Steer Madness
Encyclopedia
Steer Madness is an animal rights
inspired adventure
video game developed and published by Veggie Games Inc. The game was released in December 2004 on CD-ROM for Microsoft Windows
and Macintosh
.
(without the guns or violence). Players have the option to walk, use a bicycle or drive (in select missions) through the city to get to different areas of the game. Missions involve many gameplay elements, including climbing, jumping, racing, puzzle solving and operating heavy machinery.
, by the independent game developer Veggie Games Inc. The majority of the game was made by just one person, Veggie Games Inc. founder Johnathan Skinner. This includes all of the programming (which was done from scratch), story, design and a significant portion of the artwork. He worked on the game in his spare time for about a year and a half while working other jobs, then decided to focus all his time into finishing and publishing the game. He registered the company (Veggie Games Inc), got a small office and hired an artist to help. After about 6 months of full-time development and the help of a few student interns, the game was complete and ready for release.
Music for the game was licensed from local independent artists, including Angie Inglis, Anita Athavale, Feisty, Hector and The Winks. Voice acting was done with the help of friends who were convinced to read lines into a microphone while sitting inside a little box which was sound-proofed with swatches of carpet and pillows.
Taking the self-publishing route, game CDs were printed in small batches and sold through the website. Various animal rights groups in Canada, USA, UK and Germany purchased wholesale quantities in order to resell the game CDs through their online stores as a form of fundraising.
Proggy Awards, and the second was Innovation in Audio from the 2005 Independent Games Festival
.
Animal rights
Animal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings...
inspired adventure
Adventure game
An adventure game is a video game in which the player assumes the role of protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and puzzle-solving instead of physical challenge. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based media such as literature and film,...
video game developed and published by Veggie Games Inc. The game was released in December 2004 on CD-ROM for Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
and Macintosh
Macintosh
The Macintosh , or Mac, is a series of several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced by Apple's then-chairman Steve Jobs on January 24, 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a...
.
Gameplay
Steer Madness is a single-player game where the player assumes the role of Bryce the Cow, a walking, talking bovine determined to put an end to animal exploitation and turn everyone vegetarian. During gameplay, the player goes on a series of missions to save the animals using many different tactics. The game is based in an open city environment and features several transportation methods, with gameplay similar to the game Grand Theft AutoGrand Theft Auto (series)
Grand Theft Auto is a multi-award-winning British video game series created in the United Kingdom by Dave Jones, then later by brothers Dan Houser and Sam Houser, and game designer Zachary Clarke. It is primarily developed by Edinburgh based Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games...
(without the guns or violence). Players have the option to walk, use a bicycle or drive (in select missions) through the city to get to different areas of the game. Missions involve many gameplay elements, including climbing, jumping, racing, puzzle solving and operating heavy machinery.
Development
Steer Madness was developed in Vancouver, BC, CanadaVancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, by the independent game developer Veggie Games Inc. The majority of the game was made by just one person, Veggie Games Inc. founder Johnathan Skinner. This includes all of the programming (which was done from scratch), story, design and a significant portion of the artwork. He worked on the game in his spare time for about a year and a half while working other jobs, then decided to focus all his time into finishing and publishing the game. He registered the company (Veggie Games Inc), got a small office and hired an artist to help. After about 6 months of full-time development and the help of a few student interns, the game was complete and ready for release.
Music for the game was licensed from local independent artists, including Angie Inglis, Anita Athavale, Feisty, Hector and The Winks. Voice acting was done with the help of friends who were convinced to read lines into a microphone while sitting inside a little box which was sound-proofed with swatches of carpet and pillows.
Taking the self-publishing route, game CDs were printed in small batches and sold through the website. Various animal rights groups in Canada, USA, UK and Germany purchased wholesale quantities in order to resell the game CDs through their online stores as a form of fundraising.
Awards
Steer Madness received two awards shortly after it was released. The first award was Best Animal-Friendly Video Game from the 2004 PETAPeople for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is an American animal rights organization based in Norfolk, Virginia, and led by Ingrid Newkirk, its international president. A non-profit corporation with 300 employees and two million members and supporters, it claims to be the largest animal rights...
Proggy Awards, and the second was Innovation in Audio from the 2005 Independent Games Festival
Independent Games Festival
The Independent Games Festival is an annual festival at the Game Developers Conference, the largest annual gathering of the indie video game industry. It was founded in 1998 to assist and inspire innovation in video game development and to recognize the best independent video game developers...
.