Bob Ross And The Joy of Painting

hmccabe writes "'The Joy of Painting', the PBS show that taught many of us how to paint 'happy little trees,' is being made into a videogame. Apparently Nintendo's DS and Revolution systems, and PC computers will be seeing the title, which has been confirmed as not-an-april-fools-joke." From the article: "Hatcher himself admits to being a big Ross fan, which is partly why he wants to make games based on his work. 'I personally loved watching Bob Ross growing up and I enjoyed watching how easily he created his paintings. We want to translate that same feeling of watching the TV show into playing a Bob Ross game," he said. "Whether you are an eight-year-old child, or a 65-year-old grandma, we want anyone to be able to pick up the game to create and play to your heart's content.'" "

This could be kinda cool..

[Tepshen]

But it depends on what angle they approach it with. If is some lame sandbox type game along the lines of mario paint I would just as soon pass it up. After all I already have photoshop should I want my kids to play around with paint. But if its approached more as a learning tool I.E. Bob Ross teaches to paint by example I could really get behind that for any kid that might be interested in computer graphics.

Re:Damm those happy trees - mine look nothing like

[maxwell demon]

You are approaching the whole thing from the wrong side. To get a better feeling of yourself, you should adopt the following view:

The blobs you painted look exactly like happy trees. It's just the trees out there which don't look tree-like at all.

Re:More proof Ninshito is going to suck even more

[PFI_Optix]

Family friendly needs to go bye bye permanently.

I agree. I mean, who wants games made for 8-year-olds?

Oh, wait...8-year-olds and their parents do.

Re:MM Painting Online???

[slavemowgli]

Pokémon Snap was a lovely game indeed - but you really should forgive them for requiring centered pokémon for good pictures. The game is (was) aimed at children, after all, not at professional photographers. ;)

Must have Feature

[Irish_Samurai]

I will only buy this if it comes with a "Theater Mode" where I can let Bob's voice lull me into a happy tree coma.

Serious Thought

[American AC in Paris]

I love jumping on the ol' good-natured-poking-fun-at-Bob-Ross bandwagon, but let's actually consider what this game could end up being--and doing.

First, consider where Bob Ross' style meets computer technology. Ross is best known for two things: painting landscapes and easily recycled phrases. Now, think about what you could do with this in a computer game: dynamically-generated landscapes ("never the same painting!"); reasonably intelligent guidance (processing...object:forest. Speak: "happy little trees". Append random advice on painting trees. Bleep bleep.); Ease-of-use (no setup, no cleanup--paint for five minutes at a time! No need to buy brushes and canvas--you've got a full professional setup already!); and finally, the Revolution's controller (select: 1/2" fan brush. Dab, dab, dab, tilt, dab, dab--whoa, a happy little tree!) Get past the obvious snark, and this game actually holds some promise.

While I doubt it'll end up being a killer game, it could very well end up being a tipping-point game for parents/casual gamers making a purchasing decision. "Hey, here's something I could see myself enjoying..." "Hey, it has Tetris, Scrabble and this painting game...looks like it could be fun!" Heck, even I'm intrigued by it--and it certainly isn't the kind of thing I'd typically consider for a video game.

There are a lot of unsolved variables in this equation, but it could turn out to be something fun, profitable and--dare I say it--revolutionary...

Re:This could be kinda cool..

[MilenCent]

I think if it doesn't include a sandbox painting tool, then the whole project will be something of a wash. It HAS to include content creation tools, or the thing will be useless since waving a Revolution wand around to paint, for all its coolness, is still dissimilar enough to applying a brush to canvas that little will be actually learned by the process.

By the way, I would love to see a new Mario Paint after all this time. I think that would be most, most excellent.

Re:Wow...so easy

[MilenCent]

Nintendo is chasing after non-gamers for the DS and Revolution, so this has the potential to be a real coop for them to have this on their systems. Bob Ross has greater name recognition, outside of gaming circles, than Grand Theft Auto.

Re:This could be kinda cool..

[Tepshen]

My point is that there is little need to create "Virtual Paint Game" in and of itself. For the money you spend on the game you can buy real paint and brushes give it to your kid then depending how old they are take the leftover money and pay someone to clean up the mess. Unless its point is to teach painting (much like Ross did) the game will be pointless. I think it would be an affront to his work if all they did was put his picture on the box and some voice recordings in here and there and made no effort to TEACH. Thats just my opinion though, I could be wrong.

Re:MM Painting Online???

[ClamIAm]

Yes, yes I can imagine it as an MMO. It would consist entirely of griefers running around slopping paint over other peoples' work and yelling "OMFG NUB!"

Re:Must have Feature

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, I used to love slipping into Bob Ross semi-comas when I was little.