what does an independent video game developer do when they believe and the industry does not? they get crafty. literally. the behemoth, developers of alien hominid, a 2d action shooter, only had to look as far as their own work stations for a little inspiration. john baez, the project coordinator for alien hominid says they wanted to do figurines because, "everyone in the office has them - bandai stuff, ugly dolls, kid robot stuff, etc. so we just decided, what the hell, if no one is going to publish us, we'd better make toys, skateboard decks and t-shirts to cover our development costs." and that is how this clever little developer in san diego funded the development of their first console title. that's right. i'm going to say it again because it's so amazing. an indie game developer financed their console game from start to finish entirely by what john jokingly calls, an army of vinyl. their publisher, O~3 entertainment, only had to pick up the completed project to distribute.
alien hominid is the entirely new revamped console version of a pre-existing web-based flash game. but not just any flash game; it had been downloaded over six million times! a renegade studio was formed and an acid-induced hand drawn nod to retro side scrolling games of years past was created.
joystick jocks, if there is a title you can support this holiday season, please check out alien hominid. if a small studio like the behemoth can do something so ginormous as potentially changing an industry model, you can help support the cause. is that a pulse for the next generation of united artists? let's hope so.
alien hominid is available for the playstation 2 and gamecube. the original flash game can be downloaded at newgrounds. and don't forget all the other cool collectibles!
