Haiku Quest an indie RPG featuring haiku poetry and Christopher Walken

August 30, 2010 10:51 AM

Haiku Quest is an indie rpg featuring voiceover from Christopher Walken. Yes, really. (windows only)

Haiku dude (where you can compose 1 haiku per day) is 1 screen up from where you start. Town (where you replenish supplies and rest overnight) is 1 screen right from where you start. Arrow keys to move, enter to select a menu choice. Fighting takes place automatically as you move and diminishes your supplies which are kind of the same thing as health because it's game over if they reach zero.

posted by juv3nal (31 comments total)

The file you are trying to access is temporarily unavailable.

This makes me sad.
posted by eyeballkid at 10:58 AM on August 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

Huh I checked the download just before making the post. =(
posted by juv3nal at 10:59 AM on August 30, 2010

Let me try and contact the author and see if he wouldn't mind me posting it to another download site.
posted by juv3nal at 10:59 AM on August 30, 2010

Looks like there's comments about the spotty download from MegaUpload in that entry. After five tries, I finally got it.
posted by eyeballkid at 11:02 AM on August 30, 2010

Alternate download link here.
posted by juv3nal at 11:17 AM on August 30, 2010

(windows only)

Argh... Atwater!!!
posted by cronholio at 11:23 AM on August 30, 2010

"Drek'thar -- that punk -- didn't think this through too good, did he? Thrall's art ... is death. And he's about to paint his masterpiece. Now, don't go dying on me, Ogrim. Remember, I'm a shaman. I've got friends in hell."
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 11:29 AM on August 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

Is it excerpts from Walken's other work, or did they somehow snag the actual Walken for this specific purpose? (Haven't downloaded yet, waiting for MeFite consensus.)
posted by Gator at 11:30 AM on August 30, 2010

That really doesn't sound like Walken. At all.
posted by sanko at 11:31 AM on August 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

sanko: "That really doesn't sound like Walken. At all."

I think only the haiku you compose are the ones voiced by Walken. Haiku man is voiced by someone else.
posted by Memo at 11:37 AM on August 30, 2010

Keep in mind that haiku typically include a reference to a season, as well as an emphatic ejaculation.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 11:50 AM on August 30, 2010

)-: Wine won't run it.
posted by domnit at 11:57 AM on August 30, 2010

Is it excerpts from Walken's other work, or did they somehow snag the actual Walken for this specific purpose? (Haven't downloaded yet, waiting for MeFite consensus.)

It's for this specific purpose, but the audio quality is not great. Also, as Memo mentioned, not every haiku is voiced by Walken. If you browse the extracted zip directory, the short .wav files which are individual haiku lines are Walken, the longer ones which are full haiku aren't as far as I can tell.
posted by juv3nal at 11:57 AM on August 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

Played it for a bit. Clever and neat. Not earth-shattering, but a cute little diversion. Thanks for the link.
posted by eyeballkid at 12:14 PM on August 30, 2010

My thought process reading the FPP:

1. Haiku: Interest is piqued.
2. Quest: An appear to my inner retro gamer, nice.
3. Indie: Sweet, I support underdog content creators!
4. RPG: That explains the "quest" part. This gets better and better.
5. Christopher Walken: In a game? Two great tastes that taste great together!
6. Yes, Really: Doubts assuaged to much relief, anticipation levels maximal.
7. Windows Only: what

posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 12:40 PM on August 30, 2010 [2 favorites]

[Please don't make jokey posts about exactly the imaginary things that I would want to exist, it's not a good use of Metaf—

Oh. Oh. Huh.]
posted by cortex at 12:41 PM on August 30, 2010 [4 favorites]

So distraught was I that I misspelled "appeal." :-(
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 12:41 PM on August 30, 2010

There he is!
posted by Potomac Avenue at 12:43 PM on August 30, 2010

7. Windows Only: what

It's a GAME. What do you expect?

Played it for a bit. Clever and neat. Not earth-shattering, but a cute little diversion.

I'm not a great RPGer, but I'm embarrassingly lost.

Small hero after dark
Cannot see the tengu
Rusting armour

1. How do I go to sleep? (it's always too early)
2. If I don't go to sleep, how do I survive?
3. How can I recite my own haikus?

I visit the old man and the other old man once, get two haikus, and then die when light runs out.

What (obvious step) am I missing?
posted by mrgrimm at 12:57 PM on August 30, 2010

Haiku. It's best read.
By someone. Who pauses like.
Christopher. Walken.
posted by mattdidthat at 1:03 PM on August 30, 2010 [2 favorites]

1. How do I go to sleep? (it's always too early)
There is a daylight bar at the bottom. When that drops low enough, you can sleep. You can wander around inside the town to get rid of excess daylight if he says it's too early.

2. If I don't go to sleep, how do I survive?
Supplies = life = hp, so in addition to sleeping when daylight is low, you need to keep those topped up or you'll die as well.

3. How can I recite my own haikus?
Once you've heard 2 haikus from haiku man, you can compose by talking to him and it should let you "compose" by mixing and matching individual lines you've already heard from him.
posted by juv3nal at 1:12 PM on August 30, 2010

Thanks for the special-ed version, juv3nal.

I guess I couldn't find that gap between "too early to sleep" and "dead" ... basically you just have to wait (and stay reasonably close) until the daylight gets down to less than 5 units or so.

I got the Street Fighter Rage haiku, and I can see where the rest are going ... not sure if I want to finish though ... is the "secret message" worth it?!?
posted by mrgrimm at 1:56 PM on August 30, 2010

Yeah, when they make an independent non-profit graphic-design package voiced by Christopher Walken, it'll be available for the Mac.
posted by Wataki at 2:05 PM on August 30, 2010

My thought process reading the FPP:

Windows Only: what

Funny. Part of my thought process was wondering who would be the first person in the thread to complain that it was Windows-only, just like every other thread with a game for Windows.
posted by eyeballkid at 2:43 PM on August 30, 2010

A Haiku I'd like voiced by Walken:

Winter. Discontent!
For two years this has happened.
I got a fever!
posted by bwg at 5:45 PM on August 30, 2010

I got a fever!
And there is only one cure -
Gimme more cowbell!
posted by Pronoiac at 11:19 AM on August 31, 2010

Without eye contact,
Unsettled, I always knew,
It would be the ferns.
posted by Pronoiac at 11:33 AM on August 31, 2010

You must prove yourself?
There's a dire malady
Stalking our people.

Devastation looms,
Wiping us from the planet.
Many have fallen.

Hard work lies ahead.
The antidote is composed -
We lack just one thing.

We have sought, yet failed.
Ye seeketh a quest, sirrah?
Bring us more cowbell.
posted by Pronoiac at 11:44 AM on August 31, 2010

Hey, I listened to the WAVs. That's not Christopher Walken! (I'm guessing everyone else figured that out long ago ...)

I suppose that A1-A5.wav are someone doing a very bad impression. Are those the files that are supposed to be Walken's?
posted by mrgrimm at 11:48 AM on August 31, 2010

Hey, I listened to the WAVs. That's not Christopher Walken! (I'm guessing everyone else figured that out long ago ...)

I suppose that A1-A5.wav are someone doing a very bad impression. Are those the files that are supposed to be Walken's?

You have to believe.
posted by juv3nal at 2:17 AM on September 1, 2010

I suppose I should have gotten a hint from the description: the "large overworld to explore" and "unique 'instant-time' battle system" were dead giveaways.
posted by mrgrimm at 9:48 AM on September 1, 2010