Notorious References Part 1
Notorious Inc, through just a sort of organic evolution of development, ended up being a bit of a love letter to all the entertainment that Sarah and I have consumed in the last 12 years that made an impact on us in some way. There are nods to other works - shows, movies, games - throughout Notorious, as if they're goofs we're sharing with friends at a party or some such. I thought it might be interesting to catalog all of these references found in the game, partially because I think it maybe shares something about the kind of people Sarah and I are, and I think it's interesting reading about other developers in that way. But also because I think it's important to tell artists, developers, writers, etc that make stuff you like that, hey, you thought that thing was really great. So at the end of the day, the people who made all of this stuff can go to bed saying "something I made was partially responsible for the creation of something else". I don't think we're alone in thinking that's a great way for a maker’s to end a day. Maybe the best way. We’ve decided to make a series of posts to share with you every reference to other works found in Notorious Inc!
So without further ado, here is part one!
1) The brand of the tv screen in all the black market shops is "Carnivale", a nod to The Simpsons episode "Scenes from the Class Struggle in Springfield". Though it's odd, I don't like that episode, I just like that scene.
2) The image for the opportunity event "Shamification" features a tablet running Notorious Inc. The brand of the tablet is "Magnetbox", which is another nod to that same scene.
3) This happened unconsciously, but I think a lot of our color scheme (and general vibe) came from OSS 117, a series of french spy spoofs. Watch "Cairo, Nest of Spies". Super funny. And I don't mean that in an annoying, arrogant, elitist kind of "watch this french comedy" kind of way. It's a movie that's so funny, you laugh out loud reading subtitles. Seriously. Guys. SUPER FUNNY.
4) Consciously, the look is mainly a combination of the general look and feel of Samurai Jack and work by the painter Shag.
5) The secret agent in the image for the defense event "Spy Hard" is little bit of a nod to Cate Archer, heroine of No One Lives Forever.
6) The general tone and vibe of the Advisor is a combination of bits and pieces of several characters; Charles Ofdensen (Metalocalypse), Watch and Ward (Venture Brothers), Smithers (the Simpsons) and every 1% American I ever saw in an interview that saw themselves as the victim of the recession.
7) The image for the opportunity event "A Happy Medium" is a riff on the artwork and vibe of getting your fortune read in Animal Crossing.
8) The rival Junior Executives in the event “Hostile Takeover” were inspired by The Baseball Furies, a gang from The Warriors.
9) The event Corruption Crackdown has the obligatory Star Wars references. The free option reads “Shut your eyes tight and will this problem away like some kind of executive Jedi.” and if you fail, the end of the paragraph is, “It didn't work. You tried your best, but ultimately there is no try.”
10) The beer in the hand of the former executive in the event, “Severance Irreverence” is Black Hole Brew, the favorite of Coach John McGuirk from the (super great) show Home Movies.
That's it for this batch! We'll do another batch in the near future. In the mean time, you should play the game. Here, I'll even make it easy for you.
Thanks and thumbs up to you if you give us your dollar!
