Why Game? 1 - TextFiles.com

Game Design #1
Wes Ehrlichman
Art by Lestrade
Anyone remember the game Bubsy? Most
people who do probably want to forget it. I
actually have fond memories of Bubsy. Not for
what the game was, but for my memories of
what I thought the game was going to be. Bubsy
was first in the long line of shameless Sonic the
Hedgehog rip-offs that attempted to capitalize
on the spiny blue rodent’s success. While Sonic
lived by his attitude (OMG, Sonic taps his foot
when you set down the controller!), Bubsy was
meant to live by his death. You see, Bubsy’s
claim to fame was the dozens of different types
of death that he could succumb to.
I remember an EGM of that era which fea-
tured a huge spread showing many of Bubsy’s
different death animations. Before Bubsy finally
hit my local Software Etc. I would stare at that
page in daily anticipation of killing off that bas-
tard. When the game finally came out, I found
out that these deaths would come cheaply due
to poor control and awkward screen scrolling.
I quickly gave up on Bubsy, but the prospects
introduced by his game were enough to get
me thinking, “Wouldn’t it be cool if there was a
game that centered around trying to die in the
most gruesome way possible?” And from that
the idea for Suicide Salaryman was born.
Suicide Salaryman begins with your char-
acter – a typical Japanese Salaryman, chosen
54 The Gamer’s Quarter Issue #3
specifically for the high suicide rate among men
who work in Japanese offices – waking up in his
bed. Our character, named by the player upon
beginning a new game, was fired from his job of
25 years the day before, yet continues to wear
his suit in an effort to keep his mind focused on
the years of his life which meant the most to
him - those when he was supporting his family
with his career.
After waking up for the first time the tuto-
rial begins with a step-by-step walkthrough
which explains how to move into the next room
(the kitchen), how to jump (onto the counter),
how to pick up items (a knife), and how to use a
held item (the Salaryman stabs himself). At that
point, an instant replay would trigger, showing
the stabbing in a dramatic camera angle while
tallying up the accumulated suicide points. A
notepad with several different suicide possi-
bilities would slide up from the bottom of the
screen and the “stab self” checkbox would be
checked off by a skeletal grim reaper hand. The
Salaryman would instantly reappear in his bed
and be given another chance to end it all. At this
point, the game would allow you the freedom to
take your character anywhere in Tokyo that you
want, allowing you to kill off the Salaryman in
thousands of different ways.
Each time the Salaryman is killed off,
he will wake up back in his bed for you to try
something else – a bit like the suicide section
of the movie Groundhog Day. The ultimate goal
of the game is to try to complete all of different