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
- Thread starter Salmancer
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- Thread starter
- #2
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. Here's hoping for the credits to be uploaded as an independent video at some point.
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. Here's hoping for the credits to be uploaded as an independent video at some point.
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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- MarioWiki
- CaptainOdyssey
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. It's interesting that if she's a game protagonist her heroic traits and need to rescue people were likely literally written into her very existence, which is part of the tragedy of the universe overall.
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. It's interesting that if she's a game protagonist her heroic traits and need to rescue people were likely literally written into her very existence, which is part of the tragedy of the universe overall.
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.
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- Thread starter
- #4
Some extended media things:
Promotional material, which I've embedded below, gives Kit and Gobbles ages. Gobbles is 23!? What? Okay, there's the tie, but this seems too high somehow. Twenty-three seems too old for an "sits in the back of the car while playing on his tablet" joke. The description for his plush outright calls Gobbles a "tablet baby".
The game Flappers the Super Dolphin is apparently pulling heavily from Super Mario. This is more explicit in the 2012 rendition of Gameoverse, which includes a Power Star expy, but once this is known its clear it still applies to 2026. Snappers, his archnemisis, can spit fireballs and lives in a lava themed area. He's a Bowser-alike, which I think allows people to say Flappers is a Mario-alike. I'm floored I didn't think of this earlier. Making the Mario expy a character who explicitly does not jump feels like deliberately putting the writers in an uphill battle when it comes to joking about it, though I guess nothing's stopping introducing a second more Mario-like character when its time to crack the stomp joke.
Promotional material, which I've embedded below, gives Kit and Gobbles ages. Gobbles is 23!? What? Okay, there's the tie, but this seems too high somehow. Twenty-three seems too old for an "sits in the back of the car while playing on his tablet" joke. The description for his plush outright calls Gobbles a "tablet baby".
The game Flappers the Super Dolphin is apparently pulling heavily from Super Mario. This is more explicit in the 2012 rendition of Gameoverse, which includes a Power Star expy, but once this is known its clear it still applies to 2026. Snappers, his archnemisis, can spit fireballs and lives in a lava themed area. He's a Bowser-alike, which I think allows people to say Flappers is a Mario-alike. I'm floored I didn't think of this earlier. Making the Mario expy a character who explicitly does not jump feels like deliberately putting the writers in an uphill battle when it comes to joking about it, though I guess nothing's stopping introducing a second more Mario-like character when its time to crack the stomp joke.
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The only reason I know about Glitch is because of when I watched SMG4 a couple of years ago. As for my favorite? I don't really know because I haven't watched any. But I voted for TADC because that's the only one I really know about (same with Murder Drones)
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I've only watched 2 episodes of the Amazing Digital Circus and my only takeaway is
I'm going to watch more of it sure, and I like that it's basically a kid friendly take on "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream". The animation and voice acting are pretty great for what it is, and I have no major qualms about the writing really, it's a kids' show that tackles these issues done by one person who really wanted to tell her story with her characters. It only has 9 episodes, which is fine, Gooseworx can't do everything. I personally think it's a major kneecap to having any more depth explored about the themes the show wants to handle, but as a less intense, more easily digestible, more light-hearted take on psychological trauma, it's all right. My only biggest issue is the script: using the term "LARPing" and "hype it up" as unironic slang will age horribly and I feel like swearing in the show (bleeped out at first but you know what they're saying) is tonally inappropriate and is done only to give a veneer of it being an "adult" cartoon (in which the show is nowhere close to even being for adults).
Unfortunately, I have the feeling that show is going to be remembered in the long term more for its online potshots the fandom and Gooseworx have against each other than its actual redeeming content, which is a huge shame, really. It's a firsthand lesson into what NOT to do on social media and it's very clear Gooseworx has no professional training on media PR that she really needs. I don't think she'll, like, work on any more projects for a very long time because that shit is legit damaging to mental health and she really needs professional help.
I'm going to watch more of it sure, and I like that it's basically a kid friendly take on "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream". The animation and voice acting are pretty great for what it is, and I have no major qualms about the writing really, it's a kids' show that tackles these issues done by one person who really wanted to tell her story with her characters. It only has 9 episodes, which is fine, Gooseworx can't do everything. I personally think it's a major kneecap to having any more depth explored about the themes the show wants to handle, but as a less intense, more easily digestible, more light-hearted take on psychological trauma, it's all right. My only biggest issue is the script: using the term "LARPing" and "hype it up" as unironic slang will age horribly and I feel like swearing in the show (bleeped out at first but you know what they're saying) is tonally inappropriate and is done only to give a veneer of it being an "adult" cartoon (in which the show is nowhere close to even being for adults).
Unfortunately, I have the feeling that show is going to be remembered in the long term more for its online potshots the fandom and Gooseworx have against each other than its actual redeeming content, which is a huge shame, really. It's a firsthand lesson into what NOT to do on social media and it's very clear Gooseworx has no professional training on media PR that she really needs. I don't think she'll, like, work on any more projects for a very long time because that shit is legit damaging to mental health and she really needs professional help.
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I wouldn't say it's really kid friendly, but I would say it's okay for older kids (9-12). I think people associate it with kid-friendly because of the fan-made (usually inappropriate) slop on YouTube kids watch.
- Thread starter
- #10
Oh hey, there's a Youtube soundtrack upload for the Gameoverse pilot. I mean, I have to link it. Listen to it there or wherever albums are streamed. Give it up for Grant Kirkhope and Jake Kaufman!
Gameoverse (Original Pilot Soundtrack)
Even if one isn't up for television soundtracks, the fantastic "Credits" song is included. It also includes the song from the trailer's unique footage, "Gobbles & The Learnosaurs", but not "The Final Battle" from the trailer's montage.
Gameoverse (Original Pilot Soundtrack)
Even if one isn't up for television soundtracks, the fantastic "Credits" song is included. It also includes the song from the trailer's unique footage, "Gobbles & The Learnosaurs", but not "The Final Battle" from the trailer's montage.
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So I've binged on the entire Amazing Digital Circus. What are my final thoughts of it as a series?
Speaking from the POV of purely an audience member, the show has a decent premise, great animation, and compelling characters, but it's all ultimately kneecapped by having only 9 episodes, and the finale especially did not really satisfyingly wrapped up loose knots. It really felt like Gooseworx had the heart to write more, but it's very telling she was suffering from severe burnout and wanted to just wrap everything up and move on from the series, which is why the 9th episode felt very rushed. I can't believe people actually went to theaters to see this, especially considering it was going to be free on YouTube only weeks later, and the finale wasn't exactly spectacular either.
I didn't have a problem with Jax as a character, even though he was designed to be an unlikable prick. It's very easy to tell he's suffering from trauma and that he purposely acts this way to keep people away from him, due to suffering debilitating losses from establishing connections with other people. The stuff he said to Pomni to keep her away, it's specifically designed to stop her in her tracks, and I don't hate him for saying these words. However, Jax is pretty uncharismatic as an asshole character, almost downright sociopathic, and he pretty much has only two emotional states: being sadistic, or being morose, and that's not really a deep or compelling character. I've read people say he downright bullies Gangle to the point where she's scared of him but tbh, Gangle just cries about anything and is lucky to have Zooble to stand up for her.
I think Jax has a decent amount of screentime and I don't think him having focus is an issue, it's mostly the other characters who get the shaft. We don't really know much about Gangle or Zooble compared to Jax, and again, that's the fault of the 9 episode structure. The series kinda gets kicking like in episode 4-6 but once you're like in episode 8, it already feels like it's starting to wrap up.
Speaking from the POV of purely an audience member, the show has a decent premise, great animation, and compelling characters, but it's all ultimately kneecapped by having only 9 episodes, and the finale especially did not really satisfyingly wrapped up loose knots. It really felt like Gooseworx had the heart to write more, but it's very telling she was suffering from severe burnout and wanted to just wrap everything up and move on from the series, which is why the 9th episode felt very rushed. I can't believe people actually went to theaters to see this, especially considering it was going to be free on YouTube only weeks later, and the finale wasn't exactly spectacular either.
I didn't have a problem with Jax as a character, even though he was designed to be an unlikable prick. It's very easy to tell he's suffering from trauma and that he purposely acts this way to keep people away from him, due to suffering debilitating losses from establishing connections with other people. The stuff he said to Pomni to keep her away, it's specifically designed to stop her in her tracks, and I don't hate him for saying these words. However, Jax is pretty uncharismatic as an asshole character, almost downright sociopathic, and he pretty much has only two emotional states: being sadistic, or being morose, and that's not really a deep or compelling character. I've read people say he downright bullies Gangle to the point where she's scared of him but tbh, Gangle just cries about anything and is lucky to have Zooble to stand up for her.
How he treated Ribbit was also extremely unrealistic, and this was supposed to be the moment he snaps from trauma. He completely does a 180 on his attachment and personality the moment he reveals some personal life details to a person he trusts and implicated to spend a lot of time with, like he was comfortable talking to her one moment and then, right after he said some vulnerable things, immediately leaps to not trusting her and then being very verbally and emotionally abusive to her. Honestly, if I were to write this scene, I'd have Ribbit expose some of her own character flaws that causes some conflict to boil between the two and it eventually explodes over something seemingly minor (like say, Ribbit forgetting to clean up after herself or something) and that's when Jax starts to increaslingly starts to ghost her. This writing is an issue of being forced to reveal major relationship rifts through only an extremely tiny window of flashbacks in a single episode, when these kind of complicated relationships in other shows often take many, many, many episodes of incidents that causes friends to snap). This is why I didn't really feel anything when Jax abstracted because the flashbacks weren't sufficient enough for me to feel sympathy for him.
I think Jax has a decent amount of screentime and I don't think him having focus is an issue, it's mostly the other characters who get the shaft. We don't really know much about Gangle or Zooble compared to Jax, and again, that's the fault of the 9 episode structure. The series kinda gets kicking like in episode 4-6 but once you're like in episode 8, it already feels like it's starting to wrap up.
BigBoom1946
Extremely Eloquent Extraterrestrial
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I really like Gameoverse, hope more episodes release.
ThatOneUniqueToad
Blue vampire thing who's stuck in the 2010s.
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- MarioWiki
- ThatOneUniqueToad
So, I watched Digital Circus all in one go, and...I thought it was good. Not really worth watching again, but it's good to see it's got a fan following.
The first half of the episodes were pretty memorable at its finest. Just a group of goofy ahh characters who have to acquit themselves on goofy ahh adventures.
So, yeah... Despite its flaws, I thought TADC was a fun ride. I enjoyed it.
The first half of the episodes were pretty memorable at its finest. Just a group of goofy ahh characters who have to acquit themselves on goofy ahh adventures.
So...here's where I go knee-deep on the rest of the episodes: Things start to end around episode 6-7. I don't really have any complaints about the storyline, but my main conflict is finding out we've been following digital mental replicas of the chracters we thought were the real deal as well as themselves. Episode 8-9... I don't think I'm ready to talk about it. It was just...melancholic to say the least. Although I have to say one thing: Caine felt more like a major character in the later episodes cause this was when he found out he was in the wrong. Need I say more?
So, yeah... Despite its flaws, I thought TADC was a fun ride. I enjoyed it.
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