Tourist Trapis a 2D hand drawn point & click adventure game with a strong focus on narrative and light puzzle solving. It´s a surrealist comedy with a dark secret at the core of the story. In a fictional South American tourist town called Santa Ballena, we play as a young tour guide, Lucas, who uncovers a conspiracy involving local abductions and an menacing corporation controlling the town.
Developed by TragicoMedia, a two-man studio composed of myself and Manuel González Larrauri, the game tells a very personal story and has many layers but mainly revolves around the two sides of its plot.
On one hand, the main text of the story about a tourist colony ruled by a foreign corporation and the lives of the many exploited locals that try to survive within it, is very much inspired by Manuel’s experience growing up in a working-class family in Punta del Este, Uruguay. As a coastal tourist town it suffers from most of the game’s fictional ills, such as no real economy beyond service to wealthy foreigners, no interest from the government to care for its population or infrastructure beyond the summer months and an ever rising sense of despair and wish to escape.
On the other hand, the game also addresses the issue of touristification, which is not unlike the situation of cultural industries in the global south. Drawing parallels between working as an artist, developer or creative of any kind and living in the Global South. Meaning that one must choose to either entertain the tourists (i.e., Global North audiences) by serving to their tastes, culture and language (i.e., developing game in English based around a gaming culture developed by and for the Global North), or cannibalizing their own culture for profit (i.e., making games in English but featuring highly marketable elements of one’s culture).
It’s naive to believe that the games industry should be safe from colonization or the Global North cultural influence, but as artists we are tackling the issue with the tools we have.
Tourist Trap has something of value to add to that objective.
Welcome to Santa Ballena…
A sunny paradise where you can free y̵o̶u̶r̸ ̶m̷i̴n̵d̴,̸ ̴r̸e̷l̵a̷x̶ ̶a̶n̶d̸ ̸e̴n̵j̷o̴y̷ l̴͖̈ḭ̴̈́f̶̣̚ë̵͎ ̶͙̇a̴͍̓s̴̳͑ ̴̺̈ȁ̸̢ ̸̡̆t̷̗͑ṛ̵͌ư̷̤e̸̩̚ ̵̡̓l̶̠͒ǫ̸̍c̵̞̎a̸̹͑l̶̺̂.̴͌ͅ Tourist Trap is a surrealist dark comedy point & click adventure set in Santa Ballena, a South American town affected by tourism gentrification.
Introducing Lucas, a young tourist guide, who finds himself in the middle of a conspiracy involving local abductions, political rebels and Pharos, the shady foreign corporation controlling the town.
Hi, I’m Alec Robbins, head writer on Squanch Games’ High On Life and its High On Knife DLC (out today!) It’s kind of like a mini-sequel that bridges between the base game and whatever else we do next. It’s not entirely an epilogue, but we like to think of it as a bonus episode. It’s not entirely a horror experience, but it definitely leans into the genre in ways that we didn’t fully explore with High On Life. So let’s talk about horror!
I have some aversions to horror movies and I almost never seek them out – but my partner loves them so I do watch them all the time. My background is in comedy, and I always talk about how comedy and horror are exactly the same to me, just with different context. If you’re building comedy, or you’re building horror, you’re doing the exact same labor. The whole concept of trying to create a setup that flows into a punchline that surprises people and makes them laugh – that’s identical to the structure and horror; you’re trying to set up some tension that you then release, but instead of a punchline, it’s a scare.
Hi, I’m Alec Robbins, head writer on Squanch Games’ High On Life and its High On Knife DLC (out today!) It’s kind of like a mini-sequel that bridges between the base game and whatever else we do next. It’s not entirely an epilogue, but we like to think of it as a bonus episode. It’s not entirely a horror experience, but it definitely leans into the genre in ways that we didn’t fully explore with High On Life. So let’s talk about horror!
I have some aversions to horror movies and I almost never seek them out – but my partner loves them so I do watch them all the time. My background is in comedy, and I always talk about how comedy and horror are exactly the same to me, just with different context. If you’re building comedy, or you’re building horror, you’re doing the exact same labor. The whole concept of trying to create a setup that flows into a punchline that surprises people and makes them laugh – that’s identical to the structure and horror; you’re trying to set up some tension that you then release, but instead of a punchline, it’s a scare.
The first half of the High On Knife DLC is goofy, where you’re exploring this bright place called Peroxis. You’re there because Knifey (one of High On Life’s talking weapons) got a missed-package slip, and he convinces you to travel there to pick it up yourself. You visit this place called Salt Lick City, which is populated by a bunch of slug-like aliens. It’s packed with side missions and funny moments and weird things to explore. And then that kind of leads into the stark change halfway through the DLC where you’re suddenly in what we describe internally as a haunted shipping warehouse, Muxxalon, which was absolutely not inspired by any real-life companies. We made things darker and added a flashlight, which are obviously slam-dunk horror tropes.
Even though horror and comedy are similar, writing those specific horror moments was tricky for me at first because I come from comedy. I have faith in which jokes are gonna land, but I was initially worried about the horror. In both cases, you really can’t tell for sure until it’s built up enough that you can actually play through it when the voice acting is in and see if it’s timed correctly. That’s when you can really tell if it’s gonna get a laugh. But there was horror stuff where the lighting wasn’t in yet and the sound design wasn’t quite there so sometimes we couldn’t tell if it was going to be scary until much later in the process. So I feel like horror was actually the harder thing for us to get right this time around. But that’s pretty natural because we’ve clearly perfected the art of comedy.
In High On Life, we have characters that are constantly making quips and that can kind of ruin the vibe of horror. We actually have this entire section where the player is first introduced to the Muxxalon warehouse, full of dialogue and jokes. But after playing through it, we ended up taking out all the dialogue there just to make it feel a little scarier. With the dialogue it just didn’t feel scary. It wasn’t working. If the characters are talking and making jokes then they’re not scared so why should I be scared as a player? That first intro area in the second half of the DLC was the biggest test for us because we had to make the really tough call to pull back. Even one out-of-place line would ruin that moment.
I like it when comedy turns into horror and vice versa, where it’s hard to separate them. My premise for Muxxalon and how it operates is essentially “What if your boss was always over your shoulder? What if they were literally attached to your shoulder?” What if instead of like, just having a boss in an office who comes by and walks the floor… they’re a parasite attached to your shoulder telling you to get back to work. It’s absurd and funny but also? Maybe a little horrifying in practice? Maybe?
A lot of the natural scares came out of those basic ideas, and they were really brought to life by Gabourey Sidibe, who plays the boss of this operation, Mux. She was really funny, but she could get REALLY menacing. So it’s the reality of like, what if your boss was this evil glob that has taken over every square inch of this facility and could appear at any moment from any wall? It’s the ultimate surveillance.
But High On Knife is super funny, even with those horrific elements. I’m a huge fan of Ken Marino, and he plays your parasite. And we did so much with him. There’s a whole branching path, almost dating-sim part of the game, where most players are gonna go through it one way, but there’s like, probably five or six completely different routes you can take through this. And the recording session for that alone was like a full session. There’s so much more to talk about, but I only have so much space. It’s funny and spooky, and I’m really proud of our team at Squanch and what we were able to accomplish with the DLC.
Available October 3rd It’s been 2 years since the Bounty Hunter defeated the G3 cartel. Now Knifey needs help tracking down a mysterious package from his homeworld. Will they get mixed up with a friendly giant, a pinball gun, poaching rings, and a terrifying intergalactic shipping company? Yeah. Sure.
In this episode of Criken’s Quickies we delve into the rich historical simulation that is Assassins Creed: Unity. As evidenced by this video, Paris in the late 18th century was a pretty wild fuckin‘ place. It’s unclear what exactly went on during the revolution but historians are pretty confident that at some point or another everyone was on the floor.
Enthüllung der Grand Wizard-Edition und des neuen Trailers
Ubisoft®, South Park™ Digital Studios und Obsidian Entertainment kündigten den Erscheinungstermin von South Park™: Der Stab der Wahrheit™ an. In Europa erscheint das Spiel am 12. Dezember für PlayStation®3 und Xbox 360®. Das Erscheinungsdatum für Windows PC wird zu einem späteren Zeitpunkt bekannt gegeben.
Fans können sich die neuesten Aktionen in South Park™: Der Stab der Wahrheit™ im aktuellen „Destiny“-Trailer zu Gemüte führen. Im Trailer tritt der Neue hervor und erfüllt, nunja… sein Schicksal.
Über South Park™: Der Stab der Wahrheit™
Der Spieler rüstet sich als „der Neue“ mit legendären Waffen, um gegen Unterhosengnome, Hippies und andere Boshaftigkeiten vorzugehen. Er macht sich auf die Suche nach dem verlorenen Stab der Wahrheit und verdient sich seinen Platz als neuer Freund an der Seite der Seriencharaktere Stan, Kyle, Cartman und Kenny. Ist der Spieler erfolgreich, wird er zum Retter South Parks und festigt seinen sozialen Status in der South Park-Grundschule. Versagt er, wird er für immer seinen Loser-Status beibehalten.
Darüber hinaus ist die Grand Wizard Edition von South Park™: Der Stab der Wahrheit™ ein Must-Have für jeden South Park-Fan, der etwas auf sich hält. Die Grand Wizard Edition ist ab dem 12. Dezember erhältlich und bietet eine wahre Fundgrube an mystischen Gegenständen aus den tiefsten Tiefen von South Park™. Sie helfen dem Spieler dabei, seine große Aufgabe – die Inbesitznahme des Stabes der Wahrheit – zu bestreiten und schließlich das Reich des Bösen zu besiegen.
Die Grand Wizard Edition wird über den Uplay-Shop erhältlich sein (Vorbestellung ab 30. September 2013) und beinhaltet:
South Park™: Der Stab der Wahrheit™
Das vollständige Spiel für Xbox 360® oder PlayStation®3
Die Grand Wizard Cartman Figur von Kidrobot®
Die Spieler können den großen Zauberer Cartman und seinen Stab der Autorität mit der 15 cm große Replika-Figur von Kidrobot® in Pose setzen. Diese Figur ist nicht im Handel erhältlich und nur in der Grand Wizard Edition verfügbar.
Die Karte des South Park™ Königreiches
Zum ersten Mal in der Geschichte von South Park™ ist die gesamte Stadt kartographiert.
Das „Ultimative Mitgliedschaft“ Pack
Die Spieler können die Ultimative Mitgliedschaft durch das Vorbesteller-Paket freischalten, um sie alle zu knechten! So kann ein Spieler beispielsweise seine Klasse aussuchen und aus vier exklusiven Stab der Wahrheit-Kostümen mit speziellen Fähigkeiten wählen. Spieler können in die Robe eines Nekromanten schlüpfen und dadurch ihren Feuerschaden erhöhen, extra Gold durch das Anlegen des Schurken-Outfits erwerben, zusätzlichen Schaden durch das Waldläuferkostüm austeilen, oder die Verteidigung durch das Outfit des Paladins steigern. Der Spieler hat als der Neue die Wahl, doch wie auch immer er sich entscheidet: die Eroberung des South Park™-Königreiches steht bevor!
Die Premiere der 17. Staffel der South Park™ TV-Serie startet am 6. Oktober 2014.
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