Pennies From Heaven - The Game
This project is a reimagining of Louis Prima's version of "Pennies From Heaven" as a game.
Coins rain down from the Clouds, and the player must try and catch as
many as they can in their up-up-up-up-upside down Umbrellas!
produced by: Oliver N Blake
// An Artwork Reminagined
I absolutely love this song. The entire spirit of it, and the sheer amount of fun that emanates out of it is simply a joy. The lyrics of the first verse very much inspired what the scene would be:
"If every time it rains, it rains, pennies from heaven (Shooby Dooby)
Don't you know each cloud contains pennies from heaven (Shooby Dooby)
You'll find your fortune falling all over town
Each red and yella umbrella is up up up up upside down and..."
However, when setting out to reimagine it as a game, it was imperative that I tried to capture the spirit and fun of the original work.
I wanted the Game to feel very retro and familiar - the cartoony graphics (inpiration pictured below) are a way of capturing nostalgia and also the gentle comfortability of the genre.
The fonts used are inspired by Louis Prima's album cover (pictured below) as to link it further to the original aesthetic.
The 8-bit music in the game was made in Ableton Live - I thought a retro arcade 8-bit version of the song would really tie the piece together.
// Embracing some Inner Child Fun
When trying to imagine an interactive installation, I found it really difficult not to be judgy of my own ideas. Generally, a gallery setting comes with a certain aesthetic and mood, and some level of pretention and trying-to-look-cool. At least, for me it does. What I wanted was to design was something that totally rejected this, that you have to get stuck into. To look a bit silly and foolish, running about trying to grab Coins falling from the Clouds - this is accentuated by not having any sort of controllers to hold. To interact with this piece, you would simply have no choice but to embrace some inner child fun and be a bit silly.
// Summary
I really am so thrilled with the finished Game. It's been such a joy to build (most of the time), and I think it really embodies what I set out to do. You can't help but look a bit foolish while you're playing, and you just have no choice but to embrace that. Having my partner, friends and family test it and play has been such fun as well. I hope you enjoy this work as much as I have enjoyed making it!
References
Marisa Di Monda and Jonas Grunwald
PoseNet-OSC-Electron-App (this really made it all possible. Many MANY thanks to you both)
Theo Papatheodorou, Workshops In Creative Coding 1 and 2
oscReceive, Concepts learned from Object Oriented Programming week codes
Visual References and Inspiration:
