Rogue Space returns with episode 9, and the second installment of the “Summer of INT” series. In this episode, Jango, John and Debbie are joined by Secret Reality’s Eric Chou and Matt Ross to discuss their own personal “500 Days of Summer” aspirations. What would you do if given 500 consecutive days to pursue your every frivolous want. What are those things you’d do if only you had the time? Find out what the team came up with (Hint: it includes Drums, Dentistry and World Domination) in this endearing and zany issue of Rogue Space!
Discussed in this Episode
Great America – Great America is one of California’s biggest and best known amusement parks. It’s been featured in Beverly Hills Cop 3 among other films and it’s got plenty of rides to keep Debbie busy while everyone else chows down at the food stands. Home to the Gold Striker, one of the top ranked wooden roller coasters, it’s sure to give Debbie that near death rush she lives for.
Trebuchet – John tells us his number one “if I only hand the time” dream, to build a medieval weapon of destruction and besiegement. I guess it’s better than doing nothing. An interesting insight to what may be humanity’s downfall, but a great and inventive use of your 500 days. Smashing…
Chick Poop Catapult – A mistake on Jango’s part, there is actually a catapult that fires chicken poop at trespassers rather than cow poop. Still really crazy. It also fires massive railway sleepers tipped with rubber at them too. It has been alleged it once fired cows (other than the man’s wife…) but we couldn’t find the backing for that in our follow up research unfortunately.
Transportation Catapult – Unfortunately not a real catapult this time I’m afraid. If you have any transport related innovations in the UK you can go to this agency for grant funding. They have famously invested in the UK’s first self driving car. They could be ready to hit the streets by 2018 and a pedestrian a few seconds later… A self driving smart car, now that is something I’d like to see John’s trebuchet fire.
Franz Reichelt’s Body Parachute – In a lighthearted look at the confidence of people being foolish, we discussed the 1912 jump of Franz Reichelt and his invention, the wearable parachute. We had a good laugh at his expense, given he tried to jump from a height of 57m / 187 ft expecting a parachute to save him, but in the end it was a tragedy. The whole event, including the landing, was filmed and is available on youtube but fair warning, it can be a little hard to watch the happy man smile while knowing his inevitable fate. Alas, maybe there is a kernel of a memorable encounter in this tale for INT? Who knows?
“Maps” by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs – A great song for all music fans. Interestingly the word “Maps” doesn’t appear in the actual lyrics. A real treat for those who like their drum and their rhythm, we can see why Jango would want to learn to break out the drum’s intro whenever the mood struck. YYZ will most definitely have to wait though.
Eldritch Horror / Dead of Winter – Two of the biggest, baddest and best of the board game genre not to make our lists back in Rogue Space # 7: “The Big Deal.“ Debbie pledges to make her 500 days about winning every board game she knows at least once (and also stopping the fall of humanity). I’m sure we’ll get an INTplays on these games sooner or later. One thing is for sure, Debbie has got a fun filled 500 days coming.
Waterloo Teeth – One of the nastier things we’ve talked about in Rogue Space to date, the practice of putting dead men’s teeth into your mouth. It was actually a big industry at the time and it was considered only right to put the soldier sacrifice to good use. For 40 years afterward people were still scavenging things, including teeth from the battlefield at waterloo. It was said best in the podcast however, “if you have to put part of a dead man inside you it might as well be a tooth”
The Pink Panther (2006) – All the talk of medieval weapons, airport security and the Eiffel Tower lead us inevitably to the scene in Pink Panther were Steve Martin tries to sneak past NYC airport security with pockets full of Hamburgers. While the movie was critically panned, we here at Starboard Games enjoyed the kookiness of the film and let’s face it, there are much worse films out there (we’re looking at you United Passions!)
“Nation’s of the World” by Animaniacs – This classic of (some people’s) childhood is still as awesome as ever. While some of its out of date, and other places mentioned in it are not nations, it’s still a masterpiece of whimsy, songcraft and education. Jango’s already got the first verse down (up to Guam) and many other sections, the illusive full recitation is yet to be heard. Given 500 days I think he could get it down. He assures us he can do all of “We Didn’t Start the Fire” by Billy Joel but we’ll see about that. Another great use of a holiday. By the way, Rob Paulsen can still rock it 20 years later, what a wonderful fellow.
Interview – Further Reading
Secret Reality / Tiberium Secrets ModDB Page – You can check out all 5 years of Secret Reality and Tiberium Secrets history, art, updates and articles on their highly successful ModDB page. This is the best place to get in touch and stay up to date with their project. Best of luck guys!
Interview with Mark Skaggs, Former Producer at Westwood Studios – A large and rather intriguing article from Eric about what a Game’s Producer actually does. Included in the article is an 30 mins or so long interview with Mark Skaggs, Executive Producer on Command and Conquer titles such as “Generals” and “Red Alert” among others.
Interview with Lewis Castle, Co-founder of Westwood Studios – The second part to the article written by Eric about what a Game’s Producer actually does. Included in the article is an hour long interview with Lewis Castle, co-founder of Westwood studios and producer of several Command and Conquer titles
“The Prefect” by Alastair Reynolds – The Prefect is the 5th book (1st Chronologically) in the “Revelation Space” fictional sci-fi series. The book deals with a lot of issues ranging from technology to voting and communication. A recommended read by Eric, it has been a big inspiration in design and storytelling for him and his work on Tiberium Secrets
Intro / Outro Music
Rhinoceros – Kevin MacLeod
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0