At first glance, Slouch Couch Studios’ upcoming game, Drugbound, appears to be your typical, wholly unremarkable endless run and jump affair. A series of side-scrolling stages to charge through? Check. Crazy enemies and obstacles to avoid? Check. Coins to collect? Che– …Wait a minute. Those aren’t coins!
Nope. They’re marijuana leaves. Y’see, Dave Homan, Founder of Slouch Couch Studios, wants to use the game to expound his views on the subject of marijuana prohibition, and hopefully wrangle a few players around to his way of thinking:
How I see it, the more that pop culture is imbued with images and messages about marijuana the more accepted the idea of it will probably be,” explains Dave. “I want the players of my games to question something they’ve been taught or told. If someone plays Drugbound a few times and then comes out with, “Oh hey, the US drug war actually IS racist!” then I figure I’ll get my angel wings or something.
Drugbound will be a free download (with optional IAPs) and is set for release sometime in the “winter of 2012” for Android and iOS devices …*cough* If indeed this potentially controversial title makes it passed Apple’s notoriously stringent approval process for apps and games unscathed, that is.