The avoidable problem of Red Dwarf XI: The Game

[One Time]

In my opinion they made a mistake in making the video game by not thinking it through.

The attraction of Red Dwarf, apart from the comedy, is the richness and depth of the franchise Universe. The immense mysterious size of the ship, the decks, the varied comedic elements. From vending machines to the simplest things like the contents of a locker to toasters, etc.

Also the immensely convoluted timeline, Lister being his own dad, the various different dimensions, etc. It’s such a rich universe.

The game should have been a fan service in that direction (like GB:TVG was) and given the fans more in depth information to digest. Possibly in the form of a Monkey Island type point and click. A layered experience that the deeper a player wants to dig (if they are a superfan) the more fan service is unearthed. That was the way to do it.

From a universe as rich as Red Dwarf the actual game they made was simply a game with a play mechanic at a 4 year olds level with literally copy pasted lines of dialogue from the series. It could not have been a more uninspired and lazily made product.

Perhaps the problem is that there is no archived repository of the universe at the BBC. Like Star Wars has, to draw information from and prevent contradictions, maintain congruence, etc. Maybe Red Dwarf has to start with that, an internal giant archive/encyclopedia of canon, that future series and potential games could draw from.

That’s my opinion :)

Topic

[si]

literally copy pasted lines of dialogue from the series.

Doug did write exclusive stuff for the game.
It’s all very well being a fan service (and we’ve seen through the excellent interaction that the developers have had on here, for example, that they have put stuff in there just for us), but the game needs to appeal to casual viewers as well as those (myself included) who perhaps aren’t regular gamers. This could very easily be a point and click game, or one of those coloured balls games that are so popular these days), but it’s a we’ll thought out and imaginative game.
Perhaps they made work harder for themselves by trying to make each level episode-specific, and perhaps they can drop the XI and open it up to include other episodes and the Dwarf universe in general.
And as for suggesting that

It could not have been a more uninspired and lazily made product

I don’t think you could be more wrong.
But each to his own, I suppose.

[Ridley]

Yeah! And why were the mobisodes lazy copy/pastes of others scenes drawn with a crayon rather than being the Red Dwarf movie? Come on, Doug.

[Author]

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