Adaptations – Altering the Source

Yesterday I caught a few glimpses of The Killing Joke’s animated film adaptation, and while I won’t give you a review until I’ve seen it, the clip I saw got me thinking on the subject of adaptations and the ways people go about them.

TV Tropes has a vast list of different adaptation tropes, from Compressed Adaptation, where in the process of adapting the story to a new medium they cut out entire chunks of the story or universe hoping the overall experience remains the same, no matter how many holes there are. There’s Distillation, which is about simplifying complex elements of the source material to make the transitions easier. Pragmatic Adaptation is the most reasonable of all, where you cut out or remix the elements that just won’t work in the new medium. Continue reading Adaptations – Altering the Source

EGX Highlights – Theo & Lizzy

One of the biggest surprises I had during EGX was Theo & Lizzy. Ever since playing the original Super Mario Bros. with my NES back in the 80s, I’ve loved platformers and the faster they are the more I like them. I want a challenge when I play them, mostly so I can show off my skills—or lack thereof—by completing levels as fast as possible or not at all.

I went by Butcherlab’s stand and saw people playing it like crazy. Knowing how busy EGX was and how many people would crowd the booth, I’d decided to only play a little bit of Theo & Lizzy, to get a feel for its gameplay so I could write this article, but the moment I started playing and got a handle on the controls, I couldn’t stop. Ollie Elliot, Co-Founder of Butcherlab, sat by me to guide me through the demo as well as answer a few of my questions. Continue reading EGX Highlights – Theo & Lizzy