Hidden Images
Posted on | April 2, 2010 | 4 Comments
I was watching ‘Antique Road Trip’ the other evening. At least, that is what I think it is called. It features a couple of antiques experts driving around buying stuff and then auctioning it to see who can make the most money. It is actually rather fun. Or perhaps I have finally succumbed to antiques loving middle age and need to be put down for my own good.
Anyway, one of the things they looked at was a biscuit tin from Huntley and Palmer, made in the 1970’s in which the designer, who had just been sacked, concealed some dodgy images.
Apparently there was also a jam tin with the word ’shit’ hidden on the lid. I wondered when this tradition of designers screwing with their employers started? Was it with Da Vinci’s Last Supper which, badly thought out conspiracy theories aside, clearly shows Jesus sitting next to a woman? It seems plain to me the tendency for games designers to hide things their publishers might not want people to see is not a new phenomenon. Has there been any game studies material written on this? If so, it has passed me by.
There is a plain lesson for the industry here though: do not piss off the gal/guy who is doing the front line work unless you remove them completely at the same time.
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4 Responses to “Hidden Images”
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April 4th, 2010 @ 8:05 am
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-Zua_2agbc
This is really interesting. In Super Mario World there is an area which is very difficult to get to – an example of how designers can hide things in their games?
Btw ignore the story behind it, whether it is a Nazi swastika or a Buddhist symbol – what’s interesting is how h hid that area in the game. I think it’s real (as in, someone didn’t just make it up and put in YouTube…)
April 4th, 2010 @ 2:14 pm
I thought that area was a hack? I wonder if there is anything like the skull in Holbein’s painting of ambassadors in any games?
Original: http://drnorth.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/holbein-ambassadors.jpg
Corrected perspective: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/Holbein%27s_%22Ambassadors%22_-_skull_with_fixed_perspective.png
April 4th, 2010 @ 6:48 pm
Andrej, that’s a fake and a poorly concealed one at that…he used the lovely Mario making tool Lunar Magic, and even left the mouse pointer on the screen! It’s nice that our media has spawned these rumours though, reminds me of the (also fake) Suicidal Munchkin in the Wizard of Oz…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajnEJtzhC-Y&NR=1
Things like Hot Coffee are what Justin’s referring to, I think. Subversive little features concealed in the game. They should be kept distinct from glitches like the Heavy Rain nudity thing and just very well kept secrets like Chrono Trigger’s ‘Developer’ ending. But does that mean we’re only looking for ‘hackable’ features left in games, or is the intent all that matters? If the latter, then I’m pitching Monkey Island 2’s ending “Turn off the computer and go do something constructive…” followed by an endless loop of suggestions
From Justin: indeed, hot coffee is indeed what I was thinking of, but to be frank happy for people to talk about exactly what they wish – which is why I left it kinda open. The suicidal munchkin is different I think – it was not intentionally included by a designer: nobody went ‘lets put a flamingo in the background that looks a little like a munchkin hanging itself’. Then again, all interesting stuff and interconnected.
April 5th, 2010 @ 7:11 pm
An article about the man behind a classic easter egg – I’m not sure if this would count or not but it makes for an intriguing read:
http://www.afterelton.com/blog/lylemasaki/the-man-behind-simcopters-gay-easter-egg