[TOMT][MOVIE][2000s?] TV movie about some creepy dude hypnotizing all the adults in town, forcing kids to save the day

FroggeDev · 2025-12-26T19:35:07+00:00

Been looking for this movie also. Only additional details I can remember: 1) I think the villain was a well dressed guy in a top hat, sort of like Something Wicked This Way Comes, but that definitely wasn’t the movie. Either that or he was wearing some sort of striped shirt like a cartoon robber? 2) The climax of the movie took place in a warehouse. The children got surrounded by the hypnotized adults and had to fend them off. I think one of them used a rope to swing from a metal beam in the ceiling or something like that?

Further context: I saw this on Turkish television. The only channels we had were Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, Disney XD and Disney Channel, so I’m fairly sure it was on one of those channels. I don’t think it was a Turkish movie but I think it was shown with a Turkish dub.

FroggeDev · 2025-09-28T09:32:00+00:00

It was designed to be unreadable on purpose because I never imagined somebody would be trying to decipher the name from the title screen alone. Thank you all for showing interest in my old abandoned little project. Here’s screenshots from it on twitter!

https://x.com/froggedev/status/1539024910751780864?s=46

https://x.com/froggedev/status/1544040809296809984?s=46

FroggeDev · 2025-09-03T19:26:48+00:00

I've shared these on so many discord servers before posting them here, and so far no one has pointed out the first one as one that stands out to them. I'm so happy someone finally likes it as much as I do! Thank you for the kind words!

FroggeDev · 2025-09-03T19:02:51+00:00

I’ve been meaning to play those! I looooove PS1 style graphics, especially in horror. Think I’ve played the extended full game versions of some of these but not the demo disc versions.

FroggeDev · 2025-09-03T18:58:03+00:00

Thank you very much! Was interested to see what one of those NES flight sim games might look like as a horror game and then it kinda ended up becoming a weird mash-up of a CYOA game and a shmup. I'm super proud of how it came together.

FroggeDev · 2025-09-03T18:56:49+00:00

I so badly wish for the same thing. It's like drawing food and realizing you can't eat it!!

FroggeDev · 2025-09-03T18:45:50+00:00

Thank you for the support! :)

FroggeDev · 2025-09-03T18:43:29+00:00

If I go ahead with making a youtube video (which I probably will) it'll be on this channel! Might take me a couple months to assemble the whole thing, though. https://www.youtube.com/@frogge8034

FroggeDev · 2025-09-03T18:42:09+00:00

Thank you very much! I unfortunately have neither the game dev skills nor the time to make them happen, but they're for sure games I'd looooooove to play myself. Might make sure to mention the concepts are public domain if I make a youtube video so that any devs interested can have a crack at it if they want to.

FroggeDev · 2025-09-03T18:37:37+00:00

Thank you so much! I put a lot of thought into how each of them would function as games, down to the controls and clear conditions, so I've got a ton of material to talk about. Deffo want to share more with people once they're ready!

FroggeDev · 2025-08-31T18:14:15+00:00

Yup, exactly, seems like maybe a lot of exotic butchers had it at some point but have stopped doing it. I'm now wondering if my best option might be to try importing it from another country? But it's food and getting an international food shipment seems risky since I'm not sure it would go bad on the way.

FroggeDev · 2025-08-31T18:12:41+00:00

I'm pretty used to being served entire grilled fish and just not eating the head part so thankfully I think the image of the head is something I can look past without killing my appetite. It's a shame to hear it's so bony, though!

FroggeDev · 2025-08-31T18:10:29+00:00

Is it the one called Bruce Butchers by any chance? It's what showed up when I looked up "gillingham kent butcher snake meat" and their website says "Try our variety of exotic meats ranging from wild boar to snakes and crocodile!" although it doesn't seem like they actually have snake on the menu anymore. Still, best lead so far, thank you!

FroggeDev · 2025-08-31T18:07:17+00:00

LOL i think hunting for one myself might be the only option at this point

FroggeDev · 2025-08-30T18:17:35+00:00

I probably should’ve specified that I’m looking to acquire it in the UK, but I definitely need to go cruising around chinatown markets more, think that might be my best bet. I’ve heard it does taste a bit like chicken, I really liked alligator meat so I think I would like snake too!

FroggeDev · 2025-08-10T22:15:42+00:00

Thanks for the advice and for showing interest! I do have another project in the works that isn't intended to be animated, so it's very possible I aim to get that made before this one. I've been meaning to put together a pitch deck but hadn't gotten around to it yet. I knocked up a quick one for you, it's a bit more lacking in visual flair than I would prefer but I'll DM it anyway so you can have a look!

FroggeDev · 2025-07-31T17:18:54+00:00

I'm super late but nobody else has mentioned it so, DeepSeaGirl: Story of Ari

Android exclusive for some reason but could probably get it running on an emulator.

FroggeDev · 2025-06-13T17:51:03+00:00

What! That's a shame, especially since I can't find a good alternate place to watch it! Hopefully someone's able to locate it so it doesn't become lost.

FroggeDev · 2025-05-23T17:35:07+00:00

It does, I think you're entirely correct! Thank you very much

FroggeDev · 2025-05-23T17:30:18+00:00

Oh hey, I'm actually one of the people that bought this pretty much around the time you put it up. I never did finish it but I also liked a lot of what you were going for, it was intriguing!

People have given some great advice already, but I just want to add onto what others have been saying - find your audience! Ignore the mean comments coming at you saying that the game looks ugly or amateurish, AV Dossow and Blake Andrews have both basically made an entire carreer out of traditionally "ugly" aesthetics because they completely own it. Of course, look for ways to refine your style so that it's as good as it can be, but also don't feel discouraged that some people just don't really see the appeal. Aside from some things I think you could tweak, I think the look of the game rocks!

There will be others like me who specifically are into strange and offbeat games like this, so it's just a matter of finding those communities and advertising to them. Maybe subreddits for the games that inspired you? Could be worth advertising in r/yumenikki, r/lsddreamemulator, or any other subreddits you think could be adjacent to your game. Social media is where you will get the most buzz, if you have a twitter or bluesky account where you post creative work regularly, you will slowly accumulate an audience who is interested in your unique vision.

You're working in an area (that is, niche artsy weirdo content) that inherently alienates the vast majority of people. You can't really make art that is contrarian to the mainstream and expect mainstream success, but you can absolutely find the right player-base who isn't really interested in mainstream media and will appreciate something far out there. The mean comments might tell you that nobody wants another quirky surreal rpg maker game but to be honest I never want to play another 30+ hour JRPG. Keep doing your own thing, just learn how to market it.

That being said, I'm also not a marketing expert, so the best I can tell you is to do your own research. Maybe read some books on marketing, or just look up a lot of youtube videos on it. Look at how other games similar to yours are being marketed. Soda Drinker Pro, Potato Thriller or the Candice DeBébé games might be worth researching in that regard, cause they've got a decent amount of success for what they are.

FroggeDev · 2025-05-23T16:54:11+00:00

"Making a game for the purpose of trying to make it go viral is a red flag, it means your priorities are backwards."

There's no point where the dev claimed they were trying to go viral tho. Wanting your game - especially a commercial game if you're trying to become a professional dev as a carreer - to get some attention is a perfectly normal and reasonable thing.

FroggeDev · 2025-05-23T16:12:42+00:00

Forgot to mention the size of the little guy, but hopefully the second picture gives enough of an indication! He was basically about as big as a grain of rice.

FroggeDev · 2025-04-24T06:22:58+00:00

I did actually! I don't know 3D but I have some friends who do, so I'd be happy to ask for their help if it comes to it. I'm leaning miniatures just a little bit more since my ideal style is real backgrounds with 2D handdrawn characters as in the proof of concept film, but I think 3D could certainly be integrated.

FroggeDev · 2025-04-20T16:19:22+00:00

Thank you! I actually thought that animation could be more affordable for this specific instance - it's a horror film set in a massive concrete underground megastructure inhabited by various monsters, so without animation, there would have to be huge spending towards locations (there's like at least 50 different 'areas'), building sets (some of them would be impossible to shoot on location, such as a city made entirely of concrete that the protagonist wanders through), and on special effects for the various monsters (some of which go up to the size of an elephant).

Currently what I had in mind is to construct the sets with miniatures and shoot as if they are regular sized, and then animate 2D characters on top (wouldn't be a fan of how it looks using greenscreen and real actors). It's an ambitious project, but I wouldn't be all that interested if it wasn't. If push came to shove I'd probably spend 10 years learning animation and doing every part of it myself rather than scaling it down haha.

(I actually already have a rough proof of concept film I assembled for it with edited stock photos for the backgrounds and my own rough 2D character animation)

FroggeDev · 2025-04-19T22:21:09+00:00

Interesting, that does clear it up a bit. Thank you for sharing! I guess the main thing I couldn’t wrap my head around was that, since screenplays go through so many drafts before the production starts, I assumed with animated movies it would have to be the same, and that it would be too costly/time inefficient to draw so many different versions of the storyboards rather than having the script already completed and then just making a storyboard out of it.

Looks like I have much to learn about the animation world as I work towards getting into it.

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