Halcyon Company planning games based on Philip K Dick novels
by Griffin McElroy 
{ May 24th 2008 at 11:30AM }
We've got high hopes for any games based on the incredible narratives of this cyberpunk scribe, though Halcyon's blank game development resumé fills us with an appropriate amount of trepidation. We urge the fledgling publisher to follow the example set by EA's 1997 point-and-click adaptation of "Blade Runner", and to shy away from including sequences featuring a poorly rendered version of California's governor being repeatedly kicked in the penis by mutant dwarves.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Joeshie @ May 24th 2008 11:35AM
Lets not forget the best Philip K. Dick story adaptation to movie: Minority Report.
Hashbrown Hunter @ May 24th 2008 12:51PM
They made a Minority Report game and it sucked...
Hard.
Gavin @ May 24th 2008 7:04PM
Minority Report? Seriously? Have you even read his books? It was an over the top action film that wallowed in product placement and muddled the original aspects which are supposed to be the focal point of the story in the first place. Minority Report was a headache wrapped inside a convoluted mishmash script mixed-up with someone tryint to remake Blade Runner. Most PKD novels are about more than Tom Cruise beating people up and running from explosions. Minority Report sucked and you've probably never read any of his novels.
If you even remotely think any film made from his work has been an adequate adaptation then you are delusional. Hell, even Blade Runner is so far from the source material that it almost becomes an original work in it's own right. I can't even imagine a video game capturing the depth of his work. Might as well try and make video game based on a work by Vonnegut or even Chuck Palahniuk. That Fight Club game turned out great didn't it? Oh, wait...
t_m @ May 25th 2008 7:13AM
MR wasn't too bad really. It wasn't an all time classic, but as an action movie it was pretty cool.
the near future production design was pretty cool... even if they did overdo the product placement trying to achieve it.
(but bladerunner and total recall were both better. even if not much closer to the source material. )
t_m @ May 25th 2008 7:15AM
PS/ the blade runner game actually tried pretty hard to stay close to the feel of the movie (if not the book) and imho did a pretty good job. It was pretty ambiguous for a video game, and depending on your choices you could get some radically different endings...
(plus it totally nailed the style of the movie).
Lord Bowser @ May 24th 2008 11:48AM
I'm reading The Metamorphosis at the moment. A story on that would be cool, I think. In fact: I know it'd be cool. Looking at the name K Dick, I'm not really familiar. Nope. But I've seen most of the movies mentioned, so I'll assume he's a crappy pulp author.
AstronautDinosaurFiretruck @ May 24th 2008 12:16PM
Philip K. Dick is perhaps the greatest Science-Fiction author who ever lived. He quickly transcended the genre and took it to new literary heights. Books like "The Man in High Castle" and "Flow My Tear, The Policeman Said" were amazing works comparable to Kafka's "The Trial".
I'll admit the Total Recall and Minority Report movies were not very good but you have to admit that Blade Runner was brilliant.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_k._dick
Go and learn.
ComradeTrotskii @ May 24th 2008 1:02PM
Hang on, are you advocating a video game based on The Metamorphosis by Kafka? Given that game developers typically struggle to tell a story that doesn't involve a grizzled space marine committing genocide I think that tackling the works of Kafka would be stretching their talents a little too far at this time.
That being said one of the guys from a Final Fantasy game (I forget which one but pre VII) was called Kefka and one of 'his songs' in game was called was Metamorphosis. Clearly a reference to everyone's favourite Eastern European existentialist.
Lord Bowser @ May 24th 2008 1:17PM
I never made the connection to Kefka - seeing as I played FF6 so, so long ago. But doesn't Kefka throw poison into the river, killing whole villages, or something like that. His actions could be considered obsurd xD
Very existential, indeed.
Lord Bowser @ May 24th 2008 1:19PM
Obsurd = Absurd.
I'm a proofreader.
bVork @ May 24th 2008 6:37PM
ComradeTrotskii:
There was a game kinda sorta based The Metamorphosis. There's an old PC adventure game called Bad Mojo that involves a guy being transformed into a cockroach. Apart from a few name references and that general outline, it pretty much does it's own thing, though. Still more than worth playing.
LeChuck @ May 24th 2008 11:49AM
"Minority Report" was an okay movie but they should've kept the ending. They completely altered the point of the story by changing the end. Most of his stories had thought provoking, decidedly unhappy endings which is something Hollywood always prefers to avoid.
t_m @ May 25th 2008 7:17AM
But what do you think about non-happy game endings?
I can't think of many, and I don't know how the average EA customer would react to a depressing ending after working their character through hours of gameplay.
But on the other hand, games allow for alternate endings, so that might actually work well with some of his ideas, and could maybe lead to both the "hollywood ending" and the "k dick ending"
*and the "scooby doo ending"
sammy davis jr jr @ May 24th 2008 11:50AM
dr. bloodmoney please.
AstronautDinosaurFiretruck @ May 24th 2008 12:16PM
They need a videogame version of VALIS.
One and only goal: have a beam of pink energy shot into your brain and then write a thousand pages about it.
Kumiko @ May 24th 2008 12:59PM
Being a fan of Dick's work...I can't help but be a bit skeptical about a game adaptation of his novels.
If they're able to pull off what Bethesda did with Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth by basically making it an interactive collection of H.P Lovecraft's work, I guess it would be ok. Or maybe have gameplay similar to Indigo Prophecy, that may work too. (I can see a game with similar gameplay to Indigo Prophecy working well with A Scanner Darkly.)
t_m @ May 25th 2008 7:22AM
I know the Bladerunner movie was pretty different to the book, but that game did a reasonably good job of capturing the feel of the movie. (and in some ways the book too).
I also loved DCotE. Well, the first half anyway, after you got guns it degenerated into a below average FPS.
Something along the lines of Vampire: Bloodlines meets DCotE meets Neuromancer meets Bladerunner might work well. ;-)
Grimm @ May 25th 2008 11:57AM
I can't wait for the videogame adaptation of Phillip K. Dick's novel, Voices from the Street.
I cant wait to see how they turn a story about a man's descent into depression and his journey to find any satisfaction in his life into a puzzle game!
I'm being sarcastic if you haven't noticed.
Fryburg @ May 24th 2008 1:34PM
This poster obviously has no idea who Dick was, by saying "he has released more than 40 novels." He died more than 20 years ago! There are no more novels coming up.
And calling him a "cyberpunk scribe" really isn't far either, since only a handful of his stories crossed into that territory. Seriously man, do some basic research before you post something.
Brodie-san @ May 24th 2008 1:36PM
Ubik would be cool as a game. Mystery, assassination and reality regressing back into its previous state.
What more could you want?
Leslie @ May 24th 2008 1:51PM
The "Minority Report" movie was a shallow representation of the book, completely glossing over the issues of an individuals civil liberties, the moral aspects of scientific endeavor, the greater good vs. personal gain, survivors guilt and a number of other serious and interesting topics. It was a finely crafted action movie, but great literature deserves a fuller telling...
Residentevil72501 @ May 24th 2008 3:57PM
Blade Runner = one of the best movies of all time period.
saladin0813 @ May 24th 2008 4:03PM
Its a stretch to say that he wrote Total Recall. Its based on his short story, "We can remember it for you wholesale." The story is only a couple pages and is completely different from the movie.
t_m @ May 25th 2008 7:24AM
True. Though between them Dick, Elison and Gibson have probably hugely inspired 90% of all sci-fi movies.
Either way, Total recall rocked.
Deck @ May 24th 2008 5:10PM
Phillip K. Dick is absolutely excellent. What that means for this particular studio turning his masterpieces into games, is another story.
A Scanner Darkly was a great book and I really did like the movie adaptation, sure it my be a bit effed up but it was good! :-p
t_m @ May 25th 2008 7:26AM
Well, it might work better in a "inspired by" way than in attempting direct adaptions. Nothing wrong with that though...
refinedsugar @ May 24th 2008 6:07PM
Johnny, grab my hand! Grab de bass!
Gavin @ May 24th 2008 7:08PM
Man In The High Castle is truly one of his best novels. Might even be his best, but then again when you are looking at a body of work with this pedigree it is hard to choose one single piece as the best. The way Man In The High Castle weaves alternative fiction within the whole concept of fiction within fiction within possible reality...well it just boggles that mind that PKD is more widely respected by the public at large. Probably has to do with the fact that most of his fiction soars miles upon miles over the head of the average John Q. Public.
t_m @ May 24th 2008 11:56PM
no time.
just want to say that both that Bladerunner Game and terminator:future shock were frickin awesome games!!
Scilent @ May 29th 2008 3:57PM
This gets me happy, worried and gassy all at the same time. Blade Runner is an amazing movie. A scanner Darkly is definately in my top movies also. Total Recall is a great goofy action flick (Give ze people ze air!) and minority report is one of the better sci-fi movies to come out since 2000.
All the Philip K dick books I have read are pretty amazing though. A scanner Darkly is easily in my top five books (I read a book every week so I'm not a slouch either) but as far as video games go....I dont know. It would be awesome if they could pull it off but I'm worried that it will just be a cool idea.