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<p>Nick/Jon -</p>
<p>There IS a market for semi-hand-crafted custom "bobble head
dolls" which might suggest a precedent... <br>
</p>
<p><a
href="https://www.etsy.com/hk-en/listing/245733478/custom-bobblehead-dolls-personalized?ref=user_profile&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Search_US_DSA_GGL_Categories_Toys-Games_Ext&utm_ag=Dolls&utm_custom1=6e8219c0-e577-4364-8eb2-2c78f9e84aee&utm_content=go_9740954383_102679110394_448697770008_aud-424578309501:dsa-41066162904_c_&utm_custom2=9740954383&gclid=CjwKCAjwjqT5BRAPEiwAJlBuBQ_zwsPIR_qk8zRXbawxQV1u-mXwZSaYBkYHqyxhmWy9RGuhTSNE3xoC-pEQAvD_BwE">https://www.etsy.com/hk-en/listing/245733478/custom-bobblehead-dolls-personalized</a></p>
<p>Most likely, the "niche game" would really have to be no more
than a custom "skin" for a standard game. Reminds me of an
anecdote from early agent-simulation at LANL when we did a small
exploratory project with the Australian Government to demonstrate
how agent models could be used for their environmental studies.
They "reskinned" a military simulation visualization, removing
vehicles and replacing the infantry with kangaroos and wombats or
something... but everyone was shocked when at some point the
kangaroos started shooting at an observation aircraft. </p>
<p>I also remember with some fascination how the old pinball games
were significantly the same with a variety of different graphics
applied to the arena area, the scoreboard and the body. Even
when the mechanisms varied, they were somewhat modular mix-n-match
components of bumpers, flippers, gates... <br>
</p>
<p>I haven't looked but I wouldn't be surprised if there were a few
open-source (on top of Unity?) game platforms that could be
reskinned on-demand as suggested here. The 2D Mario-Kong
franchise seems like it would lend itself to simple re-skinning
with different graphics. <br>
</p>
<p>As I remember it, Dave Pape (UIUC) designed the VR "game"
Crayoland for the CAVE with this in mind... allowing/encouraging
kids and other enthusiasts to draw up their own graphical elements
on paper, scan them in and have the immersive environment present
with *your* version of landscape, trees, cabin, pond, bees, etc. <a
href="http://resumbrae.com/d/Crayoland">http://resumbrae.com/d/Crayoland
</a>. I think, however, his reference implementation of crayon
art was so compelling, nobody was inclined to replace it with
their own!<br>
</p>
<p> We should be careful lest our friend Doctor Strangelove reskins
our Friday Zoom calls with his own representations of us.</p>
<p><img src="cid:part3.CC63A932.09408443@swcp.com" alt=""></p>
<p>- Smithereens<br>
</p>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:030e01d66a8b$c56bc0e0$504342a0$@gmail.com">
<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">That's funny, too.
Is there a market for "niche-games" that pop up under particular social
circumstances are are gone in a few months but make a bunch of money?
Obviously, they would have to be slight modifications on some platform, you
know "Angry McConnells" or something. Could you sell such a thing to Act
Blue?
N
Nicholas Thompson
Emeritus Professor of Ethology and Psychology
Clark University
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:ThompNickSon2@gmail.com">ThompNickSon2@gmail.com</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/">https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/</a>
-----Original Message-----
From: Friam <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:friam-bounces@redfish.com"><friam-bounces@redfish.com></a> On Behalf Of jon zingale
Sent: Tuesday, August 4, 2020 11:19 AM
To: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:friam@redfish.com">friam@redfish.com</a>
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] OK. That's funny.
During the 2016 election, I tried to convince some programmer friends to
help me make an android game in Unity. The premise was to be a 1 level rip
off of the Jurassic Park video game from the 90s. The main character would
throw bottles of suntan lotion at a T-rex with Trump's head. Trump's face
would progressively get more and more orange. Eventually, his blonde toupee
would fall to the ground and try to attack the main character, like a
scurrying rat. Winning the game would mean defeating the toupee and the
Trump-rex, and doing so would take the player to a game over screen with a
laughing Hillary Clinton with Devil horns, and text above claiming that "You
Still Lose".
--
Sent from: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/">http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/</a>
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</pre>
</blockquote>
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