Inside Social Games

Not all social items that cross the ISG table are games it would seem (at least not in the truest sense). A while back, an interesting and interactive social cartoon popped up and came all the way from the UK. Created by the people at stunnedbunny.com, the “Maximum” series involves everything from dating to band friendships.

As it stands, there are three interactive cartoons to choose from: Maximum Band, Maximum Toyboy, and 24 Hr Max. Each title deals with the social interactions between the player and the characters as they proceed through the story of each video. However, what is curious, is the differences between each title.

More for the female demographic, Maximum Toyboy and 24 Hr Max deal with relationships, and the primary objective is to find love. That’s not to say that only women like dating games… it’s just that the, ahem, “toy” is a “boy” (hence the name). Maximum Band, however, seems to be a little more entertaining for everyone as the player is presented with a group of “apathetic losers” that can’t sing, play, or dance and you have to figure out some way to make a band out of them.

Regardless of the game/cartoon you play around with, the quality is quite good. The characters all feel believable and are very well drawn (though the animation is a little stiff at times). Surprisingly enough, the voice acting is pretty good as well, which is a refreshing change from either (a) more text or (b) bad voices. Of course, it may just be the allure of the English accent, but it sounds good, nonetheless.

Unfortunately, the social interactions do feel a bit arbitrary sometimes. There never seems to be a “wrong” answer, but that also seems to be the point, as you create your own adventure. Nevertheless, it is still pretty fun to see the reactions of the characters based on your answers.

Overall, this isn’t a bad setup going on here by Stunned Bunny. The dialogue is amusing, and the social reactions to the player input is quite entertaining. It’s worth a look for developers, especially for those that are interested in dating games.