Host Master and the Conquest of Humor
Encyclopedia
Host Master and the Conquest of Humor is a free Flash
adventure game
, written by Klint Honeychurch and game developer Tim Schafer
, with gameplay and art by Honeychurch and music by Bert Chang. The game was published by Double Fine, of which Schafer is president, and is playable on their website.
. The style is a direct pastiche of the Lucasarts
SCUMM
adventure games
, of which Schafer was one of the principal creators. The game uses Schafer himself as the protagonist, placing him backstage at the Game Developers Choice Awards
, which he hosted in 2009. Schafer is unprepared for the event, and must scour his dressing room in an attempt to find jokes for his speech, a search which becomes increasingly implausible and comedic over the course of the game. Footage of the game was screened before Schafer's actual appearance at the awards. The graphics, interface, puzzles and sense of humour are all directly modelled upon Schafer's own Lucasarts games, which include Maniac Mansion: Day of the Tentacle, and Full Throttle, as well as writing credits on the Monkey Island series. The dialogue in particular is notable, featuring Schafer's trademark wit and clever asides.
gaming subpage Offworld , Gamespot
, Gamespy
and Jay Is Games
, with Gamespot remarking that 'although the graphic adventure genre has fallen into a rather small niche, Schafer and developer Klint Honeychurch clearly remember how to do the format justice'
Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash is a multimedia platform used to add animation, video, and interactivity to web pages. Flash is frequently used for advertisements, games and flash animations for broadcast...
adventure game
Adventure game
An adventure game is a video game in which the player assumes the role of protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and puzzle-solving instead of physical challenge. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based media such as literature and film,...
, written by Klint Honeychurch and game developer Tim Schafer
Tim Schafer
Timothy Schafer is an American computer game designer. He founded Double Fine Productions in January 2000, after having spent over a decade at LucasArts...
, with gameplay and art by Honeychurch and music by Bert Chang. The game was published by Double Fine, of which Schafer is president, and is playable on their website.
Gameplay
Both the plot and gameplay of Host Master feature substantial amounts of metagamingMetagaming
Metagaming is a broad term usually used to define any strategy, action or method used in a game which transcends a prescribed ruleset, uses external factors to affect the game, or goes beyond the supposed limits or environment set by the game...
. The style is a direct pastiche of the Lucasarts
LucasArts
LucasArts Entertainment Company, LLC is an American video game developer and publisher. The company was once famous for its innovative line of graphic adventure games, the critical and commercial success of which peaked in the mid 1990s...
SCUMM
SCUMM
Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion is a scripting language developed at LucasArts to ease development of the graphical adventure game Maniac Mansion....
adventure games
Adventure game
An adventure game is a video game in which the player assumes the role of protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and puzzle-solving instead of physical challenge. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based media such as literature and film,...
, of which Schafer was one of the principal creators. The game uses Schafer himself as the protagonist, placing him backstage at the Game Developers Choice Awards
Game Developers Choice Awards
The Game Developers Choice Awards are annually presented by the Game Developers Conference for outstanding game developers and games.Introduced in 2001, the Game Developers Choice Awards were preceded by the Spotlight Awards, which were presented from 1997 to 1999.The 2009 award presentation was...
, which he hosted in 2009. Schafer is unprepared for the event, and must scour his dressing room in an attempt to find jokes for his speech, a search which becomes increasingly implausible and comedic over the course of the game. Footage of the game was screened before Schafer's actual appearance at the awards. The graphics, interface, puzzles and sense of humour are all directly modelled upon Schafer's own Lucasarts games, which include Maniac Mansion: Day of the Tentacle, and Full Throttle, as well as writing credits on the Monkey Island series. The dialogue in particular is notable, featuring Schafer's trademark wit and clever asides.
Response
Due to its association with Schafer, as well as the Game Developers Conference, Host Master received substantially more media attention than is usual for an online Flash game. It was reported on by Boing Boing'sBoing Boing
Boing Boing is a publishing entity, first established as a magazine, later becoming a group blog.-History:...
gaming subpage Offworld , Gamespot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
, Gamespy
GameSpy
GameSpy Industries, Inc., known simply as GameSpy, is a division of IGN Entertainment, which operates a network of game websites and provides online video game-related services and software. GameSpy dates back to the 1996 release of an internet Quake server search program named QSpy. The current...
and Jay Is Games
Jay Is Games
Jay Is Games is a game review website that features daily updates and links to casual games, browser games and flash games of wide interest to casual gamers...
, with Gamespot remarking that 'although the graphic adventure genre has fallen into a rather small niche, Schafer and developer Klint Honeychurch clearly remember how to do the format justice'