One of the newest hit releases from Netflix is the already cult TV show offering Stranger Things, a story about the disappearance of a boy in 1983 under strange circumstances and the search and investigation to find out what really happened. Don’t worry, no spoilers here for those who haven’t yet binge-watched this show yet.
With the first season just 8 episodes long there are certainly many questions that need answering, and Netflix confirmed a second season stating it would be “dumb” not to. Although a date for season two has not yet been set, the creators of Stranger Things (brothers Matt and Ross Duffer) are already talking about their ideas to link certain events between the two seasons, as it looks as though they wish to take a Potter-esque approach and set each season a year later to coincide with the cast aging.
In an interview with IGN when asked if they were going to bring out a comic book (which I think is a brilliant idea), their responses were:
“That’s a great idea! But what I really want is a video game.” – Ross Duffer
“Like an 8-bit… These fans, a lot of them have done this 8-bit video game art that’s blowing my mind.” – Matt Duffer
As the series is set in the 1980s, it makes sense for the game to embrace the wonderful pixellated art and synth sounds of this era. As Matt Duffer mentioned, fans have already embraced the potential of this, in particular an Australian game developer, Jacob Janerka, who created a wonderful LucasArts-esque Stranger Things game gif featuring Joyce Byers and Sheriff Hopper in “The Upside Down” and a cute little demogorgon. Janerka is also developing an interesting looking game called Paradigm, and received interweb fame with a similar Seinfield game concept gif.
So if the powers-that-be don’t go ahead with plans for a Stranger Things game, perhaps the fans will instead.
Check out the awesome Stranger Things concept gif here:
So I made a @Stranger_Things adventure game mock up, so much fun @DavidKHarbour #pixelart #gamedev pic.twitter.com/u9AXII7H8T
— The Dungeon Experience (@JacobJanerka) July 27, 2016