Keep upNup w/ Adventures of Chris creator Chris Guin
When we first thought up the idea of having this website and doing articles, reviews, and interviews, one of the first games we threw out there was Adventures of Chris. The game came into our attention due to the incredible similarity between Thee upNup’s very own Gorky and the titular character of the game. So we reached out and the creator, Chris Guin himself, was kind enough to answer our questions! Check it out!
Gorky: Firstly, I want to know where I should send my lawyers to sue for likeness.
Genuinely, from reading “The Team” section on the site for your game, from one fat Chris to a formerly fat Chris, what led to the decision of making the lead protagonist a model of yourself?
Chris: Ha! I’ve met so many “Chrises” since making this game! Definitely one of the more popular 1980’s baby names! (Not too many baby Chrises now, though… the world could always use more Chrises.)
Adventures of Chris actually started life as a Klik n Play game I made as a 7th grader - super in-jokey, lots of stolen midis and pixel art, that kind of thing. I found the game on an old hard drive as an adult and thought it would be cool to make the game “for real” with my grown-up programming skills. I cleaned out most of the references to friends and family, but the main character stayed “Chris” - a decision I went back and forth on a few times, but it just didn’t feel right to call him “George” or whatever. Although my 7th grade project was very silly (and the current version kind of is, too, I suppose), I did think I could have fun with the idea of an overweight underdog protagonist - taking the power growth mechanics of a Mega Man-like game and attaching them to an extremely unlikely hero. I also really liked the idea of a kid taking what is effectively a vicious insult and ultimately turning it into a superpower.
Gorky: That makes sense to me. The reason that I asked is because I have such an aversion to characters that remind me of myself but this game was such the opposite. I usually never participate in character customization or things of the like. But in this circumstance, there was comfort in relation to the character.
Chris: Hey, if I could create a character that reminds you of yourself in a comfortable way, that’s awesome! It’s weird to think that of all the games that have been done, there are still character styles and personalities and attributes that haven’t really been given to game heroes very much!
SkimmilK: About halfway through rescuing the 2nd child I realized this is a love letter to classic 8/16 bit era games. I got a little Mega Man, some Duck Tales vibes, and a bit of Adventure Island. Even has a bit of that Disney’s Aladin/Rescue Rangers/Lion King charm. I assume games like these hold special meaning to you? Was I right about any of these games being an influence? Any game that I missed that you hold in particularly high regard that was a big inspiration?
Chris: You have definitely guessed correctly. Those Disney platformers were a huge influence, as was Mega Man X (one of those 16-bit classics that I could play over and over again). You did miss the one Disney platformer that was probably the largest influence, though - a more obscure Sega Genesis title called “Quackshot Starring Donald Duck.” The world travel aspect and general open structure of that game really appealed to me as a kid, so I more or less just appropriated it for Adventures of Chris. Consider giving that game a try sometime - the sprite work is very charming and the soundtrack is first rate.
SkimmilK: Wow that is definitely one that slipped through the cracks for me, but all those Disney games of the time were great. I’ll have to check that one out sometime.
Gorky: I want to preface this next statement with saying I was not at all offended by any of the character dialogue in the game, but was there any concern with some of the dialogue in the game coming off as fat phobic?
Chris: Glad to hear you weren’t offended! It was definitely a concern, and believe it or not, I have tried to go through several times and clean stuff out that I worried might bother people - but with the basic premise of the game, I needed some characters to bully or look down on Chris. Where I worry is that I, being me, also wanted to try to make the jokes at Chris’s expense funny. Does that make me (or anyone who laughs at the joke) complicit in the meanness of the joke? So far, I haven’t heard from anyone who was severely bothered by anything in the game, so hopefully I walked that line all right - and, in the end, Chris does come out on top.
Gorky: As a stand-up comedian, I frequently come across audience members who respond with “awwweee” or other things to my jokes that air on the side of more self deprecating, so that was a very intriguing point to me. I think it is fine, and relatable, to make jokes at the expense of Chris, but I was just interested, as a comedian, if you had a similar approach to this content as a developer, if that makes sense.
Chris: Oh the self-deprecating fat joke? There’s definitely some of that in there. Even though I have lost considerable weight since my childhood/college years (off and on, to be fair), the “tricks” I learned to fit in as an overweight kid still stay with you - including self-deprecating humor. There’s something about taking ownership of things about yourself that people might make fun of that seems to drain them of their power. (I still sometimes have to remind myself that I don’t need the 2X or 3X shirt anymore - it’s just so ingrained!)
Gorky: If someone asked me the theme of this game, I think it would be “taking ownership of things about yourself that people might make fun of that seems to drain them of their power”. And that’s even obvious in Chris’s acceptance of “being a nobody”.
SkimmilK: There seems to be a love for a wide range of classic game genres, other than the Adventure Platformer, is there any other genre you would like to take a stab at? I noticed the main character mentions Chrono Trigger several times, any interest in making an RPG in the future? An Adventure of Chris Two that crosses genres perhaps?
Chris: Believe it or not, I am currently working on an RPG! It’s set in a similar world as Adventures of Chris (that is, a 90’s cartoonified Earth), but with 8-bit-style art. I’m definitely a huge fan of RPGs, and there are a handful of RPGish elements in Adventures of Chris (perhaps the most notable being the sheer quantity of dialog). Stay tuned for news about Geo Mythica as I make progress!
Gorky: Is this an exclusive?!? Have we heard it first?!?
Chris: I wouldn’t call it a secret exactly, but… I haven’t officially announced anything yet! (Videos help for that, I hear!)
Gorky: As somebody who was a fat kid and has continued life as a fat adult, this is the first game I have ever played that I can relate really hard with. Chris is very nice and polite and I can totally tell that he is a pushover, possibly to the point of being a doormat, or maybe I am just projecting. There was very light character development in the early game, but was it intentional to keep the exposition so light to just focus on a game that controls very well or was it more homage to the classics mentality of “here you go” and just forcing you to accept the world the game lives in?
Chris: I would agree that he has some “pushover”-ish qualities, particularly in the beginning of the game. Hopefully I’m understanding the question correctly, but the reason I didn’t want to load the early game up with flashbacks to middle school is more of a gameplay question. I want the player to be platforming as quickly as possible. In my experience, platformers attract a broad diversity of players, many of whom may not tolerate gameplay interruptions for dialog - so I tried to keep dialog reasonably short and always skippable. Unfortunately, I have heard feedback from some folks that the introductory segment is still too slow and talky - but sometimes I gotta tell the story I want to tell!
Gorky: Totally makes sense! With a platformer game, it is ideal to get started as quickly as possible, and paying homage to classics makes that even more important. The people who said the introductory segment is too slow and talky, thought, are wrong. I need a reason to buy in. Would you agree with that sentiment, or do you think that it’s more important to just be acceptable and fulfill audience expectations and get started asap?
Chris: Well, for my personal tastes, I tend to agree - although I frequently find myself wishing a number of modern RPGs would be more concise with the dialog! It’s a tricky balance between establishing characters and stakes, and making sure you’re not wearing out your welcome. Games aren’t the same medium as TV or film, of course, so I think it’s totally valid for players to want to experience as much feeling of agency as possible. That said, I certainly don’t think the intro is too talky (and I’m glad you agree)! If anything, it would be fun to retell the story in a more conventional narrative form such as animation or graphic novel - though I’m not sure the overarching “find 6 kidnapped children around the world” structure would work outside of a game context. The story structure would definitely need some massaging!
Gorky: I could absolutely see that. But have you considered possibly doing a sequel to Chris’s story as a webcomic or something?
Chris: Hey, if I thought enough people wanted me to, I’d definitely consider revisiting that story! For the time being, I got other new projects holding my interest!
SkimmilK: As an illustrator, I must applaud the quality and consistency of the aesthetic of the game, there is a very Saturday morning cartoon vibe going on. Was this always the intended vision? I could have seen this also going with the “pixelated” style. I do feel that the current style sets you apart from the many retro-style games on the market though.
Chris: Actually, the cartoon vibe was not the original vision - the earliest version of the game was done in a quasi-16-bit pixel art style. I love pixel art, but unfortunately I started hearing from a lot of people that “pixel art platformer” was practically the definition of overdone indie game. I couldn’t change “platformer,” but I could change “pixel art.” So I found the game’s lead artist (Kyle Anderson) who has experience with traditional 2D cartoon animation, and tried to redo the game in that style (which I also really like). I was hoping it would feel a bit like Ninja Turtles or Captain Planet or one of those other cheesy adventure cartoons from the 80’s or 90’s. In all honesty, I’m not sure this was the best decision with my limited budget - it really needed an all-out punch-you-in-the-face-with-90’s style to work properly, I think. (The recently released Shredder’s Revenge really nailed the aesthetic I wish I had achieved!)
As it is, I have now learned the hard way that a surprising number of players are utterly turned off by 2D HD spritework in the absence of heavy stylization or high budget details - it’s too reminiscent of the Flash games of yesteryear. It’s pretty frustrating to me, as I thought Kyle did a great job doing traditional frame-by-frame hand animation for the characters - there was no Flash-style “tweening” at all. The problem, though, is that the mere fact of HD character sprites moving in four directions over a background can destroy the illusion of depth for some people without doing some considerable (and expensive) work to counter it (constant animation, lots of particle effects and layering, etc). Lesson learned, I suppose!
Gorky: It’s 1:47 AM. I just beat the game. The tip of my right index finger is numb from holding down RZ for the last hour or so trying to beat the final boss. I thoroughly every boss fight in the game and enjoyed figuring out how to beat them. It returned me to my childhood. While most of the bosses felt unlikely to have a real life correlation, was there a real world inspiration for Count Junior? His story unlocked a traumatic event for me that I had hidden away, so I am very interested to know if he represented a specific person, or just like the general idea of a “bully”.
Chris: Glad you survived the last boss! (Hopefully you remembered Chris’s one ability that makes it enormously easier!) Count Junior (the main villain) is actually not based on a real-life person, although I’m fascinated by the idea that there might be a real-life correlate to him out there somewhere! (Kind of a scary thought!) I can’t really explain where he comes from as a concept other than the wacky imagination of a 7th-grader saturated in Saturday morning cartoons. I thought the idea of a whiny child vampire with absurd powers was potentially both funny and threatening - and his character could have his own (much more sinister) growth journey right along with Chris as he strives for validation from the villain world. (The running gag where he never once remembers Chris is, of course, ripped off from Mr. Burns in the Simpsons.)
Gorky: Hahahah I don’t think I remembered the one ability because it took me OVER AN HOUR!!!! To beat the boss. But I really enjoyed it still. So, to expand a little bit on my thoughts, fighting Count Junior reminded me of a birthday party I was invited to in 7th grade, which was a sleepover party (but none of the cool kids slept) and I was invited exclusively as the joke of the party to others attending. Count Junior awakened this trauma in me and I completely blocked out that it happened. But I am happy to hear you had no teenage vampires in your life.
Chris: Ouch! Glad you completed it, though (and enjoyed it!) It was actually a bit of a design challenge for the last boss - I tried to create some rooms in the last dungeon designed to remind you that you still had the particular ability you needed for the final boss, but clever players found a way to beat those rooms without the ability!
As for the birthday party - oh man! That kid in some ways sounds even worse than Count Junior, as Count Junior never intentionally invited Chris to the party at all. Apologies for bringing up rotten memories of the past! To be fair, I definitely got made fun of as a kid - maybe not as relentlessly as the characters at the beginning of Adventures of Chris, but… sometimes that’s how it felt!
Gorky: No need to apologize! Good art will do that to you. I’m hoping to write a bit out of it or something. But I did really love the boss fights leading up to the big final.
SkimmilK: Lastly, for what this game sets out to do I think you and your team executed it beautifully. This game went all in, there are upgrades, a world map, bosses, optional power-ups, side quests, a store, and an epilogue! Love me a good epilogue. Was there anything more you wish you could have done to this game or anything you had to cut due to time/money?
Chris: Oh man! I would have loved to have had the budget to give the game the full 90’s cartoon treatment - goofy theme song, animated interstitials, the whole nine yards. (Getting Graffiti Games to publish the game helped a little in this regard though - they paid for a few seconds of animation for the main trailer! If you go check it out on YouTube, I think you’ll find the animation studio they found did an excellent job - even though it’s pretty brief!) As far as gameplay goes, it all made it in, believe it or not (and then some - the sword and secret boss had not been initially planned!). I was afraid I was going to have to cut levels like the Great Barrier Reef and a lot of other content, but ultimately, we found a way to cram it all in!
SkimmilK: That's great to hear, and I loved the cartoon intro! It adds that perfect amount of polish to the overall package. Not to mention the reviews on the game are fantastic, and THEE upNup will definitely be adding to those scores.
Thank you once again Chris Guin for all your time and congratulations on the success of Adventures of Chris. We both wish you all the luck on your next project! Tune in later this week for our review!
Adventures of Chris is available now on Steam and Nintendo Switch!
