Justin Smith and Enviro Bear 2000

Justin Smith is a funny, funny man. The lengths he goes to for his humor are pretty mindbending though. Enviro Bear 2000 isn't a throwaway- it's a pixel art driving game with simulated 3d and physics- and an angry badger that gnaws on your face... and mushrooms. It's also an experiment about emergent gameplay (and comedy) coming from breaking, rather than improving controls. Enviro Bear is hard. You have only one point of contact with the screen- one bear hand (what is the bear doing with that other hand, anyway? Actually, don't answer that). So you need to pull complex tricks off like wedging heavy objects on top of the gas pedal if you want to steer and accelerate at the same time. And then you're in trouble if you need to stop suddenly. The forest is full of other bears in cars.Justin gave a runthrough of some of his latest games for us yesterday, after briefly relating his early career and disillusionment with big budget games. Here's a couple of clips.-Wiley