Indie Spotlight

2012/06/03 18:13:23 +00:00 | Jonathan James

Our Indie Spotlight feature returns with UFO's, a zombie webseries pilot, and an exclusive interview with Woe to the Living co-designer Joshua Butterfield. We also have an exclusive first look at the cover art for Shakespeare v. Lovecraft:

Devolution: Reckoning- This short film is a unique 10 minute piece about UFOs attacking Earth, told through timelapses and other experimental means.

"Fed up with the failures of mankind, a cruel race of UFOs set out to destroy Earth and all that inhabit it. Can civilization survive the incredible onslaught of the attackers? BARAKA meets WAR OF THE WORLDS in this unique sci-fi short, told through an unconventional arrangement of dramatic timelapses, public domain radio plays, and some experimental flair from horror filmmaker Gavin Heffernan."

Watch the short film for free at: https://vimeo.com/12120049

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Zombie Squash: Last month, we were one of the first to bring you news Zombie Squash, an upcoming tower defense-style game voiced by George Romero. Interested in learning more? The official website is live and new details have been released.

"ACW Owner Attila Juhasz is the creator of Zombie SquashTM, a world where vegetation has gone wild from evil experiments gone wrong. Zombie SquashTM is a tower defense style game where the Player is a rabbit named Jack Stompingtail who fires carrots, zucchini and other garden ammo at Dr. Beau E. Vil’s horde of gorde onslaught. The player has to try and stop the Zombie SquashTM from taking over the world. The game will be initially released for PC and Mac desktops late October 2012."

For more information, visit: http://www.zombiesquash.com/

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Model Hunger: "There’s nothing more thrilling than power saws and vacuums plugging into the screen to suck, tuck, and dismember unsuspecting young women for your viewing pleasure. It’s equally intoxicating when the director herself has starred in these roles hundreds of times.

Fangoria Magazine’s June 2012 cover model and First Lady of Fear (Issue #314), veteran genre actress Debbie Rochon (COLOUR FROM THE DARK, THEATRE BIZARRE) is crossing over the lens in her directorial debut with the self-aware horror film, “Model Hunger”.

Written by executive producer James Morgart (WON TON BABY!) and produced by Gregory Lamberson (SLIME CITY and SLIME CITY MASSACRE) and Shannon Lark (LUDLOW), “Model Hunger” is a terrifying perspective of what can happen when the industry pushes one woman too far and the horrifying domino effect that hacks, grinds, and amputates the unlucky women crossing her path.

“Model Hunger” is slated for production this summer with a talented cast to bring the horror straight to your voyeuristic eyes. For now, stampede over to the Facebook page and pledge your undying devotion to the blade."

Learn more at: http://www.facebook.com/ModelHunger

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Shakespeare v Lovecraft: We covered D.R. O'Brien's novella in a previous spotlight and now we have your first look at the official cover art:

“In the same putrid vein as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Shakespeare v. Lovecraft slithers hideously onto the literary mash-up scene, whispering of cosmic horrors and eldritch tales whilst espousing sweet soliloquys and profoundly contemplating mankind’s place in the universe.

Prospero, driven dangerously insane by prolonged exposure to the dread Necronomicon, makes a terrible pact with the titanic alien beast known only as Cthulhu. Now only his enchantress daughter Miranda and a handful of history’s greatest heroes are all that stand between humanity and blasphemous eternal subjugation.

It’s a bloodbath of Shakespearean proportions as Cthulhu and his eldritch companions come at our protagonists from all manner of strange geometric angles in a hideous and savage battle for supremacy.”

For more information or to read it for yourself, visit: (UK) http://www.amazon.co.uk/Shakespeare-Lovecraft-Shakespeares-Characters-ebook/dp/B007V7VBGM

(US) http://www.amazon.com/Shakespeare-Lovecraft-Shakespeares-Characters-ebook/dp/B007V7VBGM/r

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FDR: American Badass- Screen Media Films has announced that they have acquired FDR: American Badass and plan to give the film its first screening at Comic-Con:

"FDR: American Badass is a slapstick comedy that has the 32nd President of the United States riding a ‘wheelchair of death’ to stop the world from werewolves who carry the polio virus, including werewolf versions of Hitler, Mussolini, and Emperor Hirohito. The film, directed by Garrett Brawith and written by Ross Patterson, stars Barry Bostwick, Lin Shaye, Kevin Sorbo, William Mapother, and Paul-Ben Victor.

Also, actors Barry Bostwick and Kevin Sorbo, along with producers Ross Patterson, Tristen Drew, will be representing the film at Comic-Con, where FDR: AMERICAN BADASS! will screen with the previous hit from the filmmakers, POOLBOY: DROWNING OUT THE FURY, on consecutive nights."

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How I Dismembered Your Mother: "An unbalanced dad (Didrik Davis) uses a chainsaw to even the score with his whining wife (Valerie Clare) when their relationship sours and she announces her plans to divorce him. Caught in the middle is his young son (Joe Cipriano) and a few unlucky passersby in "How I Dismembered Your Mother," the all-new entry of "Lee Martin's The Midnight Hour." This new episode airs Saturday and Thursday nights throughout the month of June, 2012."

To watch a trailer for the new episode, visit: http://youtu.be/nMfVECshcC4

For channels, times and a live streaming video link, visit: http://www.leemartinsthemidnighthour.com

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Slash 'Em: A new animated horror animated web series pilot episode, titled Slash 'Em, has recently been released by Mondo Media. The pilot features voice actress Amber Nash (Pam on Archer) and a number of artists/animators that worked on Archer as well.

"Wretched parents Phil and Jean and their innocent son Steven move into the house of a deceased notorious serial killer named Bloodbath Ben."

To watch the pilot episode, visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmLPnAgm528&feature=plcp

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Working Stiffs is Now Available: Working Stiffs a horror-comedy story set in the fast-paced world of pharmaceuticals and has just been released:

"Something has gone horribly wrong in the Pro-Well Pharmaceuticals factory, and ex-meth dealer Marshall Owens, the company’s owner and drug genius, must keep the surrounding Pittsburgh area from finding out. Unfortunately, the undead assembly line workers have other plans. been released by Necro Publications:

The infection spreads and chaos reigns supreme as the surviving Pro-Well employees battle their way through offices with whatever weapons they can scrounge from the supply closet. They must get outside. But they don’t know that The General is out there amassing a shambling, rotting army of Pittsburgh’s finest.

Will the employees make it? Will two repulsive workers find love in a janitor’s closet? How many office workers can one man take down with the blade of a paper cutter and some staplers? Will Marshall Owens go back to selling meth? And most important of all, will Pro-Well’s stock value plummet?

To learn more or pick up the book for yourself, visit: http://www.necropublications.com/working-stiffs.html

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Zombie Swipeout Released: "The zombies are here! Today Zombie Swipeout is rolling out on the App store and will be available on iPhone and iPod Touch for people to slash, smush, bludgeon, freeze and explode as many zombies as possible. Created by the talented team behind the much-loved ZombieSmash! game, Zombie Swipeout returns to its familiar “survival comedy” setting and spirit, inviting players to unload an arsenal of sharp and blunt weapons and power-ups on waves of airborne zombies. The game combines sophisticated ragdoll physics and a smooth, slash mechanic to create one of the highest-quality and graphically rich games in the category."

To download the game or learn more, visit: http://youtu.be/biW9w8LxGiM

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Project: Phoenix- The pilot for the zombie webseries Project: Phoenix has recently been released and we have it for you to watch below:

"A passenger attacked a flight attendant. Bit her. On her throat. He was taken down by a marine. Moments later, the flight attendant attacked a passenger. Passengers began tweeting, "rabies on a plane." Their wifi was shut off. The entire world waited in wonder for the plane to land at Hartsfield International in Atlanta. Waiting to see what happened on that plane...

Ellena Hyland is reactivated from her domestic lifestyle. Reactivated to assemble a new team from the decade-long dissolved PROJECT: PHOENIX - A black ops government agency that must stop an outbreak of an infectious disease."

To learn more about the series and their future plans, visit: http://www.facebook.com/phoenixop

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Ninety Seconds Teaser Trailer: "In an unnamed city in the near future, surveillance experts use equipment as sophisticated as any intelligence agency and hire themselves out to well heeled and paranoid clients. They become known as “Techs”. Mark (Andrew Norry) is one of the best of his kind. He takes on what seems like an ordinary assignment for shady business man Mr. Philips (Michael Parle). His job is to follow and record every movement of a young dancer (Emma Eliza Regan). But soon both he and his new assistant - hacker Ralfi (Claire J. Blennerhassett), discover there is something strange about this assignment and they quickly find themselves in the middle of a mystery that may well bring about their downfall."

Watch the teaser trailer at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McrecnHV9WY

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Interview with "Woe to the Living" Co-Designer Joshua Butterfield

Thank you for taking the time to talk to Daily Dead. Can you introduce yourself to our readers and tell them a bit about Touch Paper Press?

“Bring quality games to people; bring quality people to gaming.” - Touch Paper Press is a small partnership, destined to rule the galaxy. Our individual adventures collided at the Board Game Designers Guild of Utah. Both of us carry a life-long commitment to sharing the joy of gaming with everyone.

What inspired you to create Woe to the Living? How did the game evolve from it's original concept?

Trevor likes to develop from the angle of solving something (how to make something work and work well) and I work from the angle of how can we inject MORE personality, fun and drama into the game. That being said, we came up with a list of things we needed to solve:

1) A game that could be played on a 54 card deck
2) Simple enough that the rules would fit onto the two poker cards
3) Advanced enough that gamers could get finer nuances out of it
4) Art that Trevor could work with himself, reducing reliance on outside work
5) Cards that would appeal to a wider range of people than just hard core gamers (like we both are) – in this case, “Poker” cards, including suits, face cards etc..

Was it always the plan to sell this game or did it start out as a game between friends and grow from there?

This one was designed to sell, though it incorporated elements that have come from many years of setting aside rules that we thought would make OTHER games we play more interesting. So… both?

Can you give our readers a basic overview of how the game is played?

You bet. Shuffle up the cards, and deal one card to each player that is put, face up, in front of them. Then deal three more cards to each player. Based on the face up card (their initial prey), the player then decides whether they want to keep the prey or discard it, based partially on the other player’s prey. Once that decision is made, you try to anticipate other players’ needs and work to either keep or discard your own prey while interfering with other players plans. This continues for 4 rounds, and ultimately, the player with the SECOND highest terror captured is the winner.

The game has a very distinct classic horror comic art style. Who was responsible for the artwork and why was it decided to go with this particular style?

There are two answers to this. The simple answer is that we researched public domain art and found pieces we LOVED to use in the game. The deeper more honest answer is that Trevor spent hours and hours first finding the images, then meticulously re-filtering them until they met his exacting standards. I estimate that Trevor spent at least 30 hours working on the art for the images in Woe to the Living, but I am likely understating the time involved.

As for why classic horror comic art style - Primarily, we both LOVE this style. There are lots of other reasons, but they all wend their way back to this one.

I grew up with Flash Gordon, with Buck Rogers and with the comic greats! We grew up together, and drifted apart. Art took on a more solid, defined look. Details became more important than the feel. Quality of paper improved, and the tactile joy of opening those old pulp mags was lost. Newer comics seemed more sterile and less vibrant. We wanted to pay homage to the art and effort that started it all!

The Kickstarter campaign raised 5x the original goal. Has this changed your plans on what you'll be offering for this property?

Yes! With the extra funding we were able to spring for a higher quality box than the standard “tuck” box and go with a more reputable, but slightly more expensive, company. After seeing our advance copy, we feel that both of these things paid off. We are confident that people will be very happy with Woe to the Living.

Can you tell us about tie-in plans, such as artwork and fiction for sale?

We are preparing a short story featuring our highest backer that we hope folks enjoy and will set the stage for the game, but with how many game design ideas we’ve got, we’re years away from being able to focus on anything like artwork or fiction.

Do you plan to regularly issue updated decks with new artwork?

Not at this time, but if we receive a significant call for it, we will certainly do it. We do what we do FOR gamers, and if enough folks want something we’re going to build it and make it fun!

What's the next project for Touch Paper Press?

It’s called Seeking the Gift. Here’s a little information about that one. We believe it’s a game that has never been done before and if we can find a way to get the word out, we think it will fill a huge need in the world.

Do you have plans to attend any upcoming horror/comic conventions? If so, where can our readers stop by to meet you.

We would love to, very much actually. I think we’re going to be busy the rest of the year getting the four projects we’ve got an inch away from completion finished. I see us getting to a lot more conventions in 2013 with more games under our belts.

Thank you again for taking the time to talk with us. Is there anything else you'd like to tell our readers?

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To learn more about Woe to the Living, watch the video below or visit: http://www.touchpaperpress.com/portfolio/woe-to-the-living/