Software:Legendary Gary

From HandWiki
Short description: 2018 video game
Legendary Gary
Steam version header art
Developer(s)Evan Rogers
Publisher(s)Evan Rogers
Platform(s)Windows
Release20 February 2018
Genre(s)Adventure
Mode(s)Single-player

Legendary Gary is a 2018 video game created by independent developer Evan Rogers. Rogers was previously a programmer on the 2017 Giant Sparrow adventure game What Remains of Edith Finch.[1] The game is an adventure game about the titular main character's engagement with a fictional role-playing game, Legend of the Spear, and the emerging parallels between the game and his real life. It was released on 20 February 2018.[2]

Plot

Gary is an average man who lives an unremarkable life, living with his mother and working at a supermarket. At night, he plays the role-playing game Legend of the Spear on his computer, featuring a cast of characters that resemble Gary's few friends and family members. Gary's personal life involves many difficult issues, as he confronts several crises being faced by himself and the people in his life, including his mother, his partner, and his friends. Over time, the boundaries between Gary's personal life and the world within Legend of the Spear begin to blur in complex and unexpected ways.[3]

Gameplay

A screenshot of Legendary Gary, depicting combat in Legend of the Spear.

Legendary Gary is an adventure game separated into two sections of gameplay. The main gameplay comprises sessions playing Legend of the Spear, which imitates the mechanics of a role-playing game. Players explore a fantasy world and engage in turn-based combat on a hexagonal grid with a party of team members. Combat involves the use of attacks to deplete enemy hit points and abilities that cost special points. Contrary to combat in conventional turn-based role-playing games, Legend of the Spear resolves all player and enemy attacks simultaneously once committed by the player. The secondary gameplay involves the player guiding Gary's personal life outside of Legend of the Spear, making choices through dialog.[4]

Development

An announcement trailer for Legendary Gary was released by Evan Rogers on 29 November 2017.[5] The preview received positive reception, with Robert Purchese of Eurogamer remarking that the game "looks quite good", noting "the wry tone and self-awareness, not to mention (the) synth soundtrack - keep Legendary Gary afloat."[6]

Reception

Reception
Aggregate score
AggregatorScore
Metacritic78/100[7]
Review scores
PublicationScore
GameSpew8/10[8]
Punished Backlog8/10[9]
The Sixth Axis7/10[10]
TwinfiniteStarStarStarStar[11]

Legendary Gary received "generally favorable" reviews from video game critics, according to review aggregator website Metacritic.[7] Praise was directed towards the game's narrative and the theme of interaction between fantasy and reality in the video game medium. Writing for The Sixth Axis, Steve C. stated the game posed an "original and thought provoking meditation on the ways in which real life and fantasy can become blurred," praising its "compelling" story.[10] Kim Snaith of GameSpew praised the "depth" of the writing, noting the game "brings up a surprising amount of philosophy that at times makes us ponder our own morals".[8] Jake Green of Rock Paper Shotgun stated the game presented a rather touching tale about how games can offer much-needed escapism, but how ultimately, they cannot stand in for real-life relationships."[12] Alice Bell of Video Gamer stated the narrative was "pleasantly, frighteningly familiar" and praised the realism of the writing.[3]

Critics were more divided on the implementation of the role-playing mechanics in the Legend of the Spear section of the game. Geron Graham of The Punished Backlog stated the combat was a "mostly engrossing affair despite never providing much challenge", noting "the system is forgiving to the point of undermining itself altogether" and ultimately felt he was "just going through the motions" of combat.[9] Writing for Twinfinite, Jake Green noted "the combat mostly serves as a way to break up the story so the choice to keep it relatively friendly and quick is a smart one, managing to keep the pace up where it might otherwise have fallen," although finding "no real challenge" in this section of the game.[11] Alice Bell of Video Gamer stated that "for the most part (the combat is) fun, and not too taxing, though some of the very end-game fights become a frustrating exercise in trial and error."[3]

References

  1. ↑ Wood, Austin (1 December 2017). "Legendary Gary is an odd RPG from the programmer of What Remains of Edith Finch". https://www.pcgamer.com/legendary-gary-is-an-odd-rpg-from-the-programmer-of-what-remains-of-edith-finch/. 
  2. ↑ Wood, Austin (2018-02-20). "Legendary Gary, an RPG about playing an RPG, is out now" (in en). https://www.pcgamer.com/legendary-gary-an-rpg-about-playing-an-rpg-is-out-now/. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Bell, Alice (6 June 2021). "Legendary Gary Review". https://www.videogamer.com/reviews/legendary-gary-review/. 
  4. ↑ Evan Rogers (20 February 2018). "Legendary Gary". https://store.steampowered.com/app/688070/Legendary_Gary/. 
  5. ↑ "Legendary Gary Announcement Trailer". 29 November 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42ffTnL0FF4. 
  6. ↑ Purchese, Robert (4 December 2017). "There's a game called Legendary Gary and it looks quite good". https://www.eurogamer.net/theres-a-game-called-legendary-gary-and-it-looks-quite-good. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Legendary Gary Reviews". Metacritic. https://www.metacritic.com/game/legendary-gary/. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Snaith, Kim (28 February 2018). "Legendary Gary Review - A Game Worthy of its Name". https://www.gamespew.com/2018/02/legendary-gary-review/. 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Graham, Geron (20 February 2018). "Legendary Gary Review". https://punishedbacklog.com/legendary-gary-review. 
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 C, Steve (22 February 2018). "Legendary Gary Review". https://www.thesixthaxis.com/2018/02/22/legendary-gary-review/. 
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Green, Jake (20 February 2018). "Legendary Gary Review". https://twinfinite.net/2018/02/legendary-gary-review. 
  12. ↑ Green, Jake (13 October 2020). "Have You Played...Legendary Gary?". https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/have-you-played-legendary-gary. 
  • 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 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]

On February 13, 2025, Freyholtz stepped down as the site lead to move onto new projects, leaving operations to Tracy Poff, a veteran coder on the site, and Atari staff.[18]

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. 
  18. ↑ "An update on MobyGames leadership". 2025-02-13. https://www.mobygames.com/forum/3/thread/269628/an-update-on-mobygames-leadership/#post-269628. 
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