Get Ready To Lick That Lollipop

So, I may be missing the release party tonight (I have a fear of being trapped in enclosed spaces with gamer nerds by myself and no one seemed available to go at the last minute) but I cannot wait to get my copy of James Gunn’s Lollipop Chainsaw. You’ve seen the trailers, right? Cuz if you have, I know that you are like me and eagerly awaiting your chance to hack up some zombies with the decapitated smartass head of your boyfriend (who happens to be voiced by the delectable Michael Rosenbaum~ it’s probably a good thing I’m not going… I may be just tired enough to do the giddy schoolgirl thing in front of him).

If I was in attendance there are a few things I’d like to do- besides get a first hand check out of the game itself. First order of business would be to suavely sneak an autograph out of James for my copy of his book, The Toy Collector. My real goal would be to talk about the process of writing a game- how does it differ from writing a movie (or book)? With a movie script, you control where the audience goes because they follow a set path. In a game the player makes decisions. There are, obviously, mapped out paths and quests that have to be done in order to complete a level or move forward but the player is still the one in control- so how does that effect the story telling process? And where did the idea come from? There are things that I could see coming from some other creators I’ve seen but there are key things that, to me at least, scream James Gunn- the voice, for one. That level of witty repartee and sarcasm has two sources the way I look at it- Joss Whedon or James Gunn- but there’s an edge (from what I’ve caught in the videos) that knocks it over the line to being a creation of James. I’m also interested in the amount of work it took to do this project. How did the commitment and time needed compare to some of the other projects that James has done? I know a few people who work with video games, but mostly they do the coding and design work- not the creation. So I have no idea how much of an undertaking it is to do a project like this. I imagine that it’s a phenomenal amount of work. When I spoke to James last month at the Femme Fatale premiere he told me that from then until the its release on June 12th, his major focus was the game. And based on his tweets and facebook posts- he’s been making the rounds with press.  So what’s next for Mr. Gunn? My professional suggestion (remember- in my real life I’m a psychologist) is sleep. Or a vacation.

I’m sure I have questions for Rosenbaum too but my deep sadness regarding my irrational (or completely rational since I’ve walked through the video game areas of SDCC…) fear of being trapped in a room with series gamers keeps me at home. If you had the chance to ask James or any of the others involved in Lollipop Chainsaw a question, what would it be? Post in the comments- the last time I wrote up something on James he shared it- you never know, he may see your question and answer it.

Tags: Fail, FanGirl Squee, Games, Geekery, James Gunn