What lies behind the Green Door? That’s what people are queueing up along Rainbow Drive to find out, and it’s up to you to decide who gets to see. OK, so Techno Banter isn’t really as mysterious as I’ve just made it sound. In fact, it’s much more grimy, casting you as a bouncer for an underground rave club in the heart of a dystopian city’s night life.
Like spam filters for your email and circles of paper when making a coffee, bouncers have got a pretty big role in keeping things nice and chill on a night out. Oh, I’m sure many of us have had a bit of hassle now and then when trying to get into a bar or club, but considering what they have to put up with and look out for, they’ve got an important, unenviable job to do.
Working the nights means you won’t get much time in the daylight of this dystopian neon-lit city, and waking up and stumbling around your apartment paints a pretty dismal picture of home life, so it won’t take long before you’re heading out the door and off to work. Even then, you’ll encounter a guy kicking at your neighbour’s door. A charming place to live…
Stepping out onto the streets of the city and walking to work, you pick up on Techno Banter’s distinctive art style. It’s quite retro in some ways, with low resolution textures, simple 3D geometry and 2D characters, but blends some newer and more modern effects for light flaring off the many lights, a Bokeh effect, and more. It’s the wild and varied citizens of the city that really stand out, though. They’re all in 2D pixel art, but there’s such a rich diaspora of different species that’s rendering in this style, from humans to frogs, lithe pandas tigers and towering gorillas in jumpers. There’s a bit of a Bojack Horseman vibe to the people of this world thanks to this.
When you’re manning the door into the club and controlling the queue of would-be rave-goers, Techno Banter mixes together some of the decision making of Papers, Please with the insult sword fighting of Monkey Island. You see, the boss isn’t after any old punters, he wants you to hit certain very specific criteria to try and make tonight’s rave an absolute banger. So there’s a particular dress code to make sure it’s high class, no riff-raff, creeps or pervazoids allowed, and certainly no dangerously aggressive types.
The first step is to quickly appraise the person looking to get in, absorbing their stature, poise and what they’re wearing before getting into a little back and forth chat to figure out what they’re trying to get up to that evening. As you talk, certain keywords pop up, helping to give you a clue about who’s interested in what. Right from the off, you can tell that the massively muscley guy with ‘Alpha’ on his T-shirt is not the vibe that your club is going for, while the people who just want to dance and take in the music, maybe calling out the specific DJ who’s got a set that night, are certainly going to be allowed in.
It’s not as simple as turning someone away, though, as they’ll argue and try to weasel their way in. This is really your time to shine, whipping out a quick comeback from a selection of six and trying to target a particular turn of phrase or flip an incoming insult back around as a verbal smackdown that will send them packing. The back and forth of just a few quick-witted lines is an enjoyable brain teaser, as you whittle away at the rejected rave-goer’s willpower. Sure, it’s a little bit forced and manufactured – the one right answer can be a bit obtuse to figure out – and there’s always a juvenile streak to this kind of verbal putdown, but if that matches your sense of humour, this will likely work for you.
Each of the characters that I met was almost completely different, and there were some really interesting ramifications to some of the things they said and the odd mistakes I made that let a couple of undesirables get through the door. In particular, a strange cultist all bundled up in what looked like a sleeping bag, asking to speak to the woman working the cloakroom. After mentioning it to her at the end of the shift, that’s a narrative thread I’d be keen to pull on, if only to help a fellow coworker. You also get to see these patrons hanging out in the dance floor, and how they’re acting, now that they’re given the chance. A creep touching himself in the corner, a clueless party girl sad because she couldn’t request some generic pop from the DJ, a slimy business guy hanging out by the manager’s office…
I maybe didn’t have my best night on the door…
There’s a really interesting blend of ideas in Techno Banter that I’m looking forward to exploring further. There’s shades of Papers, Please, of Monkey Island, and its distinctive blend of retro 3D and 2D goes well with the animalistic characters and over-the-top people that you meet.
