Scarygirl

A free-to-play web based platformer with a frightening (in theory), female (in practice) protagonist in search of the man of her dreams. Based on the art of the toy collection, by Nathan Jurevicius.

Xbox 360 Games Store

PlayStation Network (PS3)

PlayStation Network (PSP)

Premise

Scarygirl and her friend Toycat. Toys designed by Nathan Jurevicius.

Scarygirl originated as a line of designer toys made by Nathan Jurevicius, and the free to play flash based web-browser game incorporates the characters from his line of toys.

In it, you play as Scarygirl, who after being abandoned and washing up on a deserted peninsula, sets out on a mission to find the man behind her haunting dreams.

Gameplay

The game is a fairly traditional platformer, with simple keyboard controls. The beautifully drawn backgrounds and characters set this game apart, however, as they promote exploration. There are playable console games to be found and collected throughout the levels, which are inspired by simple 8 and 16-bit games.

Design

Art and Concept was done by Nathan Jurevicius.

The game was developed by Touch My Pixel, an Australian team comprised of Tony Polinelli and Tarwin Stroh-Spijer. On their site they say :

"One of our major goals when designing and developing the scarygirl game was to produce a game of a better quality than that generally associated with a 'flash game'."

Animations were done by Melbourne based Renmotion.

The intro animation was created by Halo Pictures.

The game was produced by Sophie Byrne.

When talking to Edge-Online in an interview, Jurevicius explains the connection between toy design and game design.

An example of the art style in Scarygirl.

“I think that combination of games and modern designers is inevitable really,” muses Jurevicius. “Our preoccupations - toys, cartoons, character-based illustration - are a good fit even if our backgrounds aren’t the same. And a lot of us have been asked to be involved in gaming projects before: artists like Jon Burgerman did levels for Wipeout Pure, and we’ve all been asked to collaborate on various things over the years. I guess it’s a shared design sensibility, really.” He laughs, and then adds, “I can’t think of any other reason people would want someone like us.”

Scarygirl is free to play at http://www.scarygirl.com/