Preview: Cletus Clay

By: Derek Yu

On: December 4th, 2008

Cletus Clay

Another one of the 2009 IGF games I’m excited about is Anthony Flack‘s Cletus Clay. This hillbilly run n’ gun got its start over five years ago, not long after the release of and subsequent fiasco over Anthony’s popular shoot ‘em up Platypus, and not much was said about it in the interim. So it’s great to find out now that the game is in IGF, is coming to the PC and Xbox, and even has its own development blog (as any good indie game should).

Currently on the blog, Anthony is recounting a really interesting personal history of clay games, including the popular adventure title The Neverhood. Honestly, I’m surprised there haven’t been more such games. I guess stop-motion is kind of dead in the modern world… or is it?

In any case, Anthony… after Cletus Clay, I demand that you remake Bert the Barbarian. Please! For the glory of Crom.

TIGdb: Entry for Squashy Software

  • Georgietowne Manburger

    Oh! I was wondering about this recently! Good to know it’s still alive.
    And Bert the Barbarian is a classic!
    A remake is definitively in order.

  • Kovski

    Great, double great, no tripple great post!
    Very awesome to hear about Anthony Flack again! I already lost hope. And he even has a new dev blog! W00t! Great news!

    Also very nice stop-motion picks. I especially liked the first one!

  • http://www.glennbroadway.com Glenn

    Can you expand on the ‘fiasco’ to which you allude? I purchased Platypus from Retro 64 I think, and always had trouble getting updates. Loved it though.

  • http://www.tscreative.net BMcC

    Yeah! I noticed this was on the list, too, and gave out a squeal of glee.

  • http://chaoseed.com/garden John Evans

    Well, “Darkness, Light, Darkness” is almost 20 years old now, but it *is* kind of a classic, so I suppose that’s okay. ;) I’m surprised you didn’t mention Robot Chicken…

  • yougiedeggs

    Don’t forget the Neverhood’s platforming sequel, Skullmonkeys.

  • Derek

    Glenn: http://www.squashysoftware.com/makingplatypus.php

    John Evans: Shhh, that was my poorly constructed excuse to post those links… ;)

  • Jamie Woodhouse

    Wish Anthony every possible success with this game. Looks totally awesome, and how cool is it? make a game out of clay!?

  • Hyouko

    Holy crap. I remember playing the early demo of this when it was linked off of… BlitzCoder, I think? It was just a demo of the controls and graphics, but it already felt really fun. Can’t wait to play the actual thing.

  • noah_j

    not surprising they died out, really.

    super expensive, huge time investment, plus the neverhood was pure awesome that made no monies.

    …apparently they’re making a neverhood movie? huh.

  • Otaku42

    Stop-motion’s still getting some love here and there. The upcoming Coraline movie looks bloody gorgeous, and it’s being directed by Henry Selick (the one who actually made Nightmare Before Christmas). Plus, there’s a new Wallace and Grommit short coming out, called “A Matter of Loaf and Death”, and the aforementioned Robot Chicken continues to do well. And, yes, Frederator Studios is involved in producing a Neverhood movie (pleasedon’tsuckpleasedon’tsuckpleasedon’tsuck).

  • BroodKiller

    Just wanted to second the request for a remake of Bert the Barbarian. It’s such a wonderfull piece of art, which certainly deserves a new shot. It could even stay ‘as is’, with just a few more levels, for all I care, although any improvements would be nice.

  • Smithy

    This is exactly what the country is missing nowadays. We need more claymation!
    Not just in video games, in the movie industry, too! I tell yah, picture Jurassic park if the dinosaurs with claymation instead of fake fake CG animation…

    Or heck, picture it’s A Wonderful Life if Jimmy Stuart were made of clay! It’d be a classic! But instead it stinks!

    And that’s all I have to say about that.