Deer Avenger Writer Fires Back

When you're building a parody of one of mainstream gaming's most popular titles, you have to go right to the pros for help. When Hypnotix and Simon & Schuster Interactive set out to find a writer for its upcoming Deer Hunter parody, Deer Avenger, it went right to the epicenter of parodies - the Conan O'Brian show where they found funnyman, Brian McCann.

While his usual gig is as staff writer for the Late Night With Conan O'Brian, he took on writing his first game after hours - to see where he'd end up.

We caught up with McCann to find out what it took to get into the character as Bambo, an armed renegade deer with a thirst for some hunter blood.

GameSpot News: Have you ever hunted in real life before?Brian McCann: Not only did I have the privilege of hunting, gutting and cooking up a 375 pound wild boar in central California, but I also bagged some big game in the Midwest. While I lived in Chicago a few years back, I shared a nasty basement apartment with a few other jobless comedy wannabes, and during our time there we bagged thirteen rather large rats. Just so you know, the boars make better eating.

GSN: Are you for (pro) NRA or against them or would you like to see a deer shoot them all (have you ever shot an NRA member)?BMC: The constitution of this exceptional country allows each and every one of us the right to bear arms, and I'm all for it. There are always going to be some morons who can't handle the responsibility, and it is these folks who give everyone a bad name - which gets us to the question of if I'd like to see a deer shoot the hunters. My answer is "hell no." Deer cannot be trusted with firearms. Remember what happened two years ago in December? Comet and Blitzen corralling all the elves in Mrs. Claus' bathroom? It was ugly, and it just proved those damn Cervidaes can't be trusted.

GSN: Is this your first work on a multimedia title?BMC: From the development side, yes. However there are a few fairly hot porn titles out there that if you look closely at some of the action, you might recognize me.

GSN: How long did it take you to write the game?BMC: I'm sad to say I like to write slowly, and it took a lot longer than I expected. Working at Late Night with Conan O'Brien takes up a lot of my time, so I was coming home and writing for Deer Avenger in the wee hours of the morning. All the sitting in front of my computer late at night not only destroyed my love life, as my wife and I never saw each other, it also introduced me to the wild and painful world of hemorrhoids. I had no idea creating a game would involve so much burning.

GSN: Would you do it again? Any other groups you'd like to do parodies of (fisherman, sport fanatics, etc.)?BMC: I hadn't even thought about it. I had no idea there were other CD-ROM titles out there that dealt with fisherman, sport fanatics and etc. Thanks for the hot tip. Look for my upcoming parodies of these hot titles very soon.

GSN: Were you involved with the early development of the game or did you get involved later on?BMC: I didn't have the idea, but the guys that did couldn't even write their names, let alone write a ridiculously stupid line about an angry deer. So they did what anyone would do in that position - look in the yellow pages under "Former Porn CD-ROM star who currently pawns himself off as a comedy writer" and they found me.

GSN: Have you ever played any games that Deer Avenger mocks?BMC: If you can actually, in your heart, call Deer Hunter a "game," then my answer is "yes" I have played it. But, for the record, let me say that instead of the term "game" I prefer to call it "Digital Valium."

GSN: Now that the game is almost finished, what is your favorite part?BMC: I was really impressed with the animation that the guys at Hypnotix put together. When we first all sat down and planned out the game, I was expecting that our version would have similar sad detail. I was totally surprised and impressed to see what they could make our characters do. I think if Deer Hunter had spent the time and money to show deer picking their noses and scratching their asses, like we've done with our hunters, it would have been even more successful.

GSN: Thanks Brian.