The creator of The Neverhood is making a new claymation point-and-click adventure game, featuring new characters and story for Windows PC and Mac, according to the official The Neverhood's Facebook page.
Creator Doug TenNapel (Earthworm Jim, Skullmonkeys) is joining up with The Neverhood and Earthworm Jim animators Ed Schofield and Mike Dietz. Terry Scott Taylor, composer of The Neverhood and its sequel Skullmonkeys will do the soundtrack.
TenNapel explained in a Facebook post that he is making a new title because he doesn't own The Neverhood character rights. He signed those to Dreamworks Interactive when making the The Neverhood and EA now owns those character rights.
"So back in the day, we needed one point something million dollars to make the first Neverhood game, and publishers would pay you the money, but you HAD TO assign the character rights to the company," TenNapel wrote on Facebook. "I did that with Earthworm Jim and Neverhood, so I own and control neither one of those characters or worlds. It was the price of admission to getting to do a game."
He said that he tried for years to work a deal with EA, who he says never completely grasped the size of the game's fanbase.
"If it was up to me, I'd make 800 Neverhood sequels the same way that I would make 800 new Earthworm Jim games," TenNepal wrote. "It's not my decision, and it's not my place. It's MUCH easier (and frankly, funner) to create something new!"
TenNapel has reached out game's fan base on Facebook to ask what they would like in the new full-length claymation game.
The Neverhood was released in 1996 for Windows PC in North America and Skullmonkeys launched on the PlayStation in 1998.