Cactus’ Next Game?

By: Brandon McCartin (BMcC)

On: May 2nd, 2009

I’ve been having trouble recovering from GDC, and getting things in order after moving, and I regretfully missed posting about the new Paper Moon yesterday, but here’s something! A trailer for Cactus’ new game, “a game about killing everything you love.” It looks mind-blowing. Cactus is unstoppable.

There are some screenshots of this and other WIP games of his over on his blog.

Posted in Abstract, Previews, Videos | Tags: cactus

Corpus

I can’t wait to play this. It looks fantastic.
http://b-mcc.com// BMcC

Seriously! It’s nuts. I didn’t even know this thing was in the making.

Consistently surprising, Cactus is…
http://iterationgames.com jph

oohh,. it appears to me Cactus has taken the plunge and is working in ZGameEditor!?? is it true buddy? or have you found a way to get pixelshaders into GM? interesting indeed.
Raiten

FEZ RIP-OFF

Looks awesome.
Stwelin

@jph

It’s still game maker, actually.
Robert

Ooh… another one of Cactus’ playable acid trips? Count me in!
louis

He sure seems “stoppable” from finishing Brain-Damaged though (what looked like his most interesting project yet in my opinion).
Corpus

Oh shiiiiii, you went there!

Watch out, Y’ALL. louis is bringing the snarky humour, noughties blawg stylee.

Yeah but seriously though I think he’s still working on it. No guarantees, though. I mean, you know, if you can roll with that.
http://b-mcc.com// BMcC

He may be “too real for that.”
Fuzz

Just because he can make games really fast doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing for him to invest time in a game. I’m betting that BDTUW will be really fantastic after all the time he’s spent since he started it.
louis

I didn’t mean any harm. I don’t know anything about game-making, but it just seems weird to me that an artist, be it cactus or anyone else, upon seeing the strong support he receives from the community, doesn’t seem to find the motivation to concentrate on a project for which he was obviously very inspired. I mean, everyone has his way of working, and I understand cactus is particularly subject to sudden impulses (which is fine), but I can’t help but feel a little disappointed by this lack of focus.

That said, I would gladly PAY a good sum for a substantial gaming experience such as promised by Toon Underworld, whereas this new experiment looks very neat, but also a little disposable. I mean, wouldn’t it be great to see a game by cactus (or increpare, or Terry…) joining the ranks of Braid and, I don’t know, Fez? I may be too eager (and after all, you might say, I could try to make such games myself), but just thinking about it makes me all jittery. You can’t sell the “indie revolution” on trippy five-minute platformers.

So, Y’ALL, those were my two cents. I know I’ll play the game anyway, but I also know I’ll feel a little bitter doing so.
Fuzz

But Cactus isn’t trying to “sell the indie revolution”. Cactus is making games because he enjoys making games.
Corpus

Well, he’s making games because he enjoys it and thinks that it’ll be easier for him to be celebrated in this realmsphere than if he were making films / comic strips / music.

He’s said as much in at least several interviews.
Stwelin

To be honest, BDTUW did not look interesting to me. If he completes it just to make people shut up, it won’t be any fun.
louis

Yes that’s a good point… Hmm, maybe that’s why I have never been into his work as much as other people. I really mean this in a respectful way, I do think it is a great thing that people like him home-grow entertainment like that. But I guess I just count amongst the people who expect a little more.
louis

(By the way that was an answer to Fuzz…)
Fuzz

I love the spontaneity and randomness of his games, something that is more easily achieved in a short timeframe, but could be very interested fleshed out in a larger game, eg. BDTUW.
Fuzz

*interesting
Winterous

Silly bitch, your weapons cannot harm Cactus.
HE’S THE JUGGERNAUT BITCH!
XUE

beautiful
Cobalt

Juggernaut is vulnerable to weapons fire. He can gain crazy momentum, though. Which is nice. And Cactus isn’t a mutant. He’s a cactus. Probably a saguaro.

Anyway, I’m still trying to figure out what the gameplay is going to be like from what I’ve seen in the video.
Deacon Blues

15 minutes of dull platforming with vague plot hints, and then at the end someone shoots you for some reason.

Genius.
Mike Hawk

This… looks…. um remind me again how you can tell this game was made by Cactus vs random internet monkey without his name plastered to the video again? Seriously this looks like a million other generic “art games” except OMG it is so grainy and hard to see so it is awesome
Bad Sector

It looks like a screensaver to me. A good looking screensaver though :-P.
http://www.dg-studio.blogspot.com dgs

the game looks great. It seems that it used so many physics
Enigma

CACTUSTYLE
Stwelin

If Cactus really is a cactus, he is definitely peyote.
King of Ping

Looks like fez on drugs.
Anonymous

“Thisâ€¦ looksâ€¦. um remind me again how you can tell this game was made by Cactus vs random internet monkey without his name plastered to the video again? Seriously this looks like a million other generic â€œart gamesâ€ except OMG it is so grainy and hard to see so it is awesome”

I’d like to see you even try doing something similar to cactus’ games.

What a jealous little prick…
sinoth

Yes, thank you Anonymous! This ‘discussion’ is now one step closer to being complete now that you’ve added the vital “MAKE SOMETHING BETTER OR YOU CAN’T CRITICIZE THIS” argument!

I’ll go ahead and bring this to a close by adding the “CACTUS IS ART AND CAN’T BE CRITICIZED” clause. So, now everyone’s opinion is null and void.

You’re welcome.
Oddbob

No online discussion is truly complete until someone mentions Hitler.

Oh.

Also, this looks utterly amazing. Gobsmacking style. (The video, not Hitler, obv.)
ARelativelyHotGirl

Sinoth, sure, but Anonymous’ point is *still* more valid than anything Mike has ever posted. Mike is a non-contributing zero and a major league asshole. A repeat offender. Though, for the amount he bitches, he can’t seem to stop coming back…
stank-hamature

“BUT WHY IS IT ART??” Our Young Protagonist spat into the fetid depths of the tigsource comments

“The Nazi’s asked the exact same question” chortled the worshipper.

Nothing matters now
The thread hit thirty two
altzheimer’s beckons
Donald Futers

It’s interesting to see that the TIGS frontpage comments have come full circle from mindless cactus fanboyism to equally droolish, unreasonable cactus-hatin’.

Mike, don’t be a whiny little dick. You’re clearly prejudiced against the Swedish Seducer, be it due to jealousy or to some other motivation. I must admit that I’m not entirely certain what your point was, but I’ve narrowed it down to what I’ll call a *limited gamut* and, well, none of the possibilities could be a relevant or appropriate response to anything said in the original post or in the subsequent comments.

Fairly pointless post all round, then.

Now, to the facts: we know that Cactus did it because he, ah, posted it on his blog and, besides, because it *does look look like something he would do*. It is *not* generic. It may not be original in every way, but nothing is.

Re: plastered names, you may be pleasantly surprised to notice that cactus’ name is never once featured in the video.

As for what I have inferred as your anti-cactus-adulation sentiments, any positive statements made about him were in reference, shockingly, not to this game alone, but, rather, to this game as another instalment in a long line of other, generally excellent games.

Still, cool post, “dude.”

Now, sinoth: as totally beefy and hella rad as your straw man may be, I must offer a further argument to supplement the efforts, so horrible in your eyes, of the good Mr. Anon: “You might be able to make something like this, but you didn’t.”

This post was sponsored by Corpus Blawg Responses Inc.
xerus

I heard that they were replacing comments with Dr. Phil.
Huzzah

I heard that you liked BDTUW, so we put BDTUW so you could BDTUW while you’re BDTUW’ing.
Anonymous

“Yes, thank you Anonymous! This â€˜discussionâ€™ is now one step closer to being complete now that youâ€™ve added the vital â€œMAKE SOMETHING BETTER OR YOU CANâ€™T CRITICIZE THISâ€ argument!

Iâ€™ll go ahead and bring this to a close by adding the â€œCACTUS IS ART AND CANâ€™T BE CRITICIZEDâ€ clause. So, now everyoneâ€™s opinion is null and void.

Youâ€™re welcome.”

Way to miss the point, wanker.

I was referring to Mike’s inability to distinguish cactus’ games from other artsy games such as The Path, for instance.
Paul Eres

To the confused, all confusing things look the same.
Günter

Cactus is a pretty cool dude, and that’s all I’ve really got to say.
http://splotki5000.blogspot.com/ splotki

I hate cactus because it would take me 2 years to make the kind of games he farts out in 5 min.

Also, I hate him because his unfinished videos and screenshots are more inspirational than the finished games I paid 60 bucks for.

I… I… love cactus…