Reality On The Norm



Reality-On-The-Norm is a long-running series of computer games (most of them AdventureGames made in Adventure Game Studio) created by many authors and set in a Shared Universe. The setting for the games is a fictional town of Reality-on-the-Norm (or simply "Reality" for short), hardly an ordinary town, inhabited by a multitude of peculiar individuals.

The project has been started by Yahtzee (yes, that Yahtzee), with a 2001 game Lunchtime of the Damned, which involves a teenage sorcerer Davy Jones trying to stop a rampaging zombie he accidentally created. Since then, loads more of games have been made (there are about 80 of them as of late 2009).

Other notable indie-delevopers who has contributed to the project are Dave Gilbert and Francisco Gonzalez.

The series provides examples of:

 * The Bartender: George Watstatt
 * Brain Food: Michael Gower originally was a brain-eating zombie, though now he largely kicked the habit.
 * City of Adventure
 * Corrupt Corporate Executive: The in-game version of Yahtzee, whose company "Yathzeebrand" routinely brainwashes its employees.
 * Development Hell: Edge of Reality took nine years to complete.
 * Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": The Sheriff.
 * Geographic Flexibility: The first game featured a handful of very basically drawn locations. With each new game, these same locations have been considerably expanded, with different versions of the same places used interchangably. It's only been in recent years that any real attempt has been made to bring some coherence to their respective locations.
 * Grim Reaper (who )
 * High Octane Nightmare Fuel: Davy Jones C'est Mort, a weird, disturbing game made for the sole purpose of killing off one of the characters by having him . Caused quite a controversy in its time.
 * Hilarity Sues: After Phil Nihilist gains superpowers, he gets sued by DC Comics for copyright infringement, because his powers are the same as Superman's.
 * Hot Scoop: Mika Huy
 * Hunter S. Thompson: Doc.
 * Identity Amnesia: Crazy Homeless Weirdo, who has a new identity in every game.
 * Interactive Fiction: A couple of games are of this genre.
 * Killer Rabbit: The Chicken, who is a sociopath with a gun.
 * Loads and Loads of Characters: The Characters page features 105 recurring characters at the latest count.
 * Long Title: The game Invasion of the Space Aliens Who Are Not From Earth But From Some Other Planet
 * Mad Scientist: Dr. Die Vie Ess.
 * Mind Screw: Nihilism, Surreality on the Norm and Edge of Reality. Also, most of games by Tobias Schmitt, before they were removed from the site.
 * Naked People Are Funny: Guido the nudist
 * New Neighbours as the Plot Demands
 * No Indoor Voice: Mr. Namyah
 * Old Shame: "Disappearance Time", an old game by Illdo has been re-released by the author years later with added scathing commentary which points out every single stupid thing within.
 * Pirates: Hooky McPegleg, though he
 * Private Detective: Max Griff
 * Revenge by Proxy: The Chicken's revenge on Baron Wolfgang for killing his brother is killing the Baron's brother.
 * Round Robin: Probably the definitive video game example of this trope. Each game is created by a different person from the last, often carrying on a previous story thread or using characters from earlier instalments.
 * Sadist Teacher: Mr. Namyah, the gym teacher
 * Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: The alien Knoffel, as depicted in Purity of the Surf
 * The Sheriff: The Sheriff.
 * Superhero: Phil Nihilist, the.
 * Surfer Dude: Josh Beachcomber
 * Talking Animal: A couple of chickens, and Mary the fox (though she communicates telepathically rather than by talking)
 * Where the Hell Is Springfield?
 * Wrench Wench: Elandra