Toonstruck

Toonstruck
Developer(s)	Burst Studios
Publisher(s)	Virgin Interactive
Designer(s)	Richard Hare
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, DOS, Mac
Release date(s)	NA November 31, 1996 EU 1996
Genre(s)	Adventure game
Mode(s)	Single-player
Rating(s)	ESRB: T (Teen) USK: 6+ ELSPA: 15+
Media/distribution	2 CD-ROMs
System requirements 486/66 or equivalent CPU, 8 MB RAM, 34 MB available hard disk space, 2X CD-ROM drive, Sound Card

Toonstruck is a 1996 point-and-click adventure game in which, although all the imagery is drawn and scanned into the game, the protagonist Drew Blanc (played and voiced by Christopher Lloyd) is an actual video-captured representation of the actor (the name is a pun, since the character has "drawn a blank" on coming up with a new idea for a character). Drew's sidekick, crudely named Flux Wildly, is a drawn character voiced by Dan Castellaneta. Toonstruck also features scan-line compressed FMV. It was also one of the first video games to include stock music from APM Music, notably the classic "Spooky Scherzo" by Sam Fonteyn.

Gameplay

Toonstruck is a point-and-click adventure game where the player controls Christopher Lloyd's digitised likeness. The game uses extensive minimalism in its design, with only an inventory icon (represented by a "Bottomless Bag") as an omnipresent HUD. The pointer key, represented by an animated white-gloved hand, is context-sensitive, changing icon depending on what it is rolled over.

Plot

The iconic barn, before it is struck by the Malevolator's beam. Drew can be seen talking to the Carecrow as Flux is walking away

Drew Blanc is a cartoon animator and the original creator of the Fluffy Fluffy Bun Bun Show. This show has been an unprecedented ten year success for his company, but in reality the many cute talking rabbits that star in the show sicken him. His self-revered creation, Flux Wildly, a wise-talking and sarcastic small purple character, has been denied the chance of starring in his own show. Drew's boss, Sam Schmaltz (played by Ben Stein), sets him the task of designing more bunnies to co-star in the Fluffy Fluffy Bun Bun Show by the next morning. However, the depressed animator soon nods off, suffering from acute artist's block. He wakes early the next morning to inexplicably find his television switched on, announcing the Fluffy Fluffy Bun Bun Show. Suddenly, Drew is mysteriously drawn into the television screen and transported to an idyllic two-dimensional cartoon world populated by his own creations, among many other cartoon characters. He soon befriends Flux Wildly, and discovers that this fictional paradise is being ravaged by a ruthless new character with a devastating weapon of evil, a flying machine equipped with a ray beam that mutates the pleasant, childish landscape and its inhabitants into dark, twisted and mean versions of themselves. He is tasked with hunting down and stopping this madman, thereby restoring peace and harmony to the land, in return for safe passage back to three-dimensional reality.

Characters

Several famous actors provide the voice talent for the game.

• Drew Blanc (Christopher Lloyd): the animator who yearns to make a cartoon about his character, Flux Wildly, but instead has worked ten years on another of his creations , Fluffy Fluffy Bun Bun. This show became a great success and since then Drew has grown to hate Fluffy and her cute bunny friends. When trying to come up with new character for the new show 'Fluffy and Friends' Drew is mysteriously drawn into the cartoon world through the television. There he tries to help the helpful Cutopians in an effort to return to his own world.
• Flux Wildly (Dan Castellaneta): Drew's favourite creation, a sarcastic and playful purple creation who was never allowed to star in his own show. When Drew is brought to the cartoon world, Flux assists him in helping the Cutopians to stop the evil Count Nefarious. Flux helps throughout the first half of the game, throughout Cutopia, his homeland Zanydu and the malevolands, cracking jokes and can sometimes be used like an item to overcome certain puzzles in the game.
• Count Nefarious (Tim Curry): the most evil character in the cartoon world, residing in his tower, castle, thing, in the malevolands, plotting to take over the cartoon world and turn everyone and everything in it into dark, twisted creatures like those of the malevolands. He sends out his three henchmen to do his dirty work and capture Drew and Flux when he hears of their effort to build the cutifier.
• King Hugh (David Ogden Stiers): the smiley king of Cutopia. He sends Drew and Flux on a mission to find items for the cutifier in exchange for helping Drew to return to his own world.
• Sam Schmaltz (Ben Stein): Drew's boss, who appoints Drew to create new characters for their company's most successful show, The Fluffy Fluffy Bun Bun Show.
• Fluffy Fluffy Bun Bun (Tress MacNeille): the sugar sweet rabbit of Cutopia, whose job is to be the 'cutest rabbit in the whole wide world'. She is Drew's most famous creation, starring in her own show of ten years, but, she is not all that she seems.
• Ms. Fortune (Tress MacNeille): a psychic feline who assists Count Nefarious in his evil schemes, informing him of any possible meddlers in his plan and looking into the future to see what is to come.
• Marge (Tress MacNeille): the sweet cow who makes butter for Cutopia in the barn.
• Maxine (Tress MacNeille): Drew's wife that called Drew in the morning.
• Polly (April Winchell): a kindly sheep who hangs around with Marge in the barn.
• Elmer (none): a 'special'(or a dying) horse who lives in the barn with Marge and Polly, never saying a word.
• The Carecrow (Jeff Bennett): a camp scarecrow who looks after the crows in the fields and yearns for the perfect outfit.
• Ms. Fit (April Winchell): the pretty, ditzy proprietor of the Costumarama in Cutopia. She loves to read.
• Fingers (Dom DeLuise): the slimy Zanian who left for Cutopia to con the gullible Cutopians in his video arcade.
• Dough, Ray and Mee (Jim Cummings, Frank Welker, and Rob Paulsen): the singing frogs who work in the bakery, baking and selling day-young, fresh, and day-old bread, respectively.
• Jim (Jeff Bennett): the muscled bulldog who owns his own gym in Zanydu.
• Woof and Warp (Jeff Bennett and Jim Cummings): the owners of Wacme, who provide Zanydu with the finest abuse gadgets for causing one another pain. All their products are tried and tested... on each other.
• B.B Wolf (Jim Cummings): the suave wolf who resides in the Malevoland woods, hosting dinner parties and generally pretending to be sophisticated.
• Outhouse Guard (Jeff Bennett): the dedicated security guard at the Zanydu outhouse, who hasn't left his post for years.
• Barman (Rob Paulsen): the big lump of half-Irish, half-Scottish cheese who owns the pub in Cutopia.
• Feedback, Goggles and Lugnut (Jim Cummings, Corey Burton, and Rob Paulsen): Nefarious' doodle henchmen, with loss of speech, sight and hearing respectively. They use special-made gadgets, invented by the megalomaniacal Robot Maker, to overcome their losses.
• Footman (Corey Burton): King Hugh's footman, who cares about his master more than he'll openly admit.
• Seedy (Jim Cummings): the owner of the sleazy bowling alley in the Malevolands, the only one to ever score a strike with his special 'technique'.
• Bouncer (Tress MacNeille): the gritty bouncer at Seedy's who'll stop anyone from getting in without proper attire.
• Bricabrac (Corey Burton): King Hugh's scatterbrained engineer who creates the blueprints for and builds the cutifier.
• Robot Maker (Jeff Bennett): the mechanical man who creates machines for Nefarious and dreams of machines ruling the world. Both his design and personality appear to have drawn inspiration from the Dalek of Doctor Who fame.
• Snout the Ogre (Jim Cummings): Drew's allergy-prone guard at Nefarious' dungeon.
• Spike (Jeff Bennett): a demented clown whose brain is frazzled and driven to insanity for Nefarious' amusement.
• Gator Guards (Frank Welker and Jim Cummings): Count Nefarious' castle guards used to attempt to keep Drew within the castle. They also like to goof around.

Locations

• Cutopia: The home of all the happy and adorable cutopians. Cutopia is bright and simplistic, with a bakery, an Irish pub, a costume shop and a video arcade in the town centre. King Hugh's castle overlooks Cutopia with a barn and fields lying on the outskirts.
• Zanydu: Flux's homeland. Zanydu is colourful and wacky, with a gym, an outhouse (purely for fish-flushing), Wacme (a shop selling abuse technology like that of ACME in the Looney Tunes) and the way outback, a parody of the Australian Outback.
• Malevolands: The dark and adult part of the cartoon world, with Nefarious' castle looming in the distance. Here you can find a bowling alley, a robotics shop and a prison.

Reception

(PC)
Aggregate scores
Aggregator	Score
GameRankings	75.14%
Review scores
Publication	Score
GameSpot	8.8/10

Although receiving mostly positive reviews from game critics, the game wasn't overly successful due to the rise of new 3-D games and poor marketing. Gamespot gave Toonstruck a score of 8.8 out of 10.

Sequel

One of the scenes from the unreleased sequel

The released version of Toonstruck contained less material than originally planned. Shortly before the beta version was released, the game was divided in half. The removed material, video and animations from the first game were to be released as a sequel; however this material was never released. A number of the unused backgrounds, animations and pictures remain on the internet.

Keith Arem, a developer who currently owns the right to Toonstruck 2, is planning to release a full version of Toonstruck which would include the second half of the game. But since he needs "tremendous fan support" to justify its release and get funding, there is a petition for the release of Toonstruck 2. In November 2010 Keith Arem stated on the Toonstruck 2 Facebook page that he's going to release some "behind the scenes peeks into the development process" in the next months. In May 2011, Keith Arem officially confirmed they're currently working on an enhanced re-release of ToonStruck, which they may add some of the sequels content if they can afford it. Hes also stated they'd like to re-build the fanbase first, before moving onto the development of Toonstruck 2. It was also confirmed by Arem that an official announcement for the enhanced edition would hopefully be made by the time of Comic Con in July 2011. In June 2011, Trevor Greer, a friend of Arem's, confirmed on the Toonstruck 2 Facebook page that his father, Arem and himself are overseeing the project through Arem's owned PCB Productions company. Greer also answered some fan questions, most notably mentioning that a iOS version of the game is in development first for iPhone/iPad. A PC & Mac release may happen soon after depending on its success. More info was to be announced at Comic Con in July. However a rep at the PCB productions booth said they had planned to make an announcement during the convention, but were waiting for the right word to say so due to legal issues being resolved at the moment.

External links

• Toonstruck at MobyGames
• Toonstruck at GameFAQs
• Toonstruck at the Internet Movie Database
• Original Toonstruck website
• DOSBox Compatibility