but he’s taking all challengers!

How will Strong Bad's e-mail-answering antics play a role in the game?

MD: Like the cartoon, checking e-mail is an important part of Strong Bad’s everyday goings-on. It’s a good idea to check regularly to keep up with things going on in the world. You’ll get updates from other characters, fan mail to make fun of, and maybe even a few surprises…


The in-game visuals match the show’s Flash animation graphics.

Let's get into the gameplay. Will Strong Bad use the nunchuck or be compatible with the Classic Controller?

MD: This is a Wii Remote only affair. We thought letting Strong Bad get anywhere near something called a nunchuck would be a bad idea. You’ll get to use the Wii Remote in a variety of ways though, including the Virtual Console inspired Classic Controller style for playing games on his 8-bit style video game console.

Can you tell us anything about the prank phone calls and mini-games?

MD: You can pretty much prank call anyone in the game, as long as you aren’t standing near them at the time. The mini-games are scattered and varied… anything from playing the 8-bit action game Snake Boxer 5 to creating the Best Teen Girl Squad comic ever. And your scores (along with your success rate in other activities) will be used to track your “Awesomeness” throughout the game.

How will the dialogue-based puzzles work?

MD: Dialogue puzzles? Man, do you really want to spend all your time trying to figure out what people are trying to say to you? Yeah, you have to talk to people from time to time to get useful information from them, but there are so many other fun puzzle type things to enjoy in this game, why focus on the one? Oh, except when you get the choice to either compliment or insult the people you get to talk to. Guess which one I’ll be doing most!

In what ways can you use and abuse inventory items?

MD: Let’s just say that there is a lot of collateral damage you can do in this game. And this too is tracked and adds to your overall Awesomeness. I have two words concerning episode 1 in this regard: hedge trimmers.

Do you think the Wii remote is a good substitute for a mouse? Does it have benefits over a mouse?

MD: No way! I stuck my Wii Remote in one of those little hamster balls and it didn’t do anything! I even put some cheese out for the little guy to chase… nothing. All that thing is good for is pointing and clicking… and shaking… and waggling… and generally having a sweet time playing video games.

Given the quirky nature of the game, I'd assume the visuals will be pretty outrageous. What can we expect?

MD: You can expect the game to have almost the same graphic style as the insanely popular web cartoon… but in 3D! It’ll be as if you just jumped right into the cartoon and started wandering around and breaking things. Plus you’ll get to explore locations in depth and even see new areas you didn’t even know existed.

Thank you for your time.