Santa Cruz Video Game Creator Makes Downton Abbey “Game”

Downton Abbey for Nintendo?

“Footman! I require assistance! I have misplaced ten of my most cherished cigars!” says an 16-bit Lord Crawley in what appears to be a Nintendo-ized version of the hit show Downton Abbey.

It’s not a real game, but sure appears like one.   The spoof video is the brainchild of video game music composer Bill Kiley. The Santa Cruz resident said he couldn’t sleep one night and decided to make a chip-tune version of the PBS show’s main theme.

“From there, the idea just ballooned into this ridiculous concept. I recycled some old SNES graphics, and created a bunch of custom graphics and animations, then threw it all together and animated it,” Kiley said on Tuesday. Then, he added unnecessarily:  “I’m a huge Downton Abbey fan.”

After creating the "game," he put his idea on YouTube. As of Tuesday, more than 125,000 people had watched his video.

Downton Abbey, a British period drama, is the most watched series on PBS.

Eagle-eyed game fans may recognize the mansion from the 1995 game Clock Tower. The running character is actually from the game Home Alone 2. The two were mixed together along with some original animation in After Effects.

“I made it to make my friends laugh,” Kiley said, who works on independent video games.   “It’s pretty absurd.”

You can buy the 16bit version of the music here:  http://billkiley.bandcamp.com/
 

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