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UNDERLINING THE GROWING SYNERGY BETWEEN MOVIES AND GAMES, A NEW GENERATION OF FILMMAKERS SUCH AS HANS VERCAUTER ARE INCREASINGLY LOOKING TO GAMES AS A NEW WAY OF TELLING THEIR STORIES. INSPIRED BY HIS DAUGHTER, VERCAUTER IS DESIGNING A TABLET GAME BASED ON THE GLOBALLY FAMOUS CHARACTER OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN. THE PROJECT IS SUPPORTED BY THE BRAND NEW VAF/GAME FUND, WHICH THE FLANDERS GOVERNMENT HOPES WILL BE ABLE TO PUSH THE GAMES INDUSTRY TO THE SAME HEIGHTS AS ITS LOCAL MOVIE SCENE. TexT andy FurnIère
PORTRaIT Bart deWaele
PLay on NEW GAME FUND INSPIRES CREATIVE MINDS
As a youngster in the 1980s, Hans Vercauter spent many hours in his room, writing code on an ancient computer – just to make a cursor move erratically across the screen. ‘One of the most frustrating moments of my childhood,’ he sighs. Thankfully for his five-year-old daughter, times have changed. When Vercauter gave her a tablet PC, she was seemingly able to simply intuitively grasp how the device worked. Vercauter immediately inquired on Twitter whether anyone was interested in working with him to develop a tablet game. Peter De Maegd, founder of production company Potemkino, didn’t have to think twice.
bedtime stories
The scenario of the game revolves around the stories of Baron Munchausen, a German nobleman of the 18th Century who was legendary for entertaining guests with stories of his own fantastical and impossible adventures. ‘He is the ideal character to stimulate the ingenuity of young children, especially six- to nine-year-olds,’ says Vercauter. At the start of the game, unimaginative creatures banish the Baron from the town of Munchausen and turn the world black and white. Through seven adventurous levels, players lead the Baron back to Munchausen, as he brings
colour back to the world, with the help of friends he meets along the way. The game should broaden young minds by rewarding unconventional ways of overcoming obstacles. To reach the moon, for example, the Baron can simply climb up a gigantic beanstalk. But if children come up with the bold idea of holding the tablet upside down, which lets him fall down towards the lunar landscape, they will be in for a surprise. The variety of possible ways to complete the game will encourage children to play the game multiple times. In a subtle way, the setting will teach children about history while also featuring references to amuse older players. The background music during a sequence in which a princess is abducted from a sultan’s harem, for example, comes from a Mozart opera with the same theme, 'The Kidnap from the Serail'. This will make it fun for parents to play with their children as an alternative to bedtime stories.
players worldwide
Visually, The Baron will have the feel of a classic picture book. Responsible for the vintage look of the characters and scenery is Flemish animator Michélé De Feudis, known for his deceptively simple but daring work for film, TV programmes, commercials and music videos. De Feudis