De Blob is a Wii game designed by Melbourne game design company Bluetounge.
De Blob (no relation to the horror film) is an animated blob of paint that leaves a coloured trail where-ever it goes. De Blob is a round resistance fighter trying to save Chroma City from the Inky fascists invaders who have turned everything grey. However, this is an artist-based revolution and there is very low stress cartoon violence. The style of the cartoon world is a mix of Dr. Seuss and 60s retro.
The objective of the game is to repaint the city, not just one colour, but in a patterned aerosol style. This is one indication that the game has been inspired by Melbourne style aerosol street art as seen in Hosier Lane that aspires to a total building coverage rather than individual pieces. There are different styles of art to collect as you play through the multiple levels of this sandbox. These styles are very familiar and appear to be tributes to various Melbourne street artists’ styles.
Game play includes aspects like mixing primary colours to get the right colour for a particular project, painting buildings in specific colours and shaking up tins of paint. As buildings are liberated from the grey Inky forces citizens come out to celebrate and dance in the street. The music subtly builds as each level is painted.
It is a fun game because De Blob is always doing things, repainting buildings and leaving trails of arrows and paint. This makes the game fun for both novices and experienced gamers.
Along with promoting street art as a liberating and fun experience for all the city’s citizens. The game is redolent with other attitudes from Melbourne’s street culture: it is against billboard advertising and supports green city spaces and public transport.
De Blob is just one example; there are pro-street art or anti-graffiti influences in all manner of contemporary cultural artefacts from children’s books to Wii games.
Black Mark 
December 7th, 2008 at 1:54 AM
Hi there, great to hear about this, thanks for posting about it!