Hang on, I'll be right with you after I finish squealing in glee. Eeeee —alright, I'm good. There's just so much good news going on lately for revivals of classic PC games. Like this: Doug TenNapel, the creator of the 1996 claymation adventure classic The Neverhood, has announced on Facebook he's working on another stop-motion point-and-click adventure along with members of Neverhood's original team.
Don't call it a sequel, though—Neverhood's license rests with EA after it bought original publisher Dreamworks Interactive, now known as Medal of Honor studio Danger Close, in 2000. That's perfectly fine with TenNapel, who feels it's better to jump on fresh ideas while keeping to the original game's quirky, sculpted visuals.
By the way, if you're unfamiliar with TenNapel's work on The Neverhood, you might remember him as the creator of some unknown character named Earthworm Jim. Just putting it out there.
"I want to note that EA is not being bad in protecting their property, and they have no obligation to make an iPhone port or to let me use the character," he explains in a separate post . "I sold them the license after all when I assigned the character rights to Dreamworks Interactive. If it was up to me, I'd make 800 Neverhood sequels the same way that I would make 800 new Earthworm Jim games. It's not my decision, and it's not my place. It's much easier (and frankly, funner) to create something new!"
Neverhood animators and artists Mike Dietz and Ed Schofield are also on board for the project as well as composer Terry Taylor, whose soundtrack is one of the most memorable in old-school adventure gaming. Although it's slightly saddening we won't get to see more of Neverhood's wacky cast (Klaymen! Hoborg! Willie Trombone!), I'm very interested to see what TenNapel thinks up next. Even better, you can help him shape up his new game's design by sharing suggestions in the Facebook thread .
