I totally spaced on getting back to you on this but mine would have to be the Disney Black Hole movie and the original V. I recall my parents wouldn't let me watch V since it was considered too 'adult' at the time so I would sneak to the old TV in the basement to watch it. They were probably right.
As for the Black Hole. If you haven't seen it go do so. It's probably one of the more twisted kids movies ever made.
Brian
Submitted by jackgraham on
So, Eclipse Phase is kind of a weird game. Explaining it to people unfamiliar with the game commonly provokes one of two reactions:1) The person's eyes light up with excitement, and they say something like, "Wow, cool!" Then they start asking questions about the world, the mechanics, or whatever weird train of thought hearing about it inspired.
2) The person cocks their head, gets a funny look on their face, and says, "That's, uh, pretty effin' weird. Where did you get the idea for this?"
Well, people who have reaction number two, I'm weary of blaming my favorite sci-fi writers for our game's complex setting and unsettling themes. While they deserve a lot of credit, I decided to dig a bit deeper. So, for your amusement, I've questioned my fellow Eclipse Phase creators to produce this list of things that warped our little minds at an impressionable age, causing us to grow up to be writers, scientists, computer programmers, activists, and *gasp* game designers.
John Snead: Dr. Who. "The third doctor is almost entirely responsible for my fashion sense."
Lars Blumenstein: Captain Future, an anime series that aired on German Television in the early '80s.
Tobias Wolter: Tobias cited several influences, including Star Wars (his first action figure was a Tusken Raider), Das Schwarze Auge, Twin Peaks, and The Smurfs (which seems incongruous together with the other three... until you really start thinking about it, and then it gets pretty weird).
Me (Jack Graham): Allen Varney's weird-ass 1983 game Globbo. I played it the other night for the first time in about 20 years, and while there've been many bigger influences on my creative output, this one maps to EP in some bizarre and amusing ways.
Rob Boyle: Rob cited a bunch of novels, including Edgar Rice Burroughs' Mars and Venus books. He read all of them around fifth grade or something. He even made his own dustcovers for a class project (which he claims to still have somewhere; I'm totally going to make him dig them up next time I'm in Chicago). Also, Heinlein's The Number of the Beast. (Rob's comment on this one? "Fucked up on so many levels. I was way too young when I read this.")
So be careful what you let your children watch/play with/read.
They might grow up to be game designers.
Category:
Sun, 2009-11-22 17:38
#1
kylleran
Re: Things that Warped Us as Children
Tue, 2009-11-24 20:45
#2
Thantastic
Re: Things that Warped Us as Children
I was inexcusably sluggish in getting back to Jack, so allow me to add that my purchase of most of the original Traveller books at a church bazaar when I was 12 marked me indelibly. (That was a "safe" game since it wasn't D&D and didn't have any "evil" in it and therefore OK to sell at a church bazaar.) The rules were all well and good, but I kept wondering why it didn't have more for social interactions... which I suppose explains my current secret work on secret stuff.
Also, Unico. That bit of trauma showed me that you could include psychological trauma in just about anything.
Wed, 2009-11-25 06:09
#3
Cardul
Re: Things that Warped Us as Children
How could anyone who had read them NOT see the Burroughs Martian Tales
as featuring heavily in EP? I mean, one of the factions is even named
"Barsoomians." It only makes me wonder how long until we see rules
for The Green Men of Mars in addition to the Rusters ;)