Westward II--were developers Firefly fans? by canttakesky

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Westward II--were developers Firefly fans?

POSTED BY: CANTTAKESKY
UPDATED: Wednesday, July 2, 2008 18:49
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Friday, May 30, 2008 6:05 AM

I've been playing this dinky computer game called Westward II: Heroes of the Frontier.

http://www.wildgames.com/games/westward-2

In this game, every building you construct has a name. One of the wood shacks I built was called "Jaynestown" and there are characters named Jayne.

Then, as I was in a shootout with a bandit, the bandit cried, "I aim to misbehave!" As it happened, I was wearing a browncoat t-shirt, and my daughter says, "Hey mom, that's what your shirt says!"

Just wondering if anyone knew if these are simply coincidences, or if there are browncoats who worked on this game.

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Friday, May 30, 2008 5:44 PM

PEPPERG

it's sort of like what brian eno said about the velvet underground: "only a few thousand people bought their first album when it came out, but all of those people went on to form a band"

ie, firefly/serenity might not have been a hit with the masses, but those who like it are generally smarter and more accomplished, so it's no surprise to see culturally savvy, hip, and creative people referencing it. heck, not too long ago i read a story about someone who had created holographic gravestones (like the kind in the film) called "serenity". examples like this go on and on.

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Saturday, May 31, 2008 6:02 AM

REAVERMAN

Oh, yeah, there are Browncoats everywhere in the entertainment biz. If you look hard enough, you'll see references everywhere, from movies to TV, to comic books, to video games.

Bungie, the developer that gave Halo to the world (a divine gift for which I will forever be grateful), even brought Nathan, Alan, and Adam in to do some of the voice-overs for Halo 3. As you play, if you listen closely, you'll occaisionally hear some of your marine allies shout out "Here's Vera!" just before they open fire (in Adam's voice, of course), every now and then you'll hear Alan's voice, though he didn't get much voice time aside from the opening sequence where he voices a medic that helps out the Master Chief. And of course, everyone's favorite captain voices a marine seargent that follows the MC through the whole game.

Also, in a fairly recent Star Wars comic, you can see a Firefly-class transport in the backround of one frame. It was enough that, if you look it up on Wookieepedia, the Firefly-class Mid-bulk Transport is now listed as a canonical starship in the Star Wars 'Verse.

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"O' course, ya couldn't buy an invite with a diamond the size of a testicle, but luckily I got my hands on a couple."

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Saturday, May 31, 2008 8:09 AM

CRAIGKURUMADA

Well, now. I've purposely avoided getting involved in too many games, including HALO, mostly due to their life/time sucking properties (what? It's Monday already and I have to go to work?)
But, this is an extraordinary incentive. That and Sean Maher is a HALO geek.

Craig in Arcata

All is shiny behind the Redwood Curtain.

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Saturday, May 31, 2008 8:48 AM

CANTTAKESKY

Cool! Halo--Another Thing to Get Addicted To.

I've put it on my list of future vices.

I'm playing along a bit more in Westward II now, and I see a sort of wagon platform named, "Platform 9 3/4." So I'm pretty sure now the authors of this game are borrowing names from popular entertainment culture, and someone on the team is a Flan.

Any game that puts Firefly up there with Harry Potter is cool with me.

Edited to add:
I just found this comment on a review of the game:

Quote:
Personally, I've been enjoying spotting the pop culture references contained in the dialogue and building names — that's another game in itself.

So I am not the only one who is noticing this. It does sweeten the pot.

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Saturday, May 31, 2008 11:32 AM

CANTTAKESKY

Oh yeah. A browncoat was definitely involved somewhere in development.

One of the bandits just said, "Time for some thrilling heroics!"

One Firefly quote may be coincidence. Two is a browncoat wink.

It just occurred to me that browncoats can have their own code whereby they recognize each other, like early underground Christians.

(Ok, I've been playing that game too long.)

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Friday, June 6, 2008 7:35 PM

PEPPERG

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/53034

more firefly influence on videogames

Mirrors Edge
EA DICE's parkour-based action game Mirror's Edge (PC, PS3, 360) features a dystopian plot which draws thematic inspiration from Joss Whedon's Firefly television series, said senior producer Owen O'Brien.

"To be very honest, I'm a big Joss Whedon fan, and a lot of the things in the story of the game came from Firefly and [feature film adaptation] Serenity," O'Brien told Gamasutra.

Mirror's Edge made waves early last month when publisher Electronic Arts released a gameplay trailer from the game, showing off the title's free-running action and Unreal Engine 3-powered visual style.

"It's very easy to look at this game, to misunderstand this game, and say, it's one girl against this police-state dictatorship. It's not. It's more subtle than that," added O'Brien. "One of the core questions that the game asks you is, how much of your personal freedom are you willing to give up for a comfortable life?"

O'Brien went on to explore the ways in which Joss Whedon's Firefly series—set in a dystopian, Western-inspired and space-faring future—made an impact on the development of the game's story.

"The basis of Firefly and Serenity is, you can't force other people to live by your system, even if your system is better. These people want to live on the edge of that society. Again, in Serenity, The Operative actually says, 'This is not an evil empire. We just don't understand why you don't want to be part of our happy club.'"

"Obviously, they take it too far, and similarly, that's kind of what happens in our game as well: the mayor of the city decides to take things a step too far," O'Brien concluded.

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Saturday, June 7, 2008 2:30 AM

CANTTAKESKY

Oh very very shiny! Thank you for sharing that.

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How much of your personal freedom are you willing to give up for a comfortable life?

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Saturday, June 7, 2008 8:37 AM

CRAIGKURUMADA

Quote:
Originally posted by canttakesky:
Oh yeah. A browncoat was definitely involved somewhere in development.

One of the bandits just said, "Time for some thrilling heroics!"

One Firefly quote may be coincidence. Two is a browncoat wink.

It just occurred to me that browncoats can have their own code whereby they recognize each other, like early underground Christians.

(Ok, I've been playing that game too long.)

Well, thanks to you, I've gotten into Westward II. Some other pieces besides the ones you mentioned are a very Jaynesian "Time for some thrillin' heroics." A reference to "Are my pants too tight?" and referring to two characters as Kaylee and Simon. Hell, I'm playing the game just to find more references!

Priorities get a little skewed - oh, sorry, appropriately re-configured - (glad I caught myself there.)

Craig in Arcata

All is shiny behind the Redwood Curtain.

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Saturday, June 7, 2008 9:12 AM

CANTTAKESKY

Quote:
A reference to "Are my pants too tight?" and referring to two characters as Kaylee and Simon. Hell, I'm playing the game just to find more references!

Yeah, me too. I'll have to look for Kaylee and Simon.

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Monday, June 9, 2008 4:34 PM

CRAIGKURUMADA

Canttakesky:

Okay, some more. When you build the Saloon, the voiceover is "Do they serve Mudder's Milk?" and when you start a gold mine, you get "Shiny!".

I almost missed the "shiny" (believe it or not), because I use it very much and it seems completely normal to say it.

Craig in Arcata

All is shiny behind the Redwood Curtain.

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Wednesday, July 2, 2008 6:49 PM

FLAME

I made a post about Westward (the first one) back in April:

http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=2&t=33445

There were two main characters in it named Kaylee Whedon and Simon Whedon. But there were also several pop culture references to other movies, TV, Westerns, even the chickens were named "Colonel" (as in Colonel Sanders of KFC, I assume). There were Little House on the Prairie references, even an entire side quest based on Gilligan's Island. They seemed to be trying to work in as many different references as possible.

But Westward II definitely seems to have more Firefly/Serenity references than the first version.

Which is why I LOVE it.

~ Flame ~
http://raleighshindig.blogspot.com/

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