Josh Bridge, currently Dead Rising 2’s level design director at Blue Castle Games, has been sharing details behind the unreleased games, early prototypes, and proposals he worked on during his years at Propaganda Games, Ubisoft Montreal, and other developers, revealing projects such as Scary Movie The Game and Space Rockers.
One such title was a Sims-inspired version of the Simpsons, which focused on the cartoon family’s witless but lovable father Homer. According to the developer, players took on the role of omnipotent being “Jeebus”, nudging Homer to do their bidding.
Bridge’s team first developed the title in 2D, with the first playable version allowing gamers to torment Homer in his living room. Interacting with different items in the room triggered a reaction from the bald star — turning off the TV made him mad, and turning the lights on and off would scare him. “Although it lacked gameplay originality, it was still fun to manipulate Homer and watch him eventually break down spinning on the floor screaming,” he says.
He adds that the game went through lots of hoops and failed attempts to get greenlit, the project was turned into a 3D demo. “Guess that the powers that be felt that 3D was the way of the future for a 2D show,” Bridge laments. “Regardless, it was shelved.”
Interestingly, Electronic Arts returned to the idea (I assume unknowingly) years later in 2007’s DS version of The Simpsons Game. The dual screen edition featured an exclusive “Pet Homer” mode parodying the systems popular Nintendogs games. EA explains the feature:
“Tired of pet rocks? Sick of raising virtual puppies? Good news pet lovers, now you can take care of your own big fat lazy Homer! Keep him fed and happy or watch him wither away with your very own Pet Homer!”
You can watch shakycam footage of someone playing “Pet Homer” below:
Bridge’s Simpsons game sounded a lot more fun than this simple diversion!
Original post editors@gamesetwatch.com (Eric Caoili)
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