Your ideal Twin Peaks videogame

[laughingpinecone]

Branching off from the recent talk in the s3 threads, if you could snap your fingers and have the perfect Twin Peaks videogame appear in your hands (or in your Steam library), what would it be like, and who would have developed it?

I'd want the license to go to some small fries who are not afraid to experiment, like... Tale of Tales, or cardboardcomputer or people like that. CLEARLY, the "LSD: Dream Emulator" guys are the best possible pick here
And it'd be Weird Stuff Happens: The Video Game. Would it even be possible for an adventure game to employ some form of Lynchian dream logic as a core mechanic? If not, just bare... weird... interaction. Maybe a Blue Rose case where you can discover a million things depending on where you snoop but that remains ultimately unsolvable.

[N. Needleman]

All I would ask is a Telltale Games RPG set at some point during the last 25 years, in and around Twin Peaks, probably with any number of castmembers/town locals making appearances. It would have to be some sort of side-story not immediately relevant to the main storyline, but likely featuring the Black Lodge and the spirit world in some way. And maybe another of Gordon Cole's Blue Rose-assigned agents, or maybe not. Maybe just a visitor or new local.

Let it focus on a weird, unrelated story not unlike one of the anecdotes in the Secret History. Easy enough. It's just a tragedy that Catherine Coulson isn't around to voice a cryptic interaction with the Log Lady. ("The Log Lady will remember that.")

[the woods]

an rpg game is a good choice, but i would be just as happy with an interactive environment, perhaps not unlike the original simpsons "interactive springfield" pc game, but in a conventional gaming format rather than pc. and of course more sophisticated, as that is a very old game. it might even be a good vr game. i would be happy just to wander around and explore the environment. a storyline might have a sort of "choose your own adventure" style narrative, so you could play many times and make new discoveries. of course, to maintain the atmosphere of the series, there should be plenty of waiting. for coffee at the double r. for something to develop. just listening to the jukebox. waiting for waiter! that is the logic of being there, so pacing would be essential. but then there is also the logic of the red room (which means lots amd lots of more waiting!) too...perhaps a different level if you find your way there. and if you can find a way out. or want to...or you could just wait for 25 years.
also, it would be nice to play as yourself. if not that, then please give me an existing character (or choice of existing charaters) to play as. i think a mistake that is made with tie-in games is having you play as as a new character unique to the game. often this character is not very interesting compared to those on the show. the "lost" game and a couple of "x-men" games are examples of how this can go wrong i think. it can be done, but it is harder to develop of character that depth in a closed storyline.

there is a website that uses imagery from twin peaks and other lynch projects that used to be called the black lodge, now it is lynch.batbad.com , that is pretty fun. i can see that sort of style and atmosphere being translated into a game that would keep the spirit of, if not the series, then of fwwm. of course, sometimes that site works and sometimes it doesn't, which is pretty consistent with what i like about twin peaks too, although i'm not sure the average consumer (if there is such a thing) would find that amusing.
if not twin peaks, then i would love to see a dumbland or rabbits game!

[laughingpinecone]

Thanks for your thoughts! while I try to put a few more of mine into words (exploration! Interaction! Spatiality! Verbal and nonverbal approaches!)... Does your suggestion of a RPG imply the inclusion of combat? If so, against what kind of opponents?

[the woods]

if there is fighting, i want to play as nadine.
or, i would like to be doc hayward and beat the crap out of ben horne!

[Soolsma]

Anyone ever played L.A. noire? It's a story driven, open world, action adventure game with lots of crime scene investigation, interrogations and other detective work, all in a film noire style.

Set something like that in Twin Peaks and add some surreal elements.

[laughingpinecone]

"sidescrolling platformer of doug milford shooting aliens" <--clearly my friend on Skype found the ultimate answer

And while I'd personally eschew combat entirely, I would also fund any project that allows me to beat the crap out of Ben Horne.

[rewak]

Deadly Premonition basically was Twin Peaks The Game, but if a branded TP game came out I dunno if that style of game would work. As previously mentioned a Telltale series would work very well, as it's primarily plot driven rather than action, and choosing your own path could open up the possibility of Lynch/Frost creating something special for the story. It would make sense to play as an outside character, perhaps another FBI agent sent to the town to follow up on Cooper post S2 but pre S3?

[bob_wooler]

Why this hatred towards Ben Horne? Personally I would love to be Ben Horne, beating the crap out of Dick Tremayne. Or Albert Rosenfield beating the crap out of Truman. Now that would be really interesting (considering his claim of anti violence approach to life), and fun!

[DirkG]

I usually think of my videogames in terms of RPGs. Maybe some mystery /action RPG with a slow burning plot where you can play everything from Dale Cooper to Andy and create your own mix in between?

[the woods]

i don't hate ben horne. i like his character, and i like richard beymer too. his home movie reverie is a favorite part of season 2 to me. however, i did enjoy doc hayward's rather unexpected pounding of him. the mention of combat just made me think of it. there really isn't that much "combat" so to speak in the tv series. hank's martial arts beat down comes to mind. hawk vs. the bouncer, bobby bashing big ed. most of it is really breif except leland/bob's relentless beating of maddy...and i am not sure that qualifies as a fight, as it is so one-sided. i'm sure i am probably forgetting some punchings we haven't already mentioned here.

the idea of video game style combat though does kind of make me almost wish for a sort of "injustice: twin peaks universe" style game:
andy with his shakey revolver vs. dick brandishing his upside down fork.
briggs slapping cigarettes at the pantomome horse.
julie cruise vs. jimmy scott in a fading out contest.
log lady vs. fake log lady log bashing battle.
and of course, leo with his soap in a sock vs. shelley and her little walther pp.

really though, a telltale type game sounds most reasonable and in the spirit of the show. i know people mention " virginia" as peakish, and i like the pov of that for a twin peaks game but would like to see more naturalistic character and environment design. i can see an andrew wyeth sort of approach to the art design...cool and a lot of earthtones.

[Boy]

You wouldn't do a Twin Peaks game for the same reason you wouldn't do a Space Odyssey 2001 sci-fi game. It's perfcet and done for the right format that is, a TV-series/Movie.
If there ever was a Twin Peaks game it should be directed by David Lynch and I don't see that possible.
However, I think many games should take inspiration from Twin Peaks and probably will after 2017.

Alan Wake was good and I keep my fingers crossed for Alan Wake 2.

Deadly Premonition didn't really had anything original and that was my complaint. Horrible, but had potential.
But give me a good next-gen game with an FBI agent as the main character, with edgy story and I'm all in.

[LonelySoul]

This might sound odd at first, but it would be cool to have a Skyrim-esque game. If you've played that game, you know that, apart from the fighting and such, there are abundant side quests and you could get lost nearly indefinitely without even paying attention to the "main" plot. A crazy amount of work went into the scripts for the various missions, the whole game is an awesomely complex story weave and the attention to detail is impressive.

For Twin Peaks, I'd take Skyrim, reduce the amount of fighting (although there could be aspects of that - gun play, fighting doppelgangers, etc.) and use the town and surrounding locations as settings. For example, in Skyrim, you can visit other areas not within the borders of Skyrim. So in a TP game, you could "fast travel" from the confines of the town and visit locations from season three or other places like One-Eyed Jack's, Hideout Wallies, Pittsburgh, Portland, Dear Meadow, etc.

You could travel through time, both ways, and interact with everyone we know from in and around Twin Peaks. The main plot, whatever it is, could be summarily ignored in favor of exploration, driving around in a police cruiser, doing innumerable side missions, leveling up your deductive skills, buying property, etc.

Fuck, you could just use the same engine that Bethesda uses. It would be sweet.

[RainingPostToasties]

Maybe something along the lines of what Telltale does, with "movie games" where you occasionally get to make a decision and change the plot.

A text adventure might work. Or, a first-person point-and-click adventure game like the old "Dracula: Resurrection" PC games I played when I was 12. Those were highly atmospheric for their time.

How about a roguelike dungeon crawler set in the Black Lodge, where the layout and item/enemy placement changes with every playthrough? The scenery may get tiresome, but maybe you could leave the lodge and explore the woods or a nightmarish version of the Great Northern.

Even as an appreciator of Twin Peaks and video games, I struggle to think of a game concept that would do proper justice to the former.

[Rudagger]

I'd be a thousand times down for a point/click adventure game, or modern-Telltale style (more decision based than puzzle solving). Ideally, it would be in the realistic visual quality of Heavy Rain/Beyond Two Souls (by David Cage .. less said about the writing the better) or Until Dawn (pretty fun silly horror game).