What’s Bothering Carl?

By: Derek Yu

On: April 3rd, 2009

A slightly offbeat recommendation, but my friend and game developer Andy “astrospoon” Hull is starting something cool that I think is very much in the indie spirit – he’s creating interactive storybooks for kids through his new company, Story Fort (who would have thought that he once created a game called Nun n’ Gun?). Andy single-handedly wrote, illustrated, coded, narrated, and wrote music for his first book, What’s Bothering Carl?, which features lots of interactive bits on each page as well as a card-matching game and two full-length, animated music videos (!), which are a riot. I dunno, it’s a really nifty and inspiring thing, and brought back all kinds of good memories of when I was a kid, playing with educational stuff like Manhole">The Manhole and pix">Kid Pix, which had a big impact on me. I would have killed to have a book like this. Maybe you guys have or know of some younglings that might likewise appreciate it.

Posted in Casual, Community | Tags: AndyHull

http://coolmoose.net CoolMoose

If I had money, and/or kids, I would be all over this. Groovy.
Zulgaines

If I had a heart, and/or kids, I would be all over this. Righteous.
sawbooth

hot dang! I was wondering what the nun n gun guy was doing, I just found the WIP graphics from the old pixelation forums on my computer just a couple days ago
cinergy

Uh. thinking back to my childhood which officially ended about 13 years ago, i think of the physical book as well. I love tech but i’d never buy a “digital” kids book.
Andy Hull

Cinergy- I’m interested to hear more about why you would never buy “digital” books for kids.

I’m sure you have fond memories of not only physical books, but music, TV shows and movies from your childhood as well… All of which are non-physical media. I’m not sure why you draw the line at children’s computer software as a media that isn’t “acceptable”.

I feel that the interactive aspect improves the positive educational benefits of the media, but then again, I am a bit biased :)
Paul Eres

That’s a pretty great image.
http://blog.wolfire.com Jeff

After watching the trailer, I really, really need to know what’s bothering carl. Please tell me.
Andy Hull

Jeff- And give away the dangling carrot? Mwhahahaha…..!
Leroy

There’s NO JUSTICE in the world – primitive cyclops that dress like cavemen get to live thousands of years CONTRIBUTING NOTHING to this world, while human beings die of cancer at age 60, oh yes, VERY FAIR, make sure you mention this on the last page in the book.
Zenith

Hey Andy Hull, how’s life been? :)
I’ve been connecting back up with a bunch of people from our ol’ klik community to see how they are doing! (Still use aim or anything? :))

Congratulations on the company, and the game looks great.
Scott

Sorry hippy, I don’t agree with teaching kids deformed nonhumans are cool
Tim

Thats right Scott, all good parents have a responsibility to teach their children prejudice. All things non-human, or even sub-human are either useful to humanity or scum. It is but justice after all.

In all seriousness, I find it unsettling that people realistically believe that we must contribute to the ~world~ or lose our right to live. Humans have yet to gain the maturity to truly work for the world; we work for ourselves. If nature truly judged us as a species, then we probably would have already died out.
Tim

Deep down we believe people who are uncivilized are less than human. Shameful.
Leroy

Who the hell said anything about “lose our right to live”? I just said I found it unfair that cyclops scum get to live for thousands of years while us humans croak after little past half a century.
Tim

You said that there was NO JUSTICE because a fictional RACE that CONTRIBUTES NOTHING lives for a long time while we(who contribute a lot?)die quickly.

Oh, and I didn’t point your name out by the way. Its just that you connected with the message.
Tim

What have we done to ~deserve~ a longer lifespan anyways?
Gainsworth

Cyclopes contribute heaps to the world, dude. You’ve simply got to pay more attention to your surrounds. Sure they’re somewhat ponderous, and it takes them a while to get things done, but that lifespan is well deserved.

The game(book?) looks really cute, Andy! It’s a delightful idea, as well. I had a couple of these as a kid, and they were quite fun. Like simple, beautiful adventure games.
BeamSplashX

When’s the story of Astrospoon VS Polluters/Drug Pushers/Bullies coming out? I’m due for some yo-yo powered justice mixed with wholesome life lessons.

And now Zenith’s in the comments. Man do I feel old remembering when these guys were active.
Leroy

Tim:

That`s exactly what I said, but you misinterpreted it to suit your raving. I didn`t wish for cyclops’ quicker death, merely for a longer life for us humans.

And I stand by my point that cyclops DO NOTHING ALL DAY.

Oh, and you didn’t need to point out my name, you used passages from my comment so only a dolt would have assumed that you meant someone else.
Leroy

Cyclops are the BUMS of animal kingdom.
Paul Eres

Humans will get 2000 years soon. Just you wait.
Tim

You implied that we DESERVE to live longer, and I only used your passages on my second comment.

Although I admit that I needlessly droned a bit there, and perhaps I might have misunderstood a few things. So there, sorry.
Leroy

Well yes we do deserve to live longer, but that doesn’t mean that cyclops deserve to live less. They deserve not live at all!
Someone Special

Arguing on the internet about fictional creatures is like…
Ilia Chentsov

You can see what bothers Carl if you download the trial version.
Quite disappointing, actually.
Ilia Chentsov

By the way, Andy, which toys did you design for Melissa and Doug?
Andy Hull

Haha… disappointing? I’m not sure how epic you thought his problem was :)

The entire second half of the book is him solving his problem though, so it isn’t a huge secret.

(You can find it out on the splash page at the end of the demo…)

For MnD, I did a bunch, including the Ice Cream Set, Cookie Set, Sushi Set, Stir Fry Set, Grill Set, Pirate Chest, Wooden Mailbox, Travel Game line and more…

I also did a bunch of packaging while I was there. Fresh Start Puzzles, Floor Puzzles, etc..
Zenith

Hey BeamSplashX!

I still enjoy game development. I just haven’t had time for it! I’m working on a computer engineering degree. :)
PoV

Fantastique!
Ilya Chentsov

>Iâ€™m not sure how epic you thought his problem was :)

Meteorite?
Kan

If you ask this bothering side then you will know carl perfectly as how it will bother him in this perspective and how it changes..