Titles

The Ditty of Carmeana

The debut title for Tampered Evidence Software is The Ditty of Carmeana. It is a comic parody of video games in general and The Legend of Zelda series in particular, in the zany, spoofy style of Mel Brooks or Monty Python.

The Ditty of Carmeana an action-adventure game that takes place in the ostensibly medieval Kingdom of Bowtudgel, where the hero is a young man by the name of Kai (pronounced "Lance") from a poor farming community finds himself on a glorious quest to Rescue the Princess™, namely the king's beautiful, popular, redheaded, and obnoxiously thin daughter, Carmeana.

The evil warlock Fyrena Hyrde has kidnapped Princess Carmeana and is holding her ransom in his underground lair. Kai, and his trusty fairy Tabitha, will have to travel throughout the kindgom, visiting towns, talking to people, collecting money, shopping for items, entering dungeons, fighting monsters, and defeating bosses, to collect a set of hidden keys that will allow him to infiltrate the lair and Rescue the Princess™.

The overall story arc of the game is a parody of Zelda's Rescue the Princess™/Save the World™ cliche. Kai's mission is not unlike Link's; the only difference is all the hilarious situations Kai finds himself in.

Like Link in Zelda, Kai will visit many towns and dungeons (temples) on his quest. Each town and dungeon parodies a popular game. For example, the first dungeon is a chateau haunted with walking skeletons (sort of): it's a parody of the Resident Evil series. There is a dungeon in a cave that is a parody of Tomb Raider, and a city with rampant crime that is a parody of GTA, and so on.

Naturally, we can't reveal too many jokes without spoiling it, but here's a very unrepresentative sample:

• Making fun of the old exploding barrel cliche: barrels explode when shot with a crossbow.
• And then exaggerating it: even when filled with water.
• Parodying GTA: Kai can hijack oxcarts.
• Making fun of characters with bottomless inventory: Kai carries a refrigerator around in his pocket.
• General silliness: the currency in the kingdom is the frequent-flyer mile.
• Physical humor: clumsiness is always funny.

The game takes place in The Kingdom of Bowtudgel, which is ostensibly medieval, but really isn't. In the same way that the Flintstones are the "modern stone-age family"; Bowtudgel is the "modern medieval kingdom".

 

More screenshots (click image to get a larger version):

 

Screenshots from an older version:

Old title screen:

Kai with a lot of equipment on:

Kai in his home town:

Kai talking to Tabitha:

Inside the Great Mead Hall of Borrington:

Mr. Plammogrundy's General Store:

The spiffy menu system in Tabitha's belly:

Kai helping a contractor who'd seriously overbid:

Kai standing in the searing Desert Emirate of Neroka:

Views of Bowtudgel City (not too complete yet):

Ordering a Burrito:

Inside the King's City Palace:

Outside the University of Chingaim:

A classroom in the University of Chingaim:

Outside the Chateau of Baron Ran:

Inside the Chateau of Baron Ran:

Standing around in the a town built into a canyon:

What's wrong with this picture:

Tabitha flying around on her own (Kai is visible standing to the left):

The King consulting his court wizard in the opening cut scene: