Glitch Productions is one of the up and comers of the indie animation boom of the 2020's. It's got special relevance to us since its founders were the people behind the Mario based web series SMG4. I figured they probably merit a thread. While I'm at it, have a poll!
Glitch Productions
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Let's get to the real reason I'm making this thread. The new show Gameoverse! Which just released its pilot episode on May 15th. (Though the trailer's unique footage is canon to the pilot, so you should watch that too.) It's about video game characters trying to save the worlds of other video game characters… by preventing their protagonists from completing their games lest their world self destruct. You know, normal premise.
Oh, and there's this interview from Animation Magazine with series creator Ross O'Donovan that you might want to read for some background in the production.
Anyhow, sales pitch. I like this show. It nails the setting perfectly. Everything about it feels like a game setting. Fighting bosses by taking advantage of environmental obstacles, having visible health bars for climatic battles, pixel art map screen transitions, esoteric rules that force the characters down a specific path, etc. There's also little touches, like all the characters having a kind of recovery item that matches their aesthetic, or the targeting systems on the antagonists' ship being a light gun game straight out of an arcade.
I like how broad the show aims for. The lead, Kit, is very much drawing from Mega Man, while Gobbles pulls from Barney & Friends.
I kind of wish the name was better. Gameoverse looks like a fun pun, but try to say it out loud. It's "gameo-verse" It's quite difficult to determine how to say it without cross-referencing the show, and ideally something that wants to have word of mouth go in its favor shouldn't make it so difficult.
I'm not entirely sure the trailer should have had key information. It's Gobbles's backstory, depicting educational game spoof Gobbles & the Learnosaurs. While Gobbles's presence eventually means making fun of educational games, I think leading on that was bad because it paints the show as less sincere than it actually is. There was a strong possibility of me skipping the show off that impression of the premise if not for the recommendation by one @InsaneBlathers. Also, the trailer isn't in the Gameoverse playlist for some reason, so people are going to miss the trailer.
I don't get Fold. Every character in Gameoverse is designed with a role in.a theoretical game in mind. Kit's a Mega Man-alike, Kabootle is her inventory, Miss Information does tutorials, and so on. Fold's stretchy limbs and ability to transform into various objects suggest main character or notable ally, but but then his ability to turn into paper with arbitrary drawings/text suggests a supporting character or UI element. The idea of using that last ability to serve as a literal game walkthrough is downright inspired though.
The credits footage and song are absolutely perfect. Almost no notes there. Has to be heard to be believed. Its a song based on the in-universe game Gobbles & the Learnosaurs, with the footage closer to the end based on more kinds of games.My only gripe is that about one-sixth of the screen during said credits is spent on hawking the merchandise. I get that the merch needs selling, because otherwise there's no money in indie animation, but man does sullying a pretty sequence this way feel bad on my end.
Speaking of the merch, I read elsewhere that this pilot episode has a lot of characters. (This pilot has ten major characters with dialogue, and three more who presumably would become major characters given more episodes.) Perhaps too many. Which I agree with; overall series antagonist Warrick gets shorted on characterization because of the sheer numbers. But, they probably have to jam as many characters as they can into the pilot because of the need to sell merchandise. How will I be convinced to buy blind boxed figures of the show's cast if I haven't seen them all yet?
Oh, and there's this interview from Animation Magazine with series creator Ross O'Donovan that you might want to read for some background in the production.
Anyhow, sales pitch. I like this show. It nails the setting perfectly. Everything about it feels like a game setting. Fighting bosses by taking advantage of environmental obstacles, having visible health bars for climatic battles, pixel art map screen transitions, esoteric rules that force the characters down a specific path, etc. There's also little touches, like all the characters having a kind of recovery item that matches their aesthetic, or the targeting systems on the antagonists' ship being a light gun game straight out of an arcade.
I like how broad the show aims for. The lead, Kit, is very much drawing from Mega Man, while Gobbles pulls from Barney & Friends.
I kind of wish the name was better. Gameoverse looks like a fun pun, but try to say it out loud. It's "gameo-verse" It's quite difficult to determine how to say it without cross-referencing the show, and ideally something that wants to have word of mouth go in its favor shouldn't make it so difficult.
I'm not entirely sure the trailer should have had key information. It's Gobbles's backstory, depicting educational game spoof Gobbles & the Learnosaurs. While Gobbles's presence eventually means making fun of educational games, I think leading on that was bad because it paints the show as less sincere than it actually is. There was a strong possibility of me skipping the show off that impression of the premise if not for the recommendation by one @InsaneBlathers. Also, the trailer isn't in the Gameoverse playlist for some reason, so people are going to miss the trailer.
I don't get Fold. Every character in Gameoverse is designed with a role in.a theoretical game in mind. Kit's a Mega Man-alike, Kabootle is her inventory, Miss Information does tutorials, and so on. Fold's stretchy limbs and ability to transform into various objects suggest main character or notable ally, but but then his ability to turn into paper with arbitrary drawings/text suggests a supporting character or UI element. The idea of using that last ability to serve as a literal game walkthrough is downright inspired though.
The credits footage and song are absolutely perfect. Almost no notes there. Has to be heard to be believed. Its a song based on the in-universe game Gobbles & the Learnosaurs, with the footage closer to the end based on more kinds of games.My only gripe is that about one-sixth of the screen during said credits is spent on hawking the merchandise. I get that the merch needs selling, because otherwise there's no money in indie animation, but man does sullying a pretty sequence this way feel bad on my end.
Speaking of the merch, I read elsewhere that this pilot episode has a lot of characters. (This pilot has ten major characters with dialogue, and three more who presumably would become major characters given more episodes.) Perhaps too many. Which I agree with; overall series antagonist Warrick gets shorted on characterization because of the sheer numbers. But, they probably have to jam as many characters as they can into the pilot because of the need to sell merchandise. How will I be convinced to buy blind boxed figures of the show's cast if I haven't seen them all yet?
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I thought the Gameoverse pilot was pretty good overall. They did a good job of using the video game setting without making it feel too much like a cheap reference fest. The subtle use of straight edges in the art gave the feeling of polygonal video game models. The animation felt a little choppy at some points, but pausing on random frames seems to usually look good.
Kit seems to be a combination of multiple video-game platformer protagonist archetypes, I think she's mainly blend of Mega Man and Ratchet from Ratchet and Clank, with maybe mild hints of Sonic the Hedgehog in there as well.
I'm interested in seeing how they develop the character of the Farcade leader (I don't remember his name) from his character design alone. Clearly he is visually meant to bring to mind a villainous archetype, and the possibilities that leads to are all somewhat interesting. The two questions would be what his role was originally if he was once part of a game world, and what his morality is now. That leads to five different possibilities in my mind. He could be a fallen hero, a redeemed villain, a villain that is pretending to be an ally, A hero who's still on the side of good despite his current appearance or someone outside of the paradigm of hero's and villains, and I can see all being interesting possibilities.
I think that the bad guys had a good balance of having comedic moments while still coming across as a genuine threat at certain points that you don't usually see.
There are some rather obvious worldbuilding questions that come with the premise, such as the number of games where the villains goal was already to destroy the world but I'll wait to see if there are any answers.
Kit seems to be a combination of multiple video-game platformer protagonist archetypes, I think she's mainly blend of Mega Man and Ratchet from Ratchet and Clank, with maybe mild hints of Sonic the Hedgehog in there as well.
I'm interested in seeing how they develop the character of the Farcade leader (I don't remember his name) from his character design alone. Clearly he is visually meant to bring to mind a villainous archetype, and the possibilities that leads to are all somewhat interesting. The two questions would be what his role was originally if he was once part of a game world, and what his morality is now. That leads to five different possibilities in my mind. He could be a fallen hero, a redeemed villain, a villain that is pretending to be an ally, A hero who's still on the side of good despite his current appearance or someone outside of the paradigm of hero's and villains, and I can see all being interesting possibilities.
I think that the bad guys had a good balance of having comedic moments while still coming across as a genuine threat at certain points that you don't usually see.
There are some rather obvious worldbuilding questions that come with the premise, such as the number of games where the villains goal was already to destroy the world but I'll wait to see if there are any answers.