the name came first; i’ve had it for four years. owen grieve gave it to me with his blessing when his classmates chose not to use it as the premise for their final game project. it took me three years to invent a game worthy of the title. the game that the title finally fit was my reinvention of wizard of wor, a game i’ve always loved for its emphasis on pacing, on tension, and on character. i’ve always been attracted to eighties arcade games like wizard of wor and sinistar where the game’s antagonistic relationship with the player manifests as an actual character within the game world who verbally taunts and occasionally directly confronts the player.
wizard of wor is a shooting game, but i decided i wanted to eliminate the shoot button and make lesbian-spider queens of mars a game that can be played with one hand. so i gave the queen a laser that’s always on: all she has to do is glance at an adversary to zap her with her bondage ray. this unbalanced power dynamic fit the direction i was taking the game: an inversion of those arcade games with overwhelming, taunting antagonists. lesbian spider-queens would become like a wizard of wor where the player gets to be the wizard.
play lesbian spider-queens of mars!
most of the time i worked on redder i had spent designing (and redesigning) the areas. since i would be working on lesbian spider-queens at the same time i’d be writing the manuscript for my book, i figured a project where most of the work was designing the rules rather than designing the world would save me time. NEARLY A YEAR LATER, it’s clear i was dead fucking wrong.
amon wrote the music and kinuko drew the pictures that appear on the title and game over screens and other places. the sprites and animation are mine. my submissives provided the voices, which i fed into the lofi audio destruction kit to make them sound terrible. and adult swim was gracious enough to buy my game. in particular, tucker dean was my advocate at adult swim; i always felt like he was on my side. and no small thanks to my mother, who helped me with the rent when my money ran out while negotiations dragged on.
64 comments
I tweeted this but thought it’s worth mentioning here too.
I really love how the web functions. It came as a wonderful realisation as I set it out across a long path and waited for a slave to wander into it, before I lunged in for the kill. It made me behave like a real spider without even thinking about it which was a really cool moment for me.
I can honestly say that this game is, in the immortal words of boxes, “action-packed”. There’s such a giddy thrill when I’m laser-lassoing and catching two, five, ten, gosh, ten foes in a row, faster than I can count, and the ringing of diamonds is in my ears, and there’s ten more running riot all around me, and then three pairs of evil eyes peek out from the walls. This is an invigorating game.
In Austin, I’ve been told by Adam Saltsman that somebody is talking about setting up arcade cabinets around the city with indie games in them. Maybe something to look into? This is a perfect arcade game
Vegas: we are, and getting this on them was more or less the first thought I had after playing it. :)
Oh hey Brandon. This is Will from EGaDS. I’m glad I’m not the only one thinking this!
The vocal samples are extremely loud relative to the rest of the sound. I had to turn the sound off because it grew obnoxious.
if you’re playing with the sound off, you’re not playing lesbian spider-queens of mars! sorry!
P.S. anyone interested in putting this game in an arcade cabinet can feel free to contact me.
I definitely will as we get closer to finishing!
Really a fantastic game and I will write more about it later I hope, but I just want to say that had to turn the sound WAY down too, because I wear headphones and the vocal clips are VERY LOUD.
So it might help if you either turn them down, provide a way to turn them off, or both. Sound design was excellently iconic by the way, I beg you not to let it go to waste for those of us that don’t want to have our ears attacked by intentionally low-quality audio turned up to the maximum volume.
Another minor gripe: The microphone peaks during the ending track, it might just be the fact that it’s put into Flash or whatever.
Hey, just wanted to briefly say that I really enjoyed the game! The whole thing is dripping with arcade goodness, and the sound design in particular is fantastic. I especially loved shooting away the Assassin’s daggers and the careful approach required to grab the Alchemist’s diamond without getting caught in the flames. As with all the best arcade games, I’ll probably be returning to this one again and again for months.
Well, this sure is a breath of fresh air! I love the ‘throwback’ quality and appeal of entire package — the gameplay, graphics, sound … everything. Also, I love how you kind of turned this particular genre of games on its head by making the Spider Queen nearly all-powerful. Anyway, like PrettyBoy above me just said, I’ll definitely be coming back to this one again and again.
i don’t really know enough about games to explain in detail why i love this game, but i love this game. it’s full of all sorts of goodness. i love it so much that i’m coming back from the dead to say that i love it, even. and that takes dedication.
I’m honestly shocked at all the people asking for the sound to be turned down. That’s like asking for the screen not to flash every time you pick up a slave. Or to cover the tits of the characters in the game.
Yup seriously, the sounds are exactly where they need to be, don’t listen to these ~weaklings~
God this is a lot of fun.
I think my favorite part is the poorly digitized good-bad voice acting, which adds kind of a nice exploitation film vibe that you normally wouldn’t see.
This game is absolutely fantastic, I’m curious if you’re gonna release the skins from the arcade cabinet in the picture. I have a friend who builds arcade cabinets from scratch for personal use and if so I’d love to buy a set of those to use on one for my basement. =D
I’m afraid I think the voice samples are a bit loud, too… or perhaps the footstep sound is just too quiet?
I am enjoying people rolling their eyes at this example of ‘male-orientated sexist game design’, and then other people laughing because you made it, and then maybe four people in the world knowing that the initial seed was a ridiculous sexploitation B-game after all. In your face, smug know-it-alls!
The sound design is awesome. The princess sound is attention-getting without being annoying, thankfully. And the ‘you died’ sound is just great.
This game is the best execution of the “you are the dracula” trope. The inversion of voicetaunts was a masterstroke.
This game makes me want to be a lesbian slave from Mars.
You know, I am slightly bothered by we using modern technology to artificially imitate the limitations of earlier technology (I’m struggling a lot to come up with something I don’t like in this game—)it reminds me of people using iPhone apps to mimic lomo film-cameras. I wonder if it would be totally impossible to actually duplicate a Wor-style speech synth, in cold tangible sexy hardware, and use it to give voice to the Queen? (see http://www.oocities.org/mot505/wow.html ).
Congrats, this is great stuff, and I can’t wait to see what comes out next. And I wish I had a less insipid way of saying all of this!
Congrats. I was hoping you would eventually come around to the reality that in the end we make games because we love to, but we have bills to pay. You once verbally described it as ‘selling out’, but it’s great to see you came around to the reality of business. Sharing your creation with the world should reward your hard work, whether it be in ‘the industry’ or independently. From day one we all supported you unassumingly, yet you still had a chip on your shoulder. It’s nice to know we’re not so different after all =)
Delightfully well made. The meaty burrito center of gameplay is some straight shot fun and I love that the plot and the gameplay are so intertwined; even continuing after death without a high score is intertwined with plot. Great work.
Well, I’m completely smitten with this game. It’s so rare to play a modern game that attempts to ape those of earlier eras and actually gets everything right — from the gameplay and graphics to the sound effects and soundtrack. Speaking of that last point — I love this game’s Dig Dug-esque soundtrack :)
Congrats. I was hoping you would eventually come around to the reality that in the end we make games because we love to, but we have bills to pay. You once verbally described it as ’selling out’, but it’s great to see you came around to the reality of business. Sharing your creation with the world should reward your hard work, whether it be in ‘the industry’ or independently. From day one we all supported you unassumingly, yet you still had a chip on your shoulder. It’s nice to know we’re not so different after all =)
Do the Lesbian Spider Queens of Mars have long, steeple fingered conversations regarding the finer points of rope bondage with the Leather Goddesses of Phobos?
that’s a question best left for fan fiction.
hey, is it okay that i sympathize with the spider-queen? like, i feel bad for her that she has to be interrupted by this rebellion, and i feel a sinister satisfaction each time another slave is recaptured and she calls out one of her confident taunts. i think she is a very good queen and that the slaves should just do her bidding.
oh yeah, sorry for the double comment, but the audio is great. i think the people who complain about it don’t understand the aesthetic. you got it 100% correct, though, and still managed to be original.
Who did the sound design? It rules. Every sound is so pleasurable to hear.
i made all the sounds in sfxr. i mostly made ones that are long and trail off so that they could all overlap in a really good way. slut was the one who suggested that the game not have background music but lots of sound effects, and it was the right suggestion.
A spider woman with big tits.
One of the most twisted fetishes I’ve ever seen.
Could be worse, though……
http://www.krakowstudios.com/spinnerette/
Wow, what a great tribute to Wizard of Wor! I like to personality the lesbian spider queen theme gives the game, and the new ideas you use in the gameplay. It plays really well, and the sound is awesome! All the love for Wizard of Wor in the recent time; Crosstown for Xbox Live Indie Games, Forget-Me-Not for iPhone and now this! Great stuff!
Is it possible to download the game? I want to play it on my home arcade.
Wow, that was a blast to play. I’ll second that a download version would be fabulous, as would a version with nipples.
LOOK DR JUICE AS A SADIST MA’AM OBVIOUSLY MADE THE GAME TO SYMPATHIZE WITH THE SPIDER QUEEN THAT IS WHY THE ~*~*~*PROTAGONIST~*~*~*~ IS A SLAVE CAPTURING SPIDER JEEEEZ
sound design is all me i did it me mememememem
no im just an idea man
GIVE ME MORE CREDIT look xiuxiu.org
Amon did an excellent job with the music…
Is it possible for a download or all content belongs to AS?
I support the download motion!
Also it would be great if possible to add an option to disable the flashing, it hurts my eyes after a while, lol.
TURN OFF THE SOUND
TURN OFF THE FLASHING
NEXT YOU’LL ASK ME TO TURN OFF THE CONTROLS
TURN OFF THE LEVELS
TURN OFF THE GAME
Well unfortunately TURN OFF THE GAME is usually what happens ‘cuz my eyes hurt. :C
Maybe I should turn the brightness down.
its okay i guess if youre into arcade style games 7/10 mediocre
SPLASHCHICK you messed up!
Anyways if there’s no way to download the soundtrack I understand.
Did you ever experiment with making the Spider Queen constantly move in whatever direction she’s facing – like pac man? Just curious.
@JUPSTIN: Oh my god, that would make an amazing challenge mode.
you should email amon about the songs theres only two of them
amon’s putting together a soundtrack download.
@Dr. Juice: Yes, I agree that the slaves should kneel down and take it! Not just anyone has what it takes to be a Lesbian Spider Queen, and I think she acquits herself quite nicely. ~I~ would let her rule me. :)
This feels like it would be a blast as an arcade game or on an old CRT TV. Auntie you have a knack for making this retro stuff look/feel effortless, when there are a thousand examples out there of how not to do it.
lesbian spider-queens of mars soundtrack.
Fantastic game for sure. Also, would you mind disclosing the settings you used in the LOFI plugin to create the effect? I’m trying to reproduce it. Thanks.
these are the lofi settings i used. i also adjusted the pitch and speed of the samples.
Finally got around to playing this. It’s really excellent. Great aesthetic, nice difficulty ramp, and I love the sound effects. I’d say this is your best game yet.
Great game. It’s been stated but I really find the ability to play it with one hand clever. My only question is: can it top the Vinyl Goddess from Mars?
The Citadel in San Francisco badly needs a coin-op arcade box of THIS.
The sound annoys the crap out of my husband, which is why I play this as much as I can. Love it, and always look forward to your games, Anna.
I love this game. Played it for three hours straight yesterday and I’m going to play it for maybe three more hours right now! I’m swear to god I’m going to beat it without having to lose my points… eventually. Just downloaded the OST, thanks for that. Seriously, you need to sell t-shirts that say “LESBIAN SPIDER-QUEENS OF MARS” with the beautiful Spider-Queen on it, raising her scepter. Bonus points if the game title is the censor for her nips. I would buy that shirt in a heartbeat.
Good job on an excellent game. It sort of feels like a very sneaky Legend of Zelda. It’s funny because they keep putting these tedious “stealth” parts in modern Zelda games that everybody hates playing. You just put some darknuts, ropes, and the occasional lanmola and bam! Sneaky Link is born.
should be “…lanmola in a maze”.
thank you for making this game. i felt like i was back in the 80s playing video games in some arcade. awesome work!
I shat myself from laughing. This game is so old-school and contains horny sci-fi book cover-grade erotica that I feel young now!!!
Hello Anna,
I’m checking back to see if you received the invitation to be a part of the beta test for indiePub’s upcoming indie game marketplace. If you did not receive this invite, just shoot me a quick email back and I’ll re-send the information.
If you did receive the invitation, would you kindly let me know if you want to participate in the beta? This way, we can update your contact information and confirm your spot. If you do not want to participate in the beta, we’ll go ahead and remove you from our beta contact list.
Best Regards,
Don
I discovered this game only yesterday. I’ve played it through, and I just love it! The visuals are beautiful, and the sound effects fit the retro feel to the game. Lesbian Spider Queens from Mars is very well done, and I enjoy it immensely. :)
I saw an earlier comment about someone making authentic arcade cabinets for indie games. I think this game would earn A LOT of quarters, indeed. :) Also, I’ve heard that there are people who used to work for Atari who are actually making custom cartridges of new games for the old Atari consoles. This would make a great addition to the Atari 2600/7800 library, no? ;o
Again, I love it, and keep up the great work!
if any atari homebrew coders wanted to hack the atari port of wizard of wor into lesbian spider-queens of mars, they will have my full cooperation. CONTACT ME, DUDES.
I love the idea of a half-spider, half-woman… whatever you call it. The ability to play as one is fucking fantastic. Really digging the uber-retro feel of the whole thing. Great game. Keep it up!
post a comment