NFB Launch ‘I Love Potatoes’
This week sees the launch of I Love Potatoes, the latest project from the National Film Board of Canada‘s acclaimed interactive media strand. Created by established documentarian and NFB artist in residence Vali Fugulin (whose recent projects with the NFB include the Charter of Values-inspired Toi, moi at la Charte) in collaboration with Minority Media, the game explores the power of community and sustainable economy through absurd humour and vibrant characters inspired by real-life social innovators. In it the player takes on the role of Chips, who must learn to save his community and learn to survive when an invading monster depletes the village’s potato supply.
With music by Jean-Phi Goncalves and Alex McMahon of Plaster and produced by Hugues Sweeney, executive producer of the interactive studio of the NFB’s French Program, this app stands out as one of the Film Board’s more significant developments in animation-rich, interactive gaming and is available in seven languages: French, Québécois French, English, Italian, German, Spanish and Portuguese. Oscar-nominee Patrick Doyon (Dimanche) helped bring the unique world to life by creating illustrations on which the characters and environment were based:
When we got Patrick’s illustrations, the feelings and characters were there. Patrick had understood intuitively that his drawings were to become gameplay, they were going to serve as mechanisms. For example, he immediately suggested that the little character have a pointed hat that could be used as both a potato basket and a megaphone. Patrick saw right away that the character was not just a little guy, but that he had functions. And in the village he presented to us there were doors and passages. He had already understood the principle of the game. Patrick worked two months full-time. His mandate was to give shape to the characters and the world in which they live. Plus adding some props: the potato tree, the peelings, everything that gets handled in the game. He was the one who gave a soul to the monster-factory that can be associated with capitalism, the game’s main metaphor. The artistic director at Minority, Sophie Paquette, did an extraordinary job to bring it all to 3D life.
-Vali Fugulin on the visual development of I Love Potatoes
I Love Potatoes is suitable for ages 7+ and can be downloaded for free for mobile and desktop devices at ilovepotatoes.nfb.ca