Don't Shit Your Pants

Don't Shit Your Pants is a browser-based text adventure game created by Canadian developers Teddy and Kenny "Rete" Lee for Cellar Door Games. The objective of the game is to use a text prompt to prevent a man standing beside a closed door from defecating inappropriately. It was the first title released by the Lee brothers, receiving positive critical reception.

Don't Shit Your Pants
Developer(s)Cellar Door Games 
Publisher(s)Cellar Door Games
Designer(s)
  • Teddy Lee
  • Kenny "Rete" Lee
EngineAdobe Flash
Platform(s)Browser
ReleaseFebruary 19, 2009
Genre(s)Text adventure game
Mode(s)Single-player

Gameplay

The game is "A Survival Horror Game" and is presented in a single room, and features a balding man standing beside a closed door in pajama bottoms and an undershirt. The main objective is to prevent the man from defecating in his pants, and use the toilet behind the door, using a text prompt to enter in commands;[1] the game starts upon the player entering the word "play".[2] Up to ten achievements may be awarded for players experimenting with different ways for the man to defecate, providing incentive for outcomes other than the main objective.[3]

Development

Don't Shit Your Pants was the first title that the Lee brothers released on the internet, as well as the first release by their company, Decade Studios, before they changed the name to Cellar Door Games.[4][5] Kenny Lee explained that he had only started developing games seriously around the time of its release, although he had toyed with the concept for a while. The two were the sole developers of the game upon its creation; after receiving "incredible feedback" on it, however, the team soon grew to several developers, with one of the other individuals working on sound and design for DSYP.[4] Meanwhile, Kenny Lee was responsible for the game's programming and art. The game, programmed in Adobe Flash, was originally developed with just a text display, but Lee decided to make it "a Hugo['s] House of Horrors-type game" with primitive graphics as well as text.[4]

Elaborating on the art style of the game, Kenny Lee said he was inspired by adventure games produced in the Enhanced Graphics Adapter (EGA) display standard.[4] He encountered difficulty emulating the 16-color palette due to newer applications enforcing visual improvements, such as anti-aliasing and a widened color palette, by default; because of this, he had to use Deluxe Paint, an older graphics application, in order to force the limited palette and screen resolution.[4] Lee also stated that he had no prior experience in visual arts. Regarding its premise, Lee explained that it came from an email that made him "laugh out [loud] at work."[4] The protagonist, intentionally left nameless, was not based on anyone in particular, but Lee based the design on Guybrush Threepwood from the Monkey Island series since he could not draw a completely original character design.[4]

Production of the game took about two weeks; Lee commented that production time could have been shorter, but he had no prior experience with ActionScript, and the game could only be worked on during evenings. Its title was the only one ever worked with; Lee said that, while they had reservations about not changing it, the team decided to keep it the same as "the vulgarity would get people to click it".[4] He added that, despite the name, they wanted to "keep it as clean as possible", in particular minimizing the display of excrement.[4]

Release and reception

The game was released onto the internet as freeware on February 16, 2009.[6] DSYP was jokingly categorized as "survival horror" by co-developer Teddy Lee. It has since received popularity for its subject matter;[4][7] Andrew Groen of The Penny Arcade Report called it the company's tour de force.[8]

Writing for Esquire, Ben Collins called it "best video game in existence" and "much more difficult than it sounds" while on the topic of an interview with Jennifer Lawrence on the Late Show with David Letterman.[9] Owen Good of Kotaku opined that it had "surprisingly strong replay value" despite its premise.[3] IndieGames.com placed it third of the "best freeware experimental games" of 2009.[10] John Walker of Rock, Paper, Shotgun called it "the sort of immature 30 seconds of nonsense" that only his colleague Sam who referred him to the game could have found.[11] Multiple reviewers for The A.V. Club wrote that it "will elicit laughs from anyone still capable of appreciating a quality shit joke" and dubbed it "a digital companion piece" to the book Everyone Poops.[1] Discussing the game during a review of the company's later title, Rogue Legacy, Chris Kohler of Wired felt that DSYP seemed a "micro-sized game" at first, but found that "through cleverly encouraging repeated replays, it provides more entertainment than a game of its scope otherwise would."[12]

gollark: I use it and I don't talk about it *all* the time.
gollark: I feel like it's mostly high just so they can extract large amounts of money from people who are unlikely to switch brand.
gollark: Not developer tools.
gollark: Their business is selling extravagantly shiny finished products at huge markup.
gollark: Apple would *never* do that.

References
  1. Wolinsky, David; Fischer, Russ; Teti, John; Heisler, Steve (March 29, 2010). "March 29, 2010". The A.V. Club. Onion Inc. Archived from the original on August 21, 2014. Retrieved August 21, 2014.
  2. W., Tim (February 17, 2009). "Browser Game Pick: Don't Soil Your Pants (Rete)". IndieGames.com. UBM Tech. Archived from the original on August 21, 2014. Retrieved August 21, 2014.
  3. Good, Owen (February 21, 2009). "Saturday Timewaster: Don't Shit Your Pants". Kotaku. Gawker Media. Archived from the original on August 21, 2014. Retrieved August 21, 2014.
  4. W., Tim (December 11, 2009). "Interview: Kenny Lee Tells You Not to Soil Your Pants". IndieGames.com. UBM Tech. Archived from the original on August 21, 2014. Retrieved August 21, 2014.
  5. Martin, Michael (January 27, 2014). "Rogue Legacy: PlayStation's Rogue-'lite' in the cellar". PlayStation Universe. p. 1 (paginated). Archived from the original on August 21, 2014. Retrieved August 21, 2014.
  6. "Don't Shit Your Pants". Cellar Door Games. September 30, 2010. Archived from the original on August 15, 2014. Retrieved August 21, 2014.
  7. Davison, Pete (June 21, 2013). "Greenlight, Genetic Flatulence and 'Roguelites'". Gamer Network. USgamer. Archived from the original on August 21, 2014. Retrieved August 21, 2014.
  8. Groen, Andrew (May 21, 2013). "The sins of the father: building a lineage of brave, flatulent, giant heroes in Rogue Legacy". The Penny Arcade Report. Penny Arcade. Archived from the original on August 21, 2014. Retrieved August 21, 2014.
  9. Collins, Ben (November 21, 2013). "Jennifer Lawrence Talked About Pooping Her Pants and Now We're All in on Jennifer Lawrence". Esquire. Hearst Magazines. Archived from the original on August 21, 2014. Retrieved August 21, 2014.
  10. "Best Freeware Experimental Games 2009". IndieGames.com. UBM Tech. January 18, 2010. p. 3 (paginated). Archived from the original on August 21, 2014. Retrieved August 21, 2014.
  11. Walker, John (March 2, 2009). "Useful Advice: Don't Shit Your Pants". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Archived from the original on August 21, 2014. Retrieved August 21, 2014.
  12. Kohler, Chris (July 19, 2013). "Why Games Like Rogue Legacy Should Terrify Big Publishers". Wired. Condé Nast. Archived from the original on August 21, 2014. Retrieved August 21, 2014.
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