Toonstruck

Overview
Toonstruck is a point-and-click adventure game created in 1994 by Virgin interactive. The player is meant to navigate a fictional disgruntled animator, Drew Blanc, through the cartoon world he created and to help him to find his way back to reality.

Interesting points to note
Although the entire game is drawn and animated, Drew Blanc actual video-captured representation of the actor Christopher Lloyd.

Flux Wildly, Drew's wacky animated sidekick, is voiced by Dan Castellaneta, the same man who does the voice of Homer Simpson and various other Simpsons characters.

Storyline
Drew Blanc is the creator and animator for the nauseatingly cute, yet wildly popular Fluffy Fluffy Bun Bun show. After ten years of the show being on the air, Drew Blanc is sick and tired of animating the cute bunnies for the show and wants to push for a show for his own favourite created creation, Flux Wildly, a funny, wise-talking purple character. The request is denied by his boss who believes that the future of the company depends on creating more cutesy bunnies for the FFBB show and wants the designs for the new characters on his desk first thing the next morning.

Drew stays overnight in the office, but suffers a burnout and simply cannot think of any new characters. He then falls asleep at his desk, and wakes up to find out that his TV set mysteriously turned on to the Fluffy Fluffy Bun Bun show. When he tries to turn off his TV, he somehow gets zapped into the show, amongst all of the characters he's created. He then befriends Flux Wildly and finds out that there is a evil creature called Nefarious who is using a device called the Malevolator to turn cute adorable characters into evil, ghastly beings.

In other words, he turns this:


....into this:


Drew must travel through his own created world to find a way to stop Nefarious and get back to reality.

Worlds
There are 3 worlds for the player to work through; Cutopia, Zanydu and Malevolands

Cutopia is a bright and cheery town inhabited by adorable Cutopians; including Fluffy Fluffy Bun Bun herself.





Zanydu, Flux's hometown, is colourful and kooky.




Malevolands is dark and dangerous place where Nefarious' castle is located.



Gameplay
The play controls Drew Blanc, and must work their way though logical (but mostly illogical) puzzles in order to advance in the game. The game takes a minimalistic approach to the icons, with only a inventory bag known as a Bottomless Bag, and a dynamic icon that changes according to the interaction available with a particular object or character. The following video is an example of one of the puzzles that you have to work through.



That contraption is basically the "cable car" that connects Cutopia to Zanydu. In order to get from one point to another, one must somehow get the elephant to run either forwards or backwards in order to power the contraption. When you switch the lever down towards mainland, a hand goes up and reveals a tantalizing peanut to the elephant. That causes it to run forward, but since you're already on mainland, this doesn't do anything. When you decide to go to Zanydu and push the lever forwards, and empty hand goes up. This does absolutely nothing to get the elephant to move. But what are elephants afraid of? Mice, of course! At one point during the game, you would get a hold of an unconscious mouse. You can then put the mouse into the hand of the contraption. When the lever towards Zanydu is pushed again, the hand goes up and shows the unconscious mouse to the elephant, making it very nervous, but not scared enough to run away. In order to revive the mouse, you need to find some kind of smelling salt. What's a suitable alternative? Why not the watering can of rancid manure? Stick it under the mouse's nose and he wakes up. You can then now push the lever, which raises the mouse which then pulls an ugly face and terrifies the elephant who then starts to run backwards, moving the cablecar towards Zanydu.

In Conclusion
This game was my official introduction into the point-and-click genre when I was about 7 years old. I fell in love with the style and humour it portrayed and I distinctly remember my brother and I sitting down and cracking our heads over the puzzles and the immense satisfaction we got after completing each one. The game wasn't as successful as anticipated, but it gained a huge and loyal fanbase.