Tiki in Video Games

I remember there were some tikis in the landscape. Little did I know that they are Bosko Tikis

here's what an artist can do after all the frustration of having their attorneys shoot back a letter saying: "... your claim is without merit.
The tiki image has been around long enuff and if ya want, go ahead and sue..."

Use the appearance of the copyrighted tiki image in promo literature saying:
"as seen in Playstation games..."
" as seen in cartoon network's Space Ghost..."

and at the very least, after all is said and done, after the fight, (to whatever degree you have energy for), realize philosophically, it is spreading the tiki vibe and hopefully, bringing more "adherents into the fold", generating more demand for more tiki products...

It's convenient to think of corporations as being large soulless entities out to screw the little guy, but the reality is that decisions like this one (pulling together artwork for a cd cover) are handled by regular, normal human beings just like you & me, and thinking of them as soulless entities and giving up only furthers the lack of accountability. Like Al said, a letter probably isn't going to get him any money, but it does document that he defends his designs, and if nothing else, word will hopefully get back to that designer or the team that hired him for the project, and he'll hopefully think twice the next time he appropriates someone else's designs. Isn't that the ultimate goal anyhow?

Re: Dharma & Greg, one of the head writers for that show is a big tikiphile, I've had the pleasure of meeting him and he's a very nice fellow. Wouldn't surprise me to hear he would have snuck some quality tiki touches into the show. He's now a writer on Two & a Half Men (the Charlie Sheen/Jon Cryer sitcom), haven't seen that show, but perhaps we'll hear tiki reports from there as well?

It's convenient to think of corporations as being large soulless entities out to screw the little guy,

(that's a simplistic naive perspective. They are "out to" appease their stockholders which is to say; develop the bottom line. and if they step on little toes, they have attorneys to dismiss the problem.)

but the reality is that decisions like this one (pulling together artwork for a cd cover) are handled by regular, normal human beings

(who want to retain their gainful employment...)

just like you & me, and thinking of them as soulless entities and giving up

(never give up. Take action. but intelligently, courageously and and creatively )

only furthers the lack of accountability. Like Al said, a letter probably isn't going to get him any money, but it does document that he defends his designs, and if nothing else, word will hopefully get back to that designer or the team that hired him for the project, and he'll hopefully think twice the next time he appropriates someone else's designs.

(hope springs eternal.)

On 2004-06-15 16:47, lanikai wrote:
that's a simplistic naive perspective. They are "out to" appease their stockholders which is to say; develop the bottom line. and if they step on little toes, they have attorneys to dismiss the problem.

It's a fair assessment that I was oversimplifying for the sake of argument, but your assertion that corporations using attorneys to allow them to abuse the rights of very small entities is a bit oversimplified, too. Now isn't the time or place to whip out my dic...er, resume, but perhaps someday we can meet at La Mariana and I can bore you to tears with a description of my business experience over Mai Tais.

While I will certainly grant you that there is no shortage of cases where large entities have ridden roughshod over the rights of smaller entities, the truth still remains that these entities are made up of human beings, not robots, and it's not the boards of directors or the accountants or the legal department who are telling graphic designers it's okay to steal someone else's design rather than take a little extra time to come up with their own. Every individual person in a corporation should be held accountable to do the right thing, and perhaps you would be surprised to learn the extent to which that actually does happen in corporate America. It doesn't happen all the time, but it happens a lot.

If nothing else, remember that those attorneys are pretty goddamned expensive, and even the most corrupt, cynical, grotesque, inhumane corporation doesn't like to spend more than they have to on attorneys.

On 2004-06-15 18:06, Humuhumu wrote:

On 2004-06-15 16:47, lanikai wrote:
that's a simplistic naive perspective. They are "out to" appease their stockholders which is to say; develop the bottom line. and if they step on little toes, they have attorneys to dismiss the problem.

It's a fair assessment that I was oversimplifying for the sake of argument, but your assertion that corporations using attorneys to allow them to abuse the rights of very small entities is a bit oversimplified, too.

never said that nor did I imply that. just stated fact according to experience.

I was playing 'Simpsons Hit and Run' last night and Homer found a Tiki in his back yard:

Trader Woody

Doesn't it breathe fire?

Why's that tiki wearing a Pope hat?

It does breathe fire! You have to do something to it- I don't remember what anymore- long time since I played it. Plus drunk at the time.

On 2004-09-22 12:41, martiki wrote:
It does breathe fire! You have to do something to it- I don't remember what anymore- long time since I played it. Plus drunk at the time.

Yeah, you just press the little green arrow button that's hovering over Homer's head and flames shoot out the Tiki's mouth! I'd had half a bottle of wine at the point that I reached the Tiki.

Trader Woody

Mmmmmm tiki red wine............

Found this tiki theater in Grand Theft Auto San Andreas.
It's exactly like the picture of the Tiki Theater on page 23 in The Book of Tiki.

I suspect there is a lot more tiki's hidden in Grand Theft Auto San Andreas, when i worked at Rockstar North last summer i swapped tiki mp3's with one of the level designers. If anyone spots any shops with the words "Non-stop" in the name then its one of my background textures, i'll be the only person playing the game just to see the scenery.

hey guys and gals there was also a game on dreamcast called ooga booga. it's a kind of "deathmatch" game for lack of a better word. all of the people you control are little witchdoctor's and you run around an island and kill each other.

there is also a tiki lounge in tony hawk's underground.

Hi Drunken Hat, do you have Oooga Booga? It sounds great.

Here's an excerpt from a review:

Tikis are large wooden monuments that can be activated by giving Tikis shrunken heads. When the required amount is given, the Tiki will awaken and being shooting shrunken heads at nearby opponents.

The entire review is here:
http://dreamcast.ign.com/articles/165/165841p1.html

hakalugi- no i don't have that system. a friend brought his over to show me. you can get a used copy of the game on e-bay for less then 10 bucks if you have a dreamcast though.

On 2004-10-28 23:32, johnnievelour wrote:
Found this tiki theater in Grand Theft Auto San Andreas.
It's exactly like the picture of the Tiki Theater on page 23 in The Book of Tiki.

Ah! Just found that myself within about 5 minutes of playing the game (it's very close to the starting point) Here's the photo I took:

Yeah, I bet there are a few more in there. I have high hopes for the San Francisco section.

Trader Woody

I just picked up "Pirates, the Legend of Black Cat" for my X Box. It has more tikis than you can shake a palm log at. There are idols all over the islands as well as special tikis with unique powers to help you get through you adventures.
Not only tikis but plenty of Piratey types, witchdoctors and lots of tropical island ambiance. I have taken to sailing my ship into neutral zone and positioning the view on the islands and leaving it there. You can enjoy the sounds and view without scurvy dogs firing at you.
There is also an entire gallery of conceptual art that has some awesome art in it.
A pretty neat game, I picked it up used for about eight doubloons.
Arrrrr,
Chongolio

-- I believe that our Heavenly Father invented the monkey because he was disappointed in man."
... Mark Twain

Come explore http://www.lost-isle.com

[ Edited by: Chongolio on 2004-12-05 10:34 ]

I just discovered an unsuspecting game with tiki in it!

It's called "Diner Dash" and is available on shockwave among other sites. It's about a girl starting a restaurant career. You play a waitress waiting on customers. After the first stage she opens up a TikiI Bar. The further you go along, the cooler the tiki bar gets. Poles, drinks, bamboo, thatching, it's kind of cool.

Unfortunately, it's only for the PC. If you search around, you can unlock the game. Not that I have or anything.

In Tony Hawk's Undergroud game, the character goes to Hawaii and is able to skate around the Internatinal Trinket Centre that has a stall selling Tiki carvings.

He can also skate past a Tiki bar called the 'Evil Tiki', which has a huge Tiki outside (that you can skate into, revealing a hidden hell)

There's a lot more Tiki decor dotted about this level, but it's one of those games that are impossible to photograph properly as you need both hands to control your skater.

Trader Woody

In Kelly Slaters Pro Surfer ther are tikis on the boat and you can play as one too

I haven't tried this?

http://games.realarcade.com/game?rsrc=041230EMAL5S&gameid=bigkahunareef&mode=spnav&src=041230EMAL5S_rev1&cpath=email

[ Edited by: cheekytiki on 2005-01-28 01:23 ]

My wife picked me up a copy of Atari's Transformers game (b/c i'm also a TF geek). Anyways I was playing and I get dropped off at this S.P. Island. Right there on the beach front is a group of maoi statues staring at the sea. You can walk right up to them.. infact you have to hide behind them.

I'll try to get a screen shot

I'm attempting to hide more tikis in the game I am currently working on, X-Men 3. It will be harder than the last game, though, since it was easy to hide tikis in cutscenes. Now I'm a level artist and they are pretty strict about mesh & texture memory. Also, it's not always clear where the player will have access to in the finished level, so it's hard to make a spot where you could, say, "stand in this corner and look up" or some such direction.

Tiki-bot

[ Edited by: Tiki-bot on 2005-02-16 11:14 ]

[ Edited by: Tiki-bot on 2005-02-16 11:15 ]

I just got "The Mark of Kri" for PS2, and thought it's not truly polynesian tiki, the first couple of levels that I've advanced to have tiki and buddah like statues lying around.

Just a few pics of art from the game: the Mark of Kri

As you can see, it has not just "tiki" but also Moari mixed in as well, Check out his taiaha.

I finally got to the Las Vegas section of GTA - San Andreas and look what's there:

Trader Woody

I finally finished GTA/SA last week, bloody hell there is a lot to do in that game.

I stumbled across this today:

http://www.tikigames.com

Although it looks to me like there is absolutely nothing tiki about it except for a partially-visible Shag-napped character.

-mig

This one is pretty funny, like a lot of the web based matching games, but with an underwater and tiki theme:
http://www.nstorm.com/games/game_detail.asp?game_id=289

i got this game called greg hastings tourament paintball. there are a couple of cool shirts you can buy. one is a moai and is called tropical punch and the other is a puffer fish skelaton and is called team fugu.

later on in the game you can purchase more team icons one of which is a ku style tiki.

The Warriors video game, by Rockstar, comes out in October. Here's a screenshot of what is almost tiki:

FINALLY Someone is giving Tony Dansa the beating he deserves. Who's in charge now, chuck?

Dude, Scott Baio was in Charge! You're mixing up your man-bitches.

(the above statement should not be seen as sexist, it's just that it's fun to say "man-bitch")

D'OH!

Oh well I screwed that joke up.. I should have googled it. Oh well, I don't care for either of those .... MB's

Just Bought "WE love Katamari"(amazing game btw). In one of the later levels you can roll up all the Moai on Easter Island and of course eventually roll up all of easter Island itself.

Also Im embarrassed to say I play it but well..... Neopets.com has a section in it called Mystery island which has some cool tikis in it. Neopets itself is a preteen kind of trading card type online game thang. I dunno, something about it has hooked my obsessive compulsive behavior. Im obsessed now with leveling up my neopet. And no, Im not buying any of the cards.......yet.

-stuckie

Hot damn! I had a Neopet when the site was new, about five years ago (!). Funny how we found it -- my company was doing a pet care information content database, and to keep consistent with our other dbs, neopets.com was the first domain name we tried. We thought it was bizarre that someone else would want that domain name; quickly the whole project team became obsessed with Neopets. This was long before the trading cards, magazines... I can't even imagine what you can do with your neopets today, back then about all you could do was buy and trade clothes & food, and take your neopet to the soup kitchen when you were poor. It must be pretty mind blowing today. I wonder if my Neopets are still alive?

Tiki Pac-Man would be cool. Think of a moai gobbling up mai tais, being chased by Jimmy Buffet fans.

Or, there is always:

Tiki game portal.
and
Tiki Invaders

Kurswa: thanks for the memory of World Heroes Perfect, got in trouble for the Secret Garden sex move there! :)

An older project I works on, I dont recall if it had any tikis was Calibre .50 from Romstar. War plan crashes in the jungle, its time to find your way out of the POW camp. Didnt do the artwork, but its beautiful, a jungle any self respecting Tiki god would be proud to live :). Check it out on MAME sometime.

Space Kadet and myself of WAITIKI have spotted tikis and tiki themes in a couple of oldskool nintendo and super nintendo games, namely StarTropics 1 & 2 (NES) - polynesian/islandy theme; Adventures of Joe & Mac 1 & 2 (SNES). i'll try and get some screenshots up.

I'm surprised this thread got so far without mention of There.com. It's got a virtual island chain in it, pretty much crawling with tikis. It even has a few tiki bars.

There offers free trials... the site is http://www.there.com/

The former art lead put up some pages describing There's design philosophy here... http://home.comcast.net/%7Edccreative/ArtOfThere/intro.htm

And his full site, with some additional tiki work, is at http://doncarsoncreative.com/

And if you visit There... please add "Baron" to your buddy list. I'll happily give tours.

I think this one is really an African mask sighting, but perhaps some of the designs cross the line into honorary tiki? It's a comic book thing.

City of Heroes (www.cityofheroes.com) has a villain group called "The Banished Pantheon."

Here's a giant combat totem:
(large) http://pronko.com/pictures2/coh/totem.jpg
(large) http://www.system-zero.com/storage/Mickee/coh/coh2007.jpg

There are some masks flying around, too, though they look pretty African...
http://cityofheroes.gameamp.com/modules/coh/villain_specific_images/220.jpg
http://popone.innocence.com/gallery/Paul-Bunyan/screenshot_0009_003
http://cityofheroes.gameamp.com/modules/coh/villain_specific_images/219.jpg
http://blogsense.net/justice.machine.enemies.spiri.of.death.coh.html
http://image.blog.livedoor.jp/hawkbrand/b0a80d53.jpg

[ Edited by: Baron 2005-10-14 16:33 ]

I wouldn't normally post work that wasn't mine or by someone I didn't know, but I came across these cool images rendered as sprites for a pirate village area of a German RPG game called "Sacred: Underworld" (never heard of it or seen it). The artist's attention to detail is phenomenal.

A sample:

Scroll down to see all the images (larger than the sample):
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=299065

Not really tiki, but very pirate-y and there's even some bamboo railings on the buildings.

Ok boppers, here is some tiki in the Warriors!

An Exotic drink is sold here.

A large tiki inside the funhouse where you fight the HiHats

Another in the funhouse

I went to get the costume, it wasn't a tiki.

[ Edited by: johnnievelour 2005-12-15 11:27 ]

On 2005-06-17 06:35, Jawa wrote:
This one is pretty funny, like a lot of the web based matching games, but with an underwater and tiki theme:
http://www.nstorm.com/games/game_detail.asp?game_id=289

Big Kahuna Reef! I love this game! totally addicting! Get over to Shockwave and play it. NOW! Don't expect to get anything else done while you go through each of the 150 levels.

Evan

Saw a review on a new online game at there.com. The starting point has Tiki huts where you can change your online look. http://www.herroflomjapan.com/ has a short movie and a podcast if anyone has a videopod. I haven't joined it yet cause i'm on my dial up at work but I'll check it out when I get home. Could be cool place for us to all meet.

Cheeky Half Jr. spends too much time playing 'World of Warcraft', or 'WoW' as the kids call it. Mr. Cheeky casually (and sarcastically) throws him the comment "I don't suppose there are any Tikis in that game of yours, Son?"

"Why certainly, Father" comes the polite reply. "Kindly allow me to demonstrate".

After watching his character hitch a ride on some flying beastie, battle innocent chickens and skin them, and then swim across an ocean to an island he proudly shows off "The Tikis of WoW".......

So there is indeed some educational value in these darn kids playing their stupid video games.

The second area in City of Villains has a mission where you have to fight a bunch of snake guys in a tiki theme Casino. Wish I wouldn't have canceled my account, otherwise I would get a few screen grabs.