8-Bit Style Hobo With a Shotgun Video Game Brings Pixelated Violence!

Panel: Hobo With a Shotgun The Game: A Case Study
When: Monday, March 14 @ 5:00 PM
Where: Austin Convention Center (Room 12AB), 500 E. Chavez Street
Description: Big movie studios have been cross-promoting major films with accompanying video game releases for years. This spring, however, Mondo, the Alamo Drafthouse, Magnet Releasing and GameSalad teamed up with the director of Hobo With a Shotgun to mirror that process on an indie level. Learn more about the process of this specific project and the potential power of combining indie gaming and indie films.

Attendees: Jason Eisener (director, Hobo With a Shotgun), Justin Ishmael (Mondo), Andrew McGraime (Magnolia), Mark Chuberka (GameSalad), Moises Chiullan (Badass Digest), Billy Garretsen (Perfect Dork Studios), Brad Graeber (Powerhouse Animation Studios)

Independent gaming and films are coming together in one project like never before with the release of Mondo’s Hobo With a Shotgun game. The project’s genesis came out of Fantastic Arcade, last year’s first indie gaming festival that ran as part of Fantastic Fest, the #1 genre film festival in the U.S. “When we incorporated Fantastic Arcade into Fantastic Fest last year, our mission was to introduce the indie film community to like-minded folks in the indie gaming community. The development of Hobo With a Shotgun is the first tangible project to launch directly from that week, and we are thrilled with how it came together. We look forward to many more collaborations between indie gamers and filmmakers in the future,” said Tim League, Alamo Drafthouse Founder & CEO.

“The Alamo Drafthouse and Mondo have become a regular contributor to our theatrical campaigns whether it be special edition posters, t-shirts, or events. The Hobo With a Shotgun game is one more example of that collaboration and should add a whole other dimension to our marketing efforts,” said Magnet SVP Tom Quinn.

The film’s director, Jason Eisener, told Mondo that he wanted something that had the retro look and feel of side-scrolling action games of 1980s-era Nintendo Entertainment System games.

“Growing up playing video games in the 80s with my friends has attributed to a lot of my artistic tastes. When creating the world of Hobo With a Shotgun, John Davies (the writer) and I, would look to our favorite video games of the past. Games like ‘Double Dragon 2,’ ‘River City Ransom,’ and ‘Final Fight’ all had worlds we wanted to explore. From their character designs, pumping soundtracks, and color palettes, you can find all those inspirations in our film. Teaming up with the Alamo Drafthouse and Mondo to make an old school side-scrolling video game feels like I teamed up with childhood friends! I can remember saving up my quarters for my next trip to the arcade, and knowing there would be new games to play was always so exciting. I hope this game will draw out these old memories and feelings for everyone who will be playing it,” said director Jason Eisener.

Using GameSalad’s signature GameSalad Creator software, developer Perfect Dork Studios and Powerhouse Animation Studios have produced a game with the input of the film’s creative team and its releasing studio, guided and driven by the Mondo and Alamo Drafthouse teams. The game soundtrack features music from the film adapted and “chiptuned” by Perfect Dork Studios’ Billy Garretsen (also Lead Developer of the game).

Additional levels, enemies, and bosses will be made available as free updates leading up to the film’s US theatrical release this spring. Mondo will also release the game soundtrack on HoboShotgunGame.com as a free download during SXSW Music.

Hobo With a Shotgun will be available in the App Store soon. It requires iOS 3.0 or higher and is compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, 3rd and 4th Generation iPod touch and all models of iPad.