Goodbye Volcano High - "The Future of Gaming", The Parody Game of the Beloved Snoot Game Franchise

[snootsnootsnoot]

Seems like it will be about being true to xerself or some other shit when gazing at the apocolypse. The problem is, though I don't doubt a good number of people when faced with a cataclysm with expected arrival date would cope like that, I also find that those would be the saddest cases by far. The world is fucking ending in 6 months and you are still going to your high school and focusing on your shitty garage band?

Ding ding ding!

http://www.bostonbastardbrigade.com/2023/03/pax-east-2023-goodbye-volcano-high/

"even this impending doom can’t stop teenage angst"

Spoiler: Article

First thing’s first: Goodbye Volcano High is not a dinosaur dating sim game. Rather, it’s a narrative-driven story about the last year of high school. Well…to be fair, it’s the last year ever, as there’s a meteorite coming down to destroy every living creature walking on Planet Earth. Nevertheless, even this impending doom can’t stop teenage angst and growing pains to rear their ugly head.

At PAX East, the opening scenes of Goodbye Volcano High were on display for eager players to experience. The narrative follows Fang, who is doing their best to get their group VVorm Drama in the Battle of the Bands. However, with their bandmates and fellow seniors looking towards the future, it would appear that Fang is the only one coasting on a dream of rock & roll stardom. This leads them to wonder what they truly desire in life, and if their forever friends really will last a lifetime.

Much of KO_OP’s game has players attempting to make choices in dialogue, with hopefully the right response leading to better outcomes. But the better interactive aspects involve Fang’s quest for fame. In the demo, you are given the opportunity to play Fang’s song to their friends. Much like the Hatsune Miku games, pressing the right buttons and extending your joystick in the right direction will help to make Fang’s song come out as its true self. Mess up too much, and Fang’s friends won’t seem impressed with their latest musical contribution.

The thing that impresses me the most about Goodbye Volcano High is its visual presentation. It feels like you’re playing a real interactive cartoon, with the characters moving and conversing in ways that look like a high-end [adult swim] program. While the demo did have some synching issues, these look to be easily fixable by the time the game’s launch. Nevertheless, this feels like a proper step in the right direction towards a truly hands-on animated series.

KO_OP’s game will be an easy pick-up for those who are familiar with the visual novel genre. Newcomers to that gaming scene might need a little extra incentive before giving Goodbye Volcano High a shot. Thankfully, that hook is there, thanks to its humorous dialogue and music-focused mini-games. Yes, the characters may look strange, but high school is truly the strangest of our growing-up periods, which makes their look pretty fitting.



Goodbye Volcano High arrives on PS5, PS4, and PC on June 15. No word yet on any future VVorm Drama tour plans.

Every hour that this game is on the showroom floor, it gets worse.

 

[ShitLurker]

@snootsnootsnoot I think it sounds hillarious. "Follow Fang in all xir vapidness while zir emotionally blackmails her bandmates to waste their last year alive fucking around in a garaje band due to jir dreams of stardom in a land of ashes". The best part is that anybody who calls her out on the stupidity of it all will be presented like a bigot/phobe that is a total square.

 

[Mr.Miyagi]

This leads them to wonder what they truly desire in life, and if their forever friends really will last a lifetime.

Well, they won't, because of the meteor. Well, unless if you're counting "lifetime" as "until the giant space rock ends my life next week."

Much of KO_OP’s game has players attempting to make choices in dialogue, with hopefully the right response leading to better outcomes.

Is there a better outcome than everyone fucking dies?
I mean, you can make a story that's about facing the end of the world and have it be compelling. But I don't think the dinosaur high school game is going to amaze with its incredibly nuanced and thought-provoking writing about the struggle for meaning in the face of human dinosaur mortality.
If they're really going all-in on it being the end of the world, they should have made it a road-trip narrative. Sticking around and going to class just doesn't mesh with the concept. Even the band thing would be fine on the basis of doing something that's personally meaningful, yet ultimately going to end in nothing tangible, as a kind of metaphor for life. The school thing is just off.

While the demo did have some synching issues

It's been this long, and they still can't get the lip syncing right?

 

[ShitLurker]

If they're really going all-in on it being the end of the world, they should have made it a road-trip narrative.

Agreed,the setup is that they all have motives to bail instead of staying with their family and friends:

Fang would have alianated her whole family with her enby bullshit and have no friends outside the band, so she just wants to run as far away as she can while using music as an excuse to not have to deal with confronting her failiures.

Reed is the opposite, has a good thing going by being a jolly stoner, but the sudden appearance of mortality has been sobering and he has a primal desire to just experience as much as he can, so he's trying to get clean in record time to see the world for what it really is but trying to do it in a world knee deep in nihilism and hedonism is very fucking hard.

Trish is just a fucking trigga and can't be assed to give her a motivation because fuck her.

They go in their road trip, see how different people deal with certain death in very different ways and how it affects them and makes them reevaluate their own way of approaching it. Hell depending on your choices your music could go from pure rage metal, to soft ballads to christian rock.

 

[The tired cat]

They go in their road trip, see how different people deal with certain death in very different ways and how it affects them and makes them reevaluate their own way of approaching it. Hell depending on your choices your music could go from pure rage metal, to soft ballads to christian rock.

I mean, let's be honest unless yer Christian rock is Skillet, it's probably gonna suck hard.

If they're really going all-in on it being the end of the world, they should have made it a road-trip narrative. Sticking around and going to class just doesn't mesh with the concept. Even the band thing would be fine on the basis of doing something that's personally meaningful, yet ultimately going to end in nothing tangible, as a kind of metaphor for life. The school thing is just off.

It's kinda funny, I've been banging since the announcement of this game how it should have had a road trip concept going, even if the meteor thing was symbolism, it would still have been better.

 

[Celebrate Nite]

It's been this long, and they still can't get the lip syncing right?

Either that, or the QTE "rhythm game" mechanics aren't 1:1 synced with the music.

Basically Friday Night Funkin in which the arrow placement is just "close enough" that it LOOKS like it matches but it's completely incorrect.

 

[Sunflower Samurai]

>5 hour long VN/Rythim game
Snoot game is probably longer to 100% than that wtf

Thinking back on this for a second, its kinda fucked to even think about it to begin with ngl

So 5 hours total between its gameplay and reading/VN segments, so, either will be short and probably unsatisfactory as shit, most rhythm games have long-ish setlists and replayablity/mastery to pad themselves out, and VNs are usually longer when they're paid products, so, how shit will it be as a whole i wonder lmao

 

[Mooger Meng]

>it is indeed a meteor and not just a metaphor
I'm willing to bet a fistful of Monopoly money that this is the key weasel word. Either it will be a meteor and a metaphor, or KO-OP is doing what they do best: lie through their fucking teeth and waste people's time. Remember, this is the same team that is twisting itself into a Gordian Knot to deny that they are making a terrible visual novel.

 

[ShitLurker]

>it is indeed a meteor and not just a metaphor
I'm willing to bet a fistful of Monopoly money that this is the key weasel word. Either it will be a meteor and a metaphor, or KO-OP is doing what they do best: lie through their fucking teeth and waste people's time. Remember, this is the same team that is twisting itself into a Gordian Knot to deny that they are making a terrible visual novel.

If Fang forces society to accept her bullshit, raptor Jesus appears and rockets dino Bruce Willis into the meteor saving the day.

 

[Noebel]

What’s the honest to raptor jesus appeal here? What can people get out of this bad fit of a game?

You know, the worst thing this game can do now is to be unremarkable. If it would be hillariously bad, people will remember it. As well as if it ends up very good, somehow. If not, the next generation wouldn't everthink that there was some source material to Snot Game.

If Fang forces society to accept her bullshit, raptor Jesus appears and rockets dino Bruce Willis into the meteor saving the day.

Maybe the meteor hitting is not 100% certain, but there is a big enough chance for a considerable amount of people with "repent" posters to spawn.

 

[Melight]

I'm willing to bet they haven't done that and instead chose to go down the route of it being a literal meteor set to kill all of them. It's dumb and expected, but can you really expect more from a visual novel that has been repeatedly delayed, rewritten, and likely suffered internal drama.
It's not too far fetched either - another visual novel did the same thing, the developers of GVH have undoubtedly played it given the similar theme and stolen a few notes from that games book. Notably the looming meteor threat and the fact that the dragons in that game were actually dinosaurs who lived millions of years ago with a civilisation thats basically just our own.

I doubt they're above narrative stealing, especially if they can get away with it by just tweaking one or two details and adding a watered down rhythm minigame.

Speaking of stealing narratives allow me to powerlevel here real quick with a book I read when i was a teen. The moment I found out about GvHs narrative this was all i could think about.

 

[snootsnootsnoot]

Local man on the inside has gotten a chance to play the demo at PAX, his description of it is as follows:

Spoiler: Text

GVH demo
Okay
It was 20 minutes long
First scene is the campfire at the very end of the game, Fang chooses wether to burn or keep the yearbook
Jumps to 8 months ago, first day of Senior year
Fang in her room, playing guitar, songs actually pretty good
Animation is alright
The actual rhythm game part of it is pretty basic, just press a button on command, move a joystick in the right direction, and moving both joysticks at the same time
After the song, cuts to a text conversation between Fang and some producer
Fang sends the song she just recorded, producer gets back saying Worm Drama can get an audition at Battle of the Bands
Scrolling back through the text conversation shows this has been going on for a while, many many attempts to get an audition but failing
Naser busts in for half a second, says Fang should get ready for school, leaves
Cuts to the front door of school
Fang talking with Trish, she just got back from an entomology summer camp she went to with Rosa
Player has the option to tell Trish about the audition now or later when Reed is also there, I chose later
The school bells are fucked up for some reason, cuts to homeroom
Fang walks in with Naomi and Reed, teacher is some random character (pretty sure she’s been shown before cause it’s the same one used as the Librarian in a snoot mod)
Naomi and Reed talk a bit about L&L (D&D) and Fang tries to text Reed about the audition
Player also gets to design a logo for Worm Drama
The font for Worm, font for Drama, and the design around the words
Don’t remember all of em, doesn’t matter for the demo
None of Fang’s texts are going through, teacher tries getting Fang’s phone cause no phones in class (in homeroom)
Bunch of other people in class say their phones aren’t sending any texts either
Then somehow Trish texts Fang saying she got the music room for them
Cuts to music room, whole gangs here, Fang says they got an audition for Battle of the Bands
Fang plays the music from earlier, same song as before but different rhythm segment
After playing the song, Reed and Trish say that the song isn’t exactly “them”, since it’s something Fang come up with on her own
Apparently Fang spent all summer practicing on her own without Reed or Trish
Also, the songs they named were random bullshit similar to the VVurm Drama songs in snootgame, but nowhere near as long
(Reed and Trish said the new song didn’t sound like a couple of their old songs and listed 2)
Reed and Trish react negatively to hearing about the audition, since neither of them have had a chance to practice over the summer and the audition is in a few weeks
Reed and Trish begin talking about L&L and start leaving the room, Fang is kinda just left speechless because they didn’t bother practicing
And the demo ends

The art is uh
As you can expect
Way fucking better than the initial trailer
Reed VA is good, teacher VA is good
Everyone else is meh
Trish VA is okay, Naomi VA is okay
The art may have improved
BUT THE ANIMATION
MY GOD THE ANIMATION
CHOPPIEST SHIT IVE EVER SEEN
The mouth movements rarely matched the words
ONLY ANIMATION THAT WAS SMOOTH WAS THE RYTHM SECTION

During every conversation, there were dynamic camera shots
EXCEPT DURING THE MUSIC ROOM IT JUST PLAYED LIKE A FUCKING VISUAL NOVEL
REED AND TRISH WERE STATIC ON THE LEFT AND FANG WAS ON THE RIGHT

Spoiler: Discord Screenshots

Edit: forgot a couple of screens
Edit 2: One last screenshot. Apparently Fang is not a natural silver-hair, and her hair was previously orange.

 

[The tired cat]

2: One last screenshot. Apparently Fang is not a natural silver-hair, and her hair was previously orange.

That kinda makes sense, since she and Naiser are siblings. Though, now I wonder what hair dye lets you get silver anime hair

 

[Celebrate Nite]

The art may have improved
BUT THE ANIMATION
MY GOD THE ANIMATION
CHOPPIEST SHIT IVE EVER SEEN
The mouth movements rarely matched the words
ONLY ANIMATION THAT WAS SMOOTH WAS THE RYTHM SECTION

>ONLY ANIMATION THAT WAS SMOOTH WAS THE RYTHM SECTION
O.K. I stand corrected. So now we're on RWBY levels of animation I guess.

Story sounds meh though.

 

[Sleazy Car Salesman]

I mean, let's be honest unless yer Christian rock is Skillet, it's probably gonna suck hard.

Skillet isn't good either.

 

[The tired cat]

Skillet isn't good either.

At least their shit isn't as cringe as your typical Christian rockband is.

 

[Strangolapreti]

Skillet isn't good either.

They could be worse, but at least a man nailed to a cross and with a crown of thorns makes a better symbol for a rock band than any pride flag.

>The actual rhythm game part of it is pretty basic, just press a button on command, move a joystick in the right direction, and moving both joysticks at the same time
This can be interesting, you can do a lot of cool stuff with basic controls, if you decide to push it to it's limit
Most indie games have that: Touhou project and hollow knight comes immediately in mind, with both offering you nearly perfect bossfights like Hijiri and NKG despite the simple controls.
I only hope it's not gonna be a "you get a single try" thing like NITW's bass sections, I'm glad the weird autumn edition (almost) fixed it, and got excited that I was able to 100% "pumpkin head guy" and "tick tock"

>Apparently Fang is not a natural silver-hair, and her hair was previously orange.
Green and light blue, very ugly choice of colors...

 

[StacticShock]

now I wonder what hair dye lets you get silver anime hair

meteor dodger hair compatible dyes.
spear chuckers can't because of grease in hair.

 

[Sleazy Car Salesman]

At least their shit isn't as cringe as your typical Christian rockband is.

You cannot tell me that generic butt metal with a vaguely Christian bent is good or any better than generic soft rock with Jesus in the lyrics. Both are equally bad.

 

[Anonitolia]

>saw this pop up in my steam recommended
>scrolled down
>saw this

>clicked ignore
is the parody game any better? i'm not for these types of games, I'm just asking because I have a hunch that these devs are god-awful at their jobs