“Ladies and gentlemen,” says an eerily sneering, animated human silhouette set against a misty background and barren landscape as a crescent moon hangs in the sky. “There are two kinds of stories,” it continues. “Those you can take to bed with you, and ... and then, there’s the other kind.”
As the character speaks, forms and objects crawl out of the ground and twist into much more sinister shapes. “Our story tonight,” the dark character says as the camera quickly zooms in for an extreme close-up, “is the other kind.”
This is the opening scene from “Insanely Twisted Shadow Puppets,” a series of animated shorts and the bizarre handiwork of Michel Gagne, an artist, animator, writer, director and producer. From his work in the ’80s with Don Bluth on such beloved animated features as “An American Tail” and “The Land Before Time” to later features like “The Iron Giant” and “Osmosis Jones,” Gagne’s had quite a career working in Hollywood. But, as he explained to me during an interview at the 2011 Penny Arcade Expo in Boston, the jump from animated features to video games didn’t begin until he left Hollywood to live in Bellingham, Wash., and work on his own projects, full-time — projects such as “Insanely Twisted Shadow Puppets.”
Gagne pitched the original idea for “Insanely Twisted Shadow Puppets” to a number of big networks before they found a home at MTV Networks, which commissioned the works to appear as interstitials, an advertisement that loads between two content pages, during Nickelodeon’s “Halloween Shriekin’ Weekend” in October 2005.
The collection of 12, creepy, bizarre and “insanely twisted” shorts make up about two and a half minutes of dark and sinister, multi-limbed creatures with claws and fangs chasing each other with the intent to kill, eat or maim. The mixture of screams, shrieks, organic and synthetic sound effects further curdle the blood and send shivers down the spine. It was just the inspiration needed for Joe Olson, CEO and FX artist at Fuelcell Games, to approach Gagne about making a video game.
“As a special effects artist, there’s nobody with a better sense of timing and fluid animation in effects design than Michel,” Olson said, so when he discovered that Gagne was living nearby, he invited the artist to do a workshop at a special-effects summit that would bring special-effects artists from several studios around Seattle together.
Afterward, over dinner, Olson, who works primarily in the gaming industry, discovered that Gagne hadn’t actually played a game since the original “Doom.” When Olson showed Gagne some examples of the progress made in graphics technology and special effects, Gagne was extremely impressed. From there, the relationship bloomed as the two discussed their ideas, and, before long, their combined artistic vision came together to create “Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet,” which finally released to Xbox Live as part of the Summer of Arcade promotion on Aug. 3.
The final result of all that inspiration and hard work is that Gagne’s vision is perfectly realized in a video game and suffers no loss of quality in the translation — even the behavior of the creatures and the core gameplay evolves from Gagne’s art design. As Gagne explained, the art shaped the gameplay as much as the gameplay shaped the art. “It goes back and forth,” he said.
From the spaceship used as the hero’s vehicle to the vicious flora and fauna that inhabit the world, the striking silhouettes set against colorful backgrounds are directly inspired by Gagne’s original shorts. It all comes to life with frightening clarity.
“Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet” is now available on Xbox Live.
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