Deforestation

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JSH357
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Deforestation

Post by JSH357 »

Deforestation is a funny little movie that has not stood the test of time. The only really notable thing about this movie is its ad campaign. Spoonweaver did an excellent job hyping up what was clearly going to be a joke, and it was quite amusing if you were there.

Well, I was there, but I can't imagine everyone was. And for those everyones, now we just have a guy chopping down a tree and the world blowing up. Yeah, not very exciting, and it doesn't last long enough to be more than a one-note joke.

I'll give Spoonweaver some credit for production: the sound mixing is pretty good. This kind of thing is pretty popular on Newgrounds and the like, so what do I know, maybe it's better than I think. Still, beyond being a meme there's not much here.

In the review of the second game, I'll discuss his ad campaign a little more, as I have thoughts related to it.

Rating: 2 Trees Chopped out of 10

Deforestation 2

Deforestation 2 is generally more of the same joke as the original, only with an additional sex joke thrown in this time. I thought the joke was pretty funny, but... as you might expect, the buck ends there. This is just a rehash with little keeping it from completely fading away.

So instead of discussing Deforestation 2, I want to talk about Spoonweaver's use of advertising, and preface this with a cold, hard truth: Spoonweaver could very well be the most successful OHR developer in the future. Why? Well, he knows how to show off his work better than anyone else in the community sans perhaps Fenrir-Lunaris. Getting your game out there is just as if not more important than making quality work!

I realize that hearing this sounds like blasphemy to a lot of developers, and they refuse to accept it. Proof? Some of the best games I have reviewed for this contest so far were massively underplayed. Final Dragon Legacy is a great example. The creator didn't do a good job getting the game out there, even though it's pretty fantastic, and now it's bound to barely scrape the Best Games of 2011 list in HamsterSpeak. I'm not good at promoting my own work either, and my games have always suffered for it.

Spoon has been a controversial user here at times. He doesn't get along with everyone. However, he's got a certain panache for this that makes him a valuable person to know, and the same extends to others like him--people who have marketing skills. The ad campaign for Deforestation overshadows the game itself, not unlike the advertising for movies often does. There are people who make big bucks doing this kind of thing.

It's a skill every game developer needs to learn something about, myself included. You can promote a turd in a box if you know how to do it, so just imagine the benefits of promoting a GOOD game in the same way. It's something to think about.

Deforestation 3

You know, maybe it was fate. This game almost works as a summary of what went on all year in 2011. We have long-standing OHR characters being murdered and violated, reflecting what went on in the contest environment. One of these characters was depicted in the nude. We have dark comedy that was probably funnier to some than others. We have a conclusion to a series that was overall a mixed bag of results. Interesting.

Deforestation 3 is generally the best of the three films, although it's spotty. You can tell the most work went in to it as it's the longest and has the most characters. One has to wonder why Spoonweaver suddenly made a game like this after the first two, but at least it broke up the monotony.

I think this game treats the subject matter in a ridiculous enough tone that it's not too offensive. For what it is, it could have pushed a lot more buttons than it did. It's still not very good, but I'll give it some extra credit for being a fuller movie than its predecessors.

Rating: 4.5 Fava Beans out of 10

Rating: 3 Movie Posters out of 10
Last edited by JSH357 on Fri Jan 20, 2012 5:00 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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