Software:Enviro-Bear 2000

From HandWiki
Short description: 2009 video game


Enviro-Bear 2000
itch.io version header art
Developer(s)Justin Smith
Composer(s)Roberto Ricioppo
EngineHaaf's Game Engine, Box2D
Platform(s)Windows, iOS, Android
Release4 April 2009
Genre(s)Action
Mode(s)Single-player

Enviro-Bear 2000 (subtitled Operation: Hibernation in later releases) is a 2009 video game by Canadian independent developer Justin Smith. The game is a mixture of action, racing and survival genres as the player, who is a bear, attempts to drive a car around a forest to collect enough food to hibernate for the winter.

Gameplay

A screenshot of Enviro-Bear 2000.

Using the cursor, the player must single-handedly operate the vehicle using the gas pedal, brake and steering wheel. The objective of the game is to eat enough food to hibernate over the winter by hitting or running over objects that fall into the car, such as fish in a lake or berries from a bush. Colliding or running into some objects creates clutter in the car that the player must throw away using the cursor to prevent interference with driving. Each round of the game is time-limited to represent the onset of winter, by which time the bear must have consumed enough food and find shelter. Described as "purposely awkward to control", the challenge in the game is based on attempting to complete multiple tasks at once whilst using one hand at a time.[1] If the player is successful in hibernating, the time limit restarts and the bear returns for another round of seeking food for the following year.

Development

Enviro-Bear 2000 was developed in two months in response to a game jam on TIGSource titled 'Cockpit Competition', in which developers were invited to create a game centred around cockpits in less than a month.[2] The game was initially uploaded to Game Jolt on 4 April 2009,[3] and received the most votes from TIGSource users as the favorite from the competition.[4]

Enviro-Bear 2000 was originally intended by developer Justin Smith to be a game involving "driving a car through a post-apocalyptic wasteland, attacking other squirrel cars to take their nuts.[5] Due to the one-month time constraint with the game jam, Smith decided to narrow the scope of the game to focus on one bear. Smith stated the hand-grabbing mechanic of the game was inspired by a test application in the engine Box2D, which allowed him to "grab simple shapes with your mouse and fling them around while experimenting with all the features of the physics engine."[6] Smith drew the game's art by hand in Microsoft Paint, allowing the rudimentary visuals to be a reflection of his expectation that the game would be a "complete failure".[5]

After a month of further development, the game was also released on iOS on 8 July 2009 as Enviro-Bear 2010.[5] The app version of the game was periodically updated in 2011 to add support for the iPad and in 2014 to add support for widescreen devices.[7]

Reception

Enviro-Bear 2000 received positive reception from critics. Writing for Kotaku, Heather Alexandra praised the game's "mixture of comedic gameplay and complicated controls", stating the game was a "silly but smart experiment that's a ton of fun".[8] The website later listed the game as the "weirdest car video game" of all time.[9] Sean Bell for DarkZero praised Enviro-Bear 2000 as "the funniest game of all time", praising the "ridiculous amount of humorous touches waiting to be discovered" in the game.[10] Adam Fimio of Indie Game Reviewer stated "the graphics aren't great, but they do what needs doing", though noting "the scaled back visuals actually sell the (pretty goofy) concept", but stated the game was "high on fun".[11]

Accolades

Enviro-Bear 2000 was a finalist in the 'Nuovo' category at the 2010 Independent Games Festival,[12] a category intended to "honor abstract, short-form, and unconventional game development which advances the medium and the way we think about games."[13] The jury panel praised the game for its "joyfully off the wall, grin-inducing concept and art direction", and the "genuinely novel gameplay idea of having a time management approach to limited player controls".[14] The game also won the 'Most Fantastic' award at the 2010 Fantastic Arcade Festival,[15] an independent games festival presented in Austin, Texas, as a parallel event to the Fantastic Fest.[16] Enviro-Bear 2000 received a cabinet display at the event and was attended by developer Justin Smith.[17]

References

  1. ↑ Rose, Mike. "Enviro-Bear 2000 - Operation Hibernation". 250 Indie Games You Must Play. CRC Press. pp. 24. 
  2. ↑ "Enviro-Bear 2000 - Operation Hibernation". 25 February 2009. https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=4964.0. 
  3. ↑ Crackerblocks (4 April 2009). "Enviro-Bear 2000". https://gamejolt.com/games/enviro-bear-2000/211. 
  4. ↑ "Cockpit Competition Voting". 14 April 2009. https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=5735.0. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Rigney, Ryan (2011). Buttonless - Incredible iPhone and iPad Games and the Stories Behind Them. CRC Press. pp. 76–78. 
  6. ↑ Graft, Kris (12 January 2010). "Road to the IGF - Justin Smith's Enviro-Bear 2000". https://www.gamedeveloper.com/pc/road-to-the-igf-justin-smith-s-i-enviro-bear-2000-i-. 
  7. ↑ Nelson, Jared (14 February 2014). "Enviro-Bear 2010 Updated With Widescreen Support...and Otters?". https://toucharcade.com/2014/02/04/enviro-bear-2010-update/. 
  8. ↑ Alexandra, Heather (28 February 2018). "Is That Bear Driving A Car?". https://kotaku.com/is-that-bear-driving-a-car-1823408085. 
  9. ↑ Petrany, Mate (14 May 2013). "The Ten Weirdes Car Video Games". https://www.kotaku.com.au/2013/05/the-ten-weirdest-car-video-games/. 
  10. ↑ Bell, Sean (7 July 2009). "IndieZero - Enviro-Bear 2000". https://darkzero.co.uk/game-articles/indiezero-enviro-bear-2000/. 
  11. ↑ Fimio, Adam (11 July 2010). "Enviro Bear 2010 - The Fast and the Furriest". https://indiegamereviewer.com/enviro-bear-2010-the-fast-and-the-furriest/. 
  12. ↑ "IGF Finalists". Game Developer Magazine 17 (2): 4. February 2010. https://archive.org/details/GDM_February_2010/page/n5. 
  13. ↑ "Independent Games Festival 2010 Announces Main Competition Finalists". 4 January 2010. https://gdconf.com/news/independent_games_festival_201. 
  14. ↑ "2010 IGF Nuovo Jury Releases Finalists Statement". 2010. https://igf.com/2010/01/2010_igf_nuovo_jury_releases_f.html. 
  15. ↑ "Enviro Bear 2000". https://fantasticarcade.com/games/2010/envirobear2000/. 
  16. ↑ "Fantastic Arcade". 12 August 2010. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/fantastic-arcade-indie-games-festival-announces-its-29-strong-line-up. 
  17. ↑ Johnson, Jason (19 November 2010). "Bear Theft Auto - The Indie Adventures Of Enviro-Bear's Justin Smith". https://www.gamedeveloper.com/pc/interview-bear-theft-auto---the-indie-adventures-of-i-enviro-bear-i-s-justin-smith. 
  • MobyGames is a commercial database website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes over 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms.[1] Founded in 1999, ownership of the site has changed hands several times. It has been owned by Atari SA since 2022.

Features

Edits and submissions to the site (including screenshots, box art, developer information, game summaries, and more) go through a verification process of fact-checking by volunteer "approvers".[2] This lengthy approval process after submission can range from minutes to days or months.[3] The most commonly used sources are the video game's website, packaging, and credit screens. There is a published standard for game information and copy-editing.[4] A ranking system allows users to earn points for contributing accurate information.[5]

Registered users can rate and review games. Users can create private or public "have" and "want" lists, which can generate a list of games available for trade with other registered users. The site contains an integrated forum. Each listed game can have its own sub-forum.

History

Logo used until March 2014

MobyGames was founded on March 1, 1999, by Jim Leonard and Brian Hirt, and joined by David Berk 18 months later, the three of which had been friends since high school.[6][7] Leonard had the idea of sharing information about computer games with a larger audience. The database began with information about games for IBM PC compatibles, relying on the founders' personal collections. Eventually, the site was opened up to allow general users to contribute information.[5] In a 2003 interview, Berk emphasized MobyGames' dedication to taking video games more seriously than broader society and to preserving games for their important cultural influence.[5]

In mid-2010, MobyGames was purchased by GameFly for an undisclosed amount.[8] This was announced to the community post factum , and the site's interface was given an unpopular redesign.[7] A few major contributors left, refusing to do volunteer work for a commercial website.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025} On December 18, 2013, MobyGames was acquired by Jeremiah Freyholtz, owner of Blue Flame Labs (a San Francisco-based game and web development company) and VGBoxArt (a site for fan-made video game box art).[9] Blue Flame Labs reverted MobyGames' interface to its pre-overhaul look and feel,[10] and for the next eight years, the site was run by Freyholtz and Independent Games Festival organizer Simon Carless.[7]

On November 24, 2021, Atari SA announced a potential deal with Blue Flame Labs to purchase MobyGames for $1.5 million.[11] The purchase was completed on 8 March 2022, with Freyholtz remaining as general manager.[12][13][14] Over the next year, the financial boost given by Atari led to a rework of the site being built from scratch with a new backend codebase, as well as updates improving the mobile and desktop user interface.[1] This was accomplished by investing in full-time development of the site instead of its previously part-time development.[15]

In 2024, MobyGames began offering a paid "Pro" membership option for the site to generate additional revenue.[16] Previously, the site had generated income exclusively through banner ads and (from March 2014 onward) a small number of patrons via the Patreon website.[17]

See also

  • IGDB – game database used by Twitch for its search and discovery functions

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sheehan, Gavin (2023-02-22). "Atari Relaunches The Fully Rebuilt & Optimized MobyGames Website". https://bleedingcool.com/games/atari-relaunches-the-fully-rebuilt-optimized-mobygames-website/. 
  2. ↑ Litchfield, Ted (2021-11-26). "Zombie company Atari to devour MobyGames". https://www.pcgamer.com/zombie-company-atari-to-devour-mobygames/. 
  3. ↑ "MobyGames FAQ: Emails Answered § When will my submission be approved?". Blue Flame Labs. 30 March 2014. http://www.mobygames.com/info/faq7#g1. 
  4. ↑ "The MobyGames Standards and Practices". Blue Flame Labs. 6 January 2016. http://www.mobygames.com/info/standards. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Miller, Stanley A. (2003-04-22). "People's choice awards honor favorite Web sites". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 
  6. ↑ "20 Years of MobyGames" (in en). 2019-02-28. https://trixter.oldskool.org/2019/02/28/20-years-of-mobygames/. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Plunkett, Luke (2022-03-10). "Atari Buys MobyGames For $1.5 Million". https://kotaku.com/mobygames-retro-credits-database-imdb-atari-freyholtz-b-1848638521. 
  8. ↑ "Report: MobyGames Acquired By GameFly Media". Gamasutra. 2011-02-07. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/report-mobygames-acquired-by-gamefly-media. 
  9. ↑ Corriea, Alexa Ray (December 31, 2013). "MobyGames purchased from GameFly, improvements planned". http://www.polygon.com/2013/12/31/5261414/mobygames-purchased-from-gamefly-improvements-planned. 
  10. ↑ Wawro, Alex (31 December 2013). "Game dev database MobyGames getting some TLC under new owner". Gamasutra. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/game-dev-database-mobygames-getting-some-tlc-under-new-owner. 
  11. ↑ "Atari invests in Anstream, may buy MobyGames". November 24, 2021. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-11-24-atari-invests-in-anstream-may-buy-mobygames. 
  12. ↑ Rousseau, Jeffrey (2022-03-09). "Atari purchases Moby Games". https://www.gamesindustry.biz/atari-purchases-moby-games. 
  13. ↑ "Atari Completes MobyGames Acquisition, Details Plans for the Site's Continued Support". March 8, 2022. https://www.atari.com/atari-completes-mobygames-acquisition-details-plans-for-the-sites-continued-support/. 
  14. ↑ "Atari has acquired game database MobyGames for $1.5 million" (in en-GB). 2022-03-09. https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/atari-has-acquired-game-database-mobygames-for-1-5-million/. 
  15. ↑ Stanton, Rich (2022-03-10). "Atari buys videogame database MobyGames for $1.5 million". https://www.pcgamer.com/atari-buys-videogame-database-mobygames-for-dollar15-million/. 
  16. ↑ Harris, John (2024-03-09). "MobyGames Offering “Pro” Membership". https://setsideb.com/mobygames-offering-pro-membership/. 
  17. ↑ "MobyGames on Patreon". http://www.patreon.com/mobygames. 
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