There's a certain segment of the population that'll will need no introduction to Daniel Johnston -- whether they came to him via the recently released Devil And... documentary, or (more likely) through the Kurt Cobain-sported T-shirt that broke Johnston further into the public consciousness, or -- for the true-blood Texans -- simply the local lore and hometown pride Austin still holds for its long-troubled and simple-souled singer/songwriter.
And if you don't need that introduction1, then you probably will have by now had the same reaction I had several months back when I heard whisperings that Peter 'Dr. Fun Fun' Franco and Steve 'Smashing Studios' Broumley -- former art and technical director, respectively, at the now-defunct Austin branch of Midway -- were working on a game featuring Johnston's art and music: I've more or less been waiting for this day since the early 90s.
Hi How Are You [App Store] isn't the game I imagined it would be. There's no Punching Joe boxing, there's no tilt-to-Walk-the-Cow, there isn't a single speeding motorcycle to be found. Instead, the game lands somewhere between a Mario 64 challenge level and Q-bert, where you tilt one of four characters across free-floating platforms to flip all floor tiles green.
Meanwhile, you'll be working against the clock (to gain higher level trophies and achievements), dodging any number of Johnston's demons (like his floating devil's eyeballs) and platforming your way through the alternately whimsically-innocent and hellishly-dark landscapes trying to rescue Laurie, the real-life love and muse of Johnston's early adulthood.
On reflection, these abstractions are probably for the best: what Smashing/Fun have given us is Johnston's lore injected into a game, rather than basing a game directly on one of his icons. It's probably a more tactful solution, and one that starts to work as a (very light) metaphor for his own life-long struggles.
Best of all, what it does is serve as an accessible entry point to discovering his art: Johnston's music has been licensed for use throughout the game, and each earned achievement unlocks a scale- and pan-able version of one of his illustration from throughout the years.
While it won't quite reach (and was obviously never meant to) the cultural-rocking level of the playable documentary that is The Beatles: Rock Band, it's exactly the kind of cross-media crossovers we need more of, is as loving a tribute to an artist as I've seen from a game, and if it helps introduce just one more person to Daniel, couldn't rightfully be called anything but a success.
Hi How Are You [App Store link, Dr. Fun Fun/Smashing Studios]
1. ^ [If you do, start with Johnston's Wikipedia entry, move on to his homepage, track down the aforementioned documentary sooner than later, and then move on to his Continued Story/Hi, How Are You and Yip/Jump Music CDs, or ease yourself in with the Beck, Tom Waits, Death Cab, TV on the Radio, etc. etc. covers on Discovered Covered -- use Yip Eye Tunes if you just want the MP3s.]
