đŸȘŽ JachĂ©re

Bare Chested Men

Aug 23, 20248 min read

Bare Chested Men

Notes

  • Ausgehend von Ball Raider
  • Barbarian I and II, Torvak, Carver, Conan: The Cimmerian, Dragonslayer
  • Commando, Ikari Warriors, Leatherneck, Dogs of War
  • What makes a barbarian, visually speaking?
  • What does looking like a barbarian enable you to do?

Hypothesis

My thesis on visuality of these games would go in the direction that the uncivilisation of these characters through the introduction of certain visual markers (wild or longer hair on the head, removal of clothing and showing bare skin) with reference to the “noble savage” lays the moral ground for the murders done by these characters. They are now uncivilised and do not have to abide by legal and moral guidelines. This further enables the display of glorification of violence and a hypersexualisation of toxic masculinity.

Visuality of Conan

2023-08-15

2023-08-22

Addendum. Der Bruch in der Bebilderung von Conan (auf Covers) könnte bei Frank Frazetta geschehen sein. Seine Covers ab 1966 zeigen Conan verroht. https://omeka.unibe.ch/s/procedural-visuality/item-set/9186?sort=dcterms%3Acreated+asc Dann wird erwĂ€hnt, dass “Frazetta has acknowledged [that] he collaborated with Krenkel”. Und Roy Krenkel macht dann solche Dinge https://www.google.com/search?&q=Roy+G.+Krenkel&tbm=isch und der Kreis zur neoklassistischen (?) Fantasy & Sci-Fi Illustration der 1950er Jahre schliesst sich.

Instead of using painted artwork for the game’s box, Palace Software used photos of hired models. The photos, also used in advertising campaigns, featured Michael Van Wijk (who would later become famous as ‘Wolf’ in the TV series Gladiators) as the hero and bikini-clad Maria Whittaker, a model who was then associated with The Sun tabloid’s Page 3 topless photo shoots. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbarian:_The_Ultimate_Warrior

In 1985, Palace Software hired Steve Brown as a game designer and artist. He thought up the concept of pitting a broom-flying witch against a monster pumpkin, and created Cauldron and Cauldron II: The Pumpkin Strikes Back. The two games were commercial successes and Brown was given free rein for his third work. He was inspired by Frank Frazetta’s fantasy paintings to create a sword fighting game that was “brutal and as realistic as possible”. Brown based the game and its characters on the Conan the Barbarian series, having read all of Robert E. Howard’s stories of the eponymous warrior https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbarian:_The_Ultimate_Warrior

Mal grob nachgezeichnet

  • 1930er Conan ist Römer und Margaret Brundage schafft mythologisch angehauchte, und explizites Material, welches sie als Frau nicht veröffentlichen könnte und es darum mit M. Brundage signiert
  • 50er Roy Krenkel macht Illustrationen zwischen Neoklassizismus und Jugendstil mit “noblen Wilden”
  • 70er Frank Frazetta ĂŒbersetzt Krenkels Arbeit in einen modernen, comichaften Stil, bleibt aber bei den Sujets treu; aus Krenkels eleganten “MĂ€nnern” werden bei Frazetta testosteron-geladene Muskeldinger, die Bildsprache und Haltung der Person von posierend zu agierend (subjektiv).
  • 70er Barry Windsor-Smith greift Fazettas VisualitĂ€t zu Conan in den Comics auf, bleibt jedoch noch ein wenig bei den Superhelden der 70er mit ihrer schlankeren, eleganten Statur
  • 1982 der erste Conan Film erscheint, dessen Cover von Renato Casaro den Fazetta referenziert und Arnold Schwarzenegger abbildet (Casaro hat auch leidenschaftlich Rambo Bilder als GemĂ€lde interpretiert)
  • 1987 Barbarian I erscheint, dessen Designer Steve Brown sich explizit auf die BĂŒcher, den Film sowie die Arbeit von Frazetta bezieht

2023-08-30

Some notes while going through the screenshots of the Conan-inspired games group.

  • Barbarian i
    • Longplay
    • Woman on the cover is “prize” in game?
    • As the only system BBC Micro tried to recreate the game’s cover on the starting screen, although they had to split the logo into two. The ZX Spectrum version also shows an illustration, where as the rest goes with just the logo and some text
    • The logo is present on every single screen?
    • Color schemes are massively different, between the systems
    • Amiga and Atari ST versions can show blood in the most explicit way, because the systems have enough colors and resolution
    • The woman is completely naked in the C64 version?
  • Barbarian ii
    • Longplay
    • Woman on cover is playable character
    • Some covers decided to only show male character, others the two characters having slayed a large demon
    • IBM version (and some others I believe) cover went with a man-man
    • The female character is potrait as half-naked fighter in-game
    • Starting screens seem more uniform, despite different system capabilities, showing male character. C64 goes another route and reinterprets the cover with both characters. One C64 version also has just the female character
    • MSX character choice screen shows two portraits, with a specific different style
    • Barbarian ii has more violent aesthetics, compared to the first version of the game, showing cut of heads or tortured people as backgrounds. Some of the elements point towards fantasy, but all over all the game tries to evoke being in the stone age (volcanos, dinosaurs and sabre-tooth tigers, caves)
  • Barbarian i and ii follow a one-screen one-monster battle structure
  • Torvak
    • Longplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAApxcdvoQA
    • is a jump ‘n run with a map as level chooser
    • no women present, except for the level exit in the first map
    • 
ah, and there seems to be some Amazons as enemy character
    • environment points to roman/greek ruins
    • some of the enemies are inspired by Barbarian (magician), some are new tropes/additions (green goblin)
    • aesthic and referencewise not much new here

2023-08-31

More notes on Conan-style games

  • Conan: The Cimmerian
    • Gameplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHVQx_A5cqk
    • Ending: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZ0Nq_kT8NM
    • Has all the sexist tropes: Damsel in distress, slave women, dangerous blond
    • The in-game Conan is very close to Frazetta’s early, or Duillo’s Conan
    • Aesthetics follow along with the film (set design, humongous snake, horned helmets, jungle, mountain)
    • The intro’s top-down view is actually quite intriguing, is it a reference/inspired by some of the brutal top-down shooting games?
    • The perspective while moving around in the city is interesting as well: the characters are display in sideview, whereas the map is at something like 45° angle without perspective
    • Encounters with characters are show completely from sideview, but with perspective
    • The game has a lot of UI/UX from a point and click adventure
    • I’d say that some of the artworks done for the game are quite experimental, there is almost a hint of Giger or Metal Hurlant
    • That said, most of the game looks comically; Barbarian honestly almost looks more serious, certainly DragonSlayer
    • Battles look awkward, enemy is beheaded automatically
  • DragonSlayer
    • It’s just a demo, no gameplay beyond a little bit of moving around
    • The graphics are far more elaborate then anything else that was on the market; going in a more “realistic” aesthetic, less comically like Torvak and Conan the Cimmerian
    • Proper warrior style, no long hair, really really almost naked, just a string tanga keeping it together, no woman around
    • The story in the intro is effin long


2023-09-04

Notes on the the war-games

  • The first Rambo movie came out 1982, and the second 1985, falling together with Commando. The third came out 1988.
  • Commando, the first chronologically speaking, doesn’t reference Rambo. It has a clear anonymous soldier aesthetic. The own player could as well be an enemy, and is just slightly differently colored.
  • Ikari Warriors, Leatherneeck and Dogs of War use Rambo-styled characters for the player.
  • Ikari Warriors goes really wild with the covers! Every system has it’s own illustration and they all look wildly different.
  • All games in this category use exactly the same game mode: 45° top down, upwards scrolling shooter
  • The Dogs of War was a book and a film in 1973, respectively 1980. The game with the same name probably references that. The start screen could maybe show Christopher Walken, with some imagination


2023-09-15

Notes on the Commando covers and where they have been released.

Die deutsche Version wurde entschĂ€rft, um eine Indizierung zu vermeiden. IndizierungsgefĂ€hrdet waren Spiele, die die Tötung von Menschen zum Inhalt hatten. Capcom benannte das Spiel fĂŒr den deutschen Markt deshalb in Space Invasion um und Ă€nderte die Grafik der Gegner dahingehend ab, dass sie an Außerirdische erinnerten.[4] Das Spiel wurde dennoch 1988 von der BundesprĂŒfstelle fĂŒr jugendgefĂ€hrdende Medien wegen Kriegsverherrlichung indiziert, im August 2005 aber gemĂ€ĂŸ § 23 Abs. 4 JuSchG von der BPjM wieder aus der Liste der jugendgefĂ€hrdenden Medien gestrichen.[5] Die Heimcomputerfassung Commando II von Elite Systems wurde im MĂ€rz 2009 von der BPjM aus der Liste der jugendgefĂ€hrdenden Medien gestrichen und die Indizierung damit aufgehoben.[6] In Japan kam das Spiel als Senjƍ no ƌkami (Wolf des Schlachtfelds) auf den Markt.

Visuality of Rambo

Auch hier spannend zu sehen, wie das Ursprungswerk bebildert wurde. Der Roman First Blood, auf welchem der erste Rambo Film basiert: https://craigzablo.com/?p=20842 Da ist Rambo noch ein ein richtiger Vietnamn Veteran und hippiesque

Conan Review Reading Notes

  • PowerPlay_ConanTheCimmerian_93
    • “In Echtzeit verprĂŒgeln wir unsere Feinde”
  • PowerPlay_ConanTheCimmerian_92
    • Wording ist interessant, zwischen “lĂ€ssig” und “wissend”
    • Sprachlich stammtischhaft
    • Warum wird schwarzhaarige spezifisch erwĂ€hnt?
    • “SchrĂ€g von Oben”-Perspektive (“angeknackst”)
    • “schnucklige VGA-Grafik”
    • Fantasy-Topf: Zelda und Conan?
  • PlayTime_ConanTheCimmerian
    • ErwĂ€hnung von Buch und Film
    • “gut animierte Introszene”
    • Same: Warum wird schwarzhaarige spezifisch erwĂ€hnt?
    • “die oft unbenutzte, rechte Maustaste”
 lol
    • sprachlich eher neutral
    • Spiel wurde von Virgin gemacht
  • PCGames_ConanTheCimmerian
    • Ebenfalls Verbindungen zum Film sowie Zelda (NES), wenn auch nicht “offizielles Spiel”
    • ErwĂ€hnung einer gedruckten Karten die dem Spiel beilag
    • Vogelperspektive “erstaunlich detailiert”
    • â€œĂ€usserst spektakulĂ€re Seitenansicht, die Conan in imposanter Grösse auf den Bildschirm bringt”
    • Spiel wurde von “Programmierer” gemacht
    • “Arnie-Fans und Zelda-JĂŒnger”!
    • Sprachlich berichtend
  • ASM_ConanTheCimmerian
    • Verbindung zu Film und Buch, sowie Comics
    • ErwĂ€hnung von Fantasy Author Robert E. Howard als ursprĂŒnglicher Autor in den 1920er

Graph View

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