Pico's School
| Pico's School | |
|---|---|
_screenshot.png) | |
| Developer(s) | Tom Fulp |
| Release | 1999 |
| Genre(s) | Point-and-click adventure, rail shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Pico's School is a 1999 Flash game developed by Tom Fulp for his website Newgrounds. At the time of its release, it was "one of the most sophisticated" Flash games, exhibiting "a complexity of design and polish in presentation that is virtually unseen in amateur Flash game development".[1][2] It has been widely credited with kickstarting the Flash games scene and helping launch Newgrounds "as a public force".[1][3][4]
The game is a point-and-click adventure/shooter inspired by the Columbine High School Massacre, putting the player in the shoes of the titular Pico who has to fight a group of stereotypical goth kids who have massacred his classmates.[4]
Plot
During a school lesson on apples and bananas, Pico's classmate Cassandra interrupts the class to declare the American education system is "bullshit" and immediately begins shooting up the school. Pico blacks out during the chaos and miraculously survives only to awaken to the goth kids having overtaken the school and killed almost everyone.[5] As Pico fights the goth kids, he eventually learns that they are actually ninjas and aliens.[1] In the final boss fight, Pico defeats the swastika-blasting alien Cassandra.[1]
Gameplay
The game lets players choose multiple pathways through the school's halls, have conversations with surviving students, and engage in enemy fights, all driven by mouse clicks.[2]
Development
Tom Fulp stated in an interview that he was inspired to make the game after the Columbine shootings when he received angry e-mails and letters blaming his games and his site Newgrounds for the massacre.[6]
The game was developed in Flash 3, before the advent of the scripting language ActionScript which almost all subsequent Flash games would use. To simulate stored data, Fulp created a complex web of movie clips that gave orders to the main game, an innovative technique that unfortunately created a considerable strain during highly interactive moments like the final boss fight.[1]
Reception and legacy
An article in Spin soon after the release called the game the work of a "sick genius".[6] Andrew Lerner of Troma Entertainment commented that when he first saw the game, he laughed so hard he almost wet his pants. Troma Entertainment were reportedly at one point in talks with Tom Fulp about making a movie based on the game.[6] A contemporary write-up of Newgrounds on the Japanese tech site Impress Watch by Mie Aoki recommended the game and called it a good way to test how stuck your mind is in elementary school.[7] In a 2020 article, Wired called the game "irreverent pulp".[8]
Tom Fulp himself has referred to Pico's School as "real defining moment for Newgrounds".[9] The game was "hailed by many as the pinnacle of Flash [3] 'programming'" and is said to have "offered a first model for the type of point-and-click interactivity that would become a standard".[1]
The titular character Pico would go on to become essential iconography for Newgrounds, being featured in a variety of games and animations, such as Friday Night Funkin'.[10] [11][12][13][14]
Sequel
A sequel with the working title Pico 2 was under development for a number of years since 1999 as a collaboration with part-time animator Jose "MindChamber" Ortiz, but was apparently cancelled without an announcement sometime in the 2010s. Two prototype versions were made available to supporters of Newgrounds in 2016.[15] The Kickstarter for the game Friday Night Funkin' promised it would finish and release Pico 2 if they reached $5 million CAD in funding, but the Kickstarter ultimately fell $2.7m short of that goal.[16]
References
- ^ a b c d e f Salter, Anastasia (2014). Flash : building the interactive web. Cambridge, Massachusetts. pp. 74–75. ISBN 9780262028028.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ a b Williams, Andrew (2017). History of digital games : developments in art, design and interaction. Boca Raton, FL. ISBN 9781138885530.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Moss, Richard C. (7 July 2020). "The rise and fall of Adobe Flash". Ars Technica. Retrieved 7 August 2021.
- ^ a b Salter, Anastasia; Murray, John (29 November 2014). "How Flash Games Shaped the Internet". The Atlantic. Retrieved 7 August 2021.
- ^ Fulp, Tom. "Pico's School". Newgrounds.com. Retrieved 7 August 2021.
- ^ a b c SPIN (magazine) February 2000, p. 54
- ^ "とにかく殺っとけ！ バカゲー勢揃いの「Newsgrounds」". internet.watch.impress.co.jp. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
- ^ D'Anastasio, Cecilia. "The Ragtag Squad That Saved 38,000 Flash Games From Oblivion". Wired. Retrieved 7 August 2021.
- ^ Fulp, Tom. "Pico". Newgrounds.com. Retrieved 7 August 2021.
- ^ Wery, Jackson. "Friday Night Funkin' Fondly Recalls Flash Games". TechRaptor. Retrieved 7 August 2021.
- ^ "Flash game portal Newgrounds turns 20 years old today". Destructoid. 25 April 2015. Retrieved 7 August 2021.
- ^ Lee, Jared (13 January 2018). "How Newgrounds Changed the Game". Super Jump Magazine.
- ^ Psycho Goldfish (4 May 2007). "100th Review!: Pico's Surprise Party". Web-Game Magazine. Archived from the original on 6 July 2008.
- ^ "Flash Games as told by Flash creators #15: Shawn Tanner". Medium. 10 January 2021.
In the early days, flash games were usually just interactive stories. Click a button, watch an animation, then repeat. For me, it wasn't until Pico's School came along that I realized things could be pushed further. It had a map and a (somewhat) persistent game world. You could open and close individual lockers in the hallway. There were small cutscenes, interactive battles, and even secret items.
- ^ Fulp, Tom (26 September 1999). "September Updates!". web.archive.org. Archived from the original on 28 November 1999. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
- ^ "Friday Night Funkin': The Full Ass Game". Kickstarter.
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