Exclusive: Super Crate Box Meets Super Meat Boy In ‘Trash TV’

We stumbled across a little game called Trash TV and were left gagging to know more. The solution? We spoke to the developer and he gave us an insight into the game and its history.

Upon happening across Trash TV‘s official website and watching the gameplay on show, we were breathless. It’s looking really good and no one knows about it. Such injustice! We scrambled over to the developer who told us that the game is a puzzle platformer intended for release on XBLIG and PC and it should hopefully be ready soon so that he can submit it to this year’s Dream. Build. Play competition, so by June 12th.

Let’s give that developer a name then – it’s Lawrence Russell – and let him tell his tale, because it’s a good one and makes us love Trash TV even more!

“[Trash TV] will be the second game I’ve ever released to the public with my first one being a one button slot machine I made to prove to a friend that people will play a tactic-less game. Shockingly it’s been played over a hundred thousand times for around 7 – 8 minutes each, totaling 1 and a half years of people pressing space bar. I’d almost feel guilty about it if it wasn’t so baffling,” Lawrence told us amidst a smirk.

“After that ‘success’ I started on a series of gameplay experiments stemming from Super Crate Box and Super Meat Boy. I tried to make those games into huge sprawling metroidvania style games and ended up creating puzzles that you had to solve to progress further and this is where Trash TV started.”

“The theme for the game came about very early on and totally by accident. I tried to draw an astronaut and gave him a test card for a face in a kinda CactusSquid edgy way. It looked exactly as you see the main character now and the whole game has been built around him. The Trash part comes from the characters been stuck inside a recycling centre, but the theme also extends to the mixture of old and new in the art style. It’s retro 8-bit graphics but not limited to the traditional colour palette and it uses cool lighting and sweet fluid physics system for the fire.”

So there you go, that’s the story behind Trash TV‘s development, the sweeter side we might add. It’s looking like a really interesting game and just one that attends to pure fun. Citing influences like Super Crate Box and Super Meat Boy already give it expectations and it’s looking like they will be delivered. We’re also reminded of Stealth Bastard in parts of the gameplay too – running between lasers and crushers for instance.

Let’s hear the rest of the development story behind Trash TV though, shall we? It’s nothing upsetting really but it’s a tale that we’re sure a few indie game developers can identify with.

“As for the team behind Trash TV. I work as the designer, artist (minus the website art) and programmer in between my day job as a run of the mill factory worker. I just turned 23 and last year I dropped out of university. Upset at the skeletal timetables and dismayed at seeing friends struggle to land a job with their degrees, I dropped out using the last of my money to fund a years full time development. Money ran out quicker than I expected but it’s not all bad, I’m only on a pound an hour less than my peers. I’ve never worked as a programmer or in the games industry but it’s been my dream forever.”

Currently, Lawrence is working with Nate Gallardo who is a sound design student he found on the TIGforums who was willing to create the sound effects and so far we’d say he’s doing a pretty good job of it. Soon they will both be joined by Chris Geehan of HyperDuck SoundWorks who will be producing the music for Trash TV and we can’t wait to see how it all comes together!

Look out for Trash TV and any updates in the future over on the official website and the YouTube channel.