In the interest of full disclosure, I have to get something off my chest: I’m a huge sucker for stop-motion animation, and especially when it involves clay. In fact, one of my all time favorite games is Platypus [$2.99/Lite] not only because it’s a solid horizontal shooter but mainly because all of the game’s assets were painstakingly modeled out of clay. It just gives the game a look that’s unlike anything else that uses pixels, polygons, or other types of visuals.
Coming early next year is a new game that’s taking the “made entirely with clay" approach. It’s called Clay Jam, and it’s being developed by Fat Pebble. The premise sounds pretty simple: you’re a small pebble rolling uncontrollably down a hill. You’ll want to roll over things that are smaller than you, while avoiding things that are larger than you. As you roll over tiny monsters they get stuck on your pebble, increasing its size and allowing you to roll over even larger objects and creatures, Katamari-style. You can control your pebble’s path by drawing trenches into the clay ground, guiding the pebble left or right around objects you’re trying to avoid.
You can get a pretty good idea of the kind of gameplay in Clay Jam with the following preview trailer:
You have to admit, while the gameplay itself looks mighty simplistic, it does look pretty darn fun, especially digging trenches in the clay using your finger. Plus, the creatures and objects created out of the clay and the way they’re animated look downright awesome. I love the little behind the scenes peek you get on how they make and animate their clay models. According to Fat Pebble, Clay Jam is on schedule for a February release, and I’m really excited to check it out. Look for more on this squishy little title in the coming months.
