Going retro: WiNG talks about “Life in a Game”
If you’re unfamiliar with Life in a Game, it was my first venture into gaming entertainment. Working with my high school pal Dan Glick, we wrote up a comedy adventure about a guy who slowly uncovers the truth behind the 16-bit mishaps in his life.
He played the intentionally poorly-named protagonist Guy, with my part being The Jackal, a mysterious boss-like villain. Our friends stood in for the various NPCs and sidestory characters, though we managed to pull in more talent as the episodes progressed. It slowly evolved from a simple action story into a pretty plot parodying convoluted gaming plots. So meta.
The show ran through a 16-episode season on Screwattack, culminating in an April Fool’s finale (which I personally prefer) and a real finale showing at the first ever Screw Attack Gaming convention. We didn’t really have the means to put together another season, but we came around to the idea of finishing the lore of the game world through a custom RPG.
Only two months after starting T3, I posted an article asking for help with animation related to the Life in a Game RPG. We didn’t get any responses (understandably so), and the project was eventually suspended due to lack of funds, manpower, and McRib sandwiches. Those things always go out of season when you need them most.
A few years and a few dozen McRibs later, we still have a pretty cool script, but no means to make it a reality. We’ve scaled back our expectations from “full blown RPG” to “maybe a comic,” but even that’s a lofty goal. It’s hard to gauge how much interest there’d be, and even then it might be tough raising funds or even just spreading the word. We never really had a LIAG Newsletter or anything.
That’s kind of where you, the reader, come in. If you’d like to see the LIAG comic become a reality, and might even be willing to throw $5 at it, let me know. I won’t start a formal fundraiser without knowing it has a chance of panning out, but the prospect of a successful completion to a long withstanding project is oh so enticing. In the meantime, watch this summary video to get a little more of a glimpse of what I’m talking about.
Or hell, watch the whole damn series.
Bringing back Life in a Game
I remember when I first found out about life in a game. You, Wing, were playing TF2 and talking about how you were in some show called “Life in a Game”. I decided to check the show out and watch a few episodes. After a couple days I finished the whole series. I thought you guys did a great job putting more depth into the plot as it went later into the series, and was sad to see it end. If I could draw well enough I would have surely helped you guys out on that RPG idea. But, alas, I am only a humble coder.
I would surely throw some money towards a LIAG comic. My only requirement for the comic would be for its art to be of a decent quality. I don’t want any stick figures.
Damn, that was our entire plan.
I watched a YF2 video where you advertised that, obsessed with the idea of seeing you true identity. Instead when I saw the cast and saw your picture I pointed at the screen and shouted: “I figured it out,”
Do it wing, the series was awesome and you remember me talking to you about season 2 or a game about 2 years back.
So take it from a friend and fan, this is what you want to do and what you should do.
I’d be willing to draw it free though i have no drawing capabilities via computer and so no real way of uploading it. Plus i’m not so great with color, but I can draw a decent black and white pencil comic. I’d love to see it ended regardless