History VideoGame / Roundabout

''Roundabout'' is a top down driving puzzle game... with a twist.

''Roundabout'' follows the story of Georgio Manos, the world's first revolving limousine driver. Georgio must learn to navigate the perils of the luxury transport industry while driving a car that literally cannot stop spinning, including picking up passengers, making deliveries, nefarious French Canadians, and falling in love. All the cutscenes are all done as 70's B-movie style {{Live Action Cutscene}}s, consisting entirely of shots of Georgio in the front seat and separate shots of the passengers in the back.

!!This Work Provides Examples Of:
* AmbiguousGender: Done in a particularly ludicrous manner. Georgio is played by a woman, Kate Welch, but the game entirely avoid pronouns or other indicators of gender when referring to the character, with other characters and the narrator using either Georgio's name (even when a pronoun would have sounded more natural) or using epithets like "kid".

* BizarrePuzzleGame: On the surface, it looks a like a top down driving game, but it's more of a puzzle game of trying to fit your bizarrely-moving limo through increasingly complex obstacle courses.
* BottleEpisode: The cutscenes are all shots of either Georgio in the front seat of the limo or a shot of the passenger in the backseat, all using the same static camera angles and with an obvious green-screen stock-footage background where appropriate. The only exceptions come from shots consisting entirely of StockFootage and a few missions that have characters standing in front of the same obvious green-screen.

* CoolCar: Georgio is driving a limousine that is constantly spinning in place and can make six foot vertical jumps. With the correct upgrades, it can also float in water, shoot traffic cones out the back, and shrink down to half its size.

* DemBones: Jeffrey the Skeleton.

* HeroicMime: Georgio, who never speaks and only communicates through nonverbal facial expressions and some hand gestures, which everyone can understand without trouble. The narrator lampshades this.

** The mission where you have to kill the triathlon competition has the screen washed in groovy colors due Georgio taking some drugs. The same effect pops up if you use the slow-motion power up.

* LiveActionCutscene: ''Roundabout''[='=]s cutscenes are live-action clips specifically made to look like [[{{Retraux}} a 70s B-movie]].
* MyRulesAreNotYourRules: Averted for the police cars. While the cops don't spin, they are subjected to the same 4 HP rule as you and will blow up if they crash into anything 4 times. They'll also instantly blow up if they crash into the water like you do without one specific upgrade.
* NoBudget: [[invoked]] The game was made by a team of only two people on an obviously small budget. They even note in the ads for the game that the skeleton character in the game is a $40 skeleton they bought off Amazon.com. All of the characters have very low-budget costumes and the footage in the game is both obviously green-screened and shot in a cheap, old car (which was, in fact, a retired police cruiser and ''not'' a limousine). Audio from characters that didn't appear on screen was mostly provided by members of the Website/SomethingAwful Forums Let's Play community (of which the two devs, [=DeliciousBees=] and Panzer Skank, were members). The whole feel of the 1970s cutscenes (and the acting in the game) is that it is a very low-budget affair, and the game clearly is aware of how low budget it is and doesn't take itself too seriously.
* PaperThinDisguise: Mickey once dons a pair of those stock glasses with the bushy eyebrows and oversized nose in an attempt to hide his presence from Georgio. The most Georgio can muster as a response is an amused nod as they go to collect "Not-Mickey's" important business things. Likewise, the Canadian tourist looks an awful lot like the Swedish tourist from an earlier mission and Georgio isn't buying it.
* PostProcessingVideoEffects: The whole game has a grainy, 70's video style film overlay which can be disabled in the options.
* SilentProtagonist: Georgio never speaks and is even specifically pointed out by the narrator to be talented at "communicating silently".
* SilentSnarker: Georgio uses eyerolls and other sorts of look that conveys the snark.

* TheSeventies: This game is set in the 1970s, and makes it very obvious, with references to UsefulNotes/JimmyCarter and Disco.

* AmbiguousGender: Done in a particularly ludicrous manner. Georgio is played by a woman, but the game entirely avoids gendered pronouns when referring to him/her/them. While this may be a case of [[CrosscastRole a male ''character'' being played by a female ''actor'']], it is ''equally'' possible that the entire cast is simply [[FailedASpotCheck oblivious]] to the fact that Georgio is a woman. Or perhaps the inverse is true, and Georgio is the only person unaware. Either way, it's completely irrelevant to the rest of the game.

* HeroicMime: Georgio. They never speak and only communicate through nonverbal facial expressions and some hand gestures, but everyone can understand them just fine. The narrator lampshades this.

* PaperThinDisguise: Mickey once dons a pair of those stock glasses with the bushy eyebrows and oversized nose in an attempt to hide his presence from Georgio. The most they can muster as a response is an amused nod as they go to collect "Not-Mickey's" important business things. Likewise, the Canadian tourist looks an awful lot like the Swedish tourist from an earlier mission and Georgio isn't buying it.

* SilentSnarker: Georgio can be seen rolling their eyes or giving some other sort of look that conveys the snark.
* SoccerHatingAmericans: The baseball coach complains that he's being forced by the school to coach soccer too, and whines that "apparently this isn't ''America'' anymore" before insinuating that Georgio ''must'' have some affinity for the sport based on their ambiguously-European name.

* TheVoiceless: Georgio never speaks, but the passengers are somehow able to know exactly what they're thinking just looking at their facial expression.
* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: The game makes no attempt to hide the fact Georgio is played by a woman, nor does anyone comment on it. Whether the game [[CrosscastRole is playing the character as male despite such]] or that Georgio just happens to be a woman with a masculine name and everyone they interact with is just oblivious to this is not given explanation and is left up to the player to decide. They even grow a BeardOfSorrow at one point, and then "shave" it off... by unhooking it, which just [[WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}} raises more questions!]]

* SoccerHatingAmericans: The baseball coach complains that the school is forcing him to coach soccer too, and whines that "apparently this isn't ''America'' anymore!" before insinuating that Georgio ''must'' have some affinity for the sport because of their ambiguously-European name.

* BizarrePuzzleGame: On the surface, it looks a like a top down driving game, but it's more of a puzzle game of trying to fit your bizarrely moving limo through increasingly complex obstacle courses.

* EveryCarIsAPinto: Or rather, every limousine. Dying to anything, whether you've crashed into one too many cars or fallen off a cliff into the sea, results in your limo exploding in a fiery ball. This happens to [[spoiler:Renaldo's limo when you run him off the road]] as well.

* AmbiguousGender: Done in a particularly ludicrous manner. Georgio is played by a woman, but the game entirely avoids gendered pronouns when referring to him/her/them. While this may be a case of [[CrosscastRole a male ''character'' being played by a female ''actor'']], it is ''equally'' possible that the entire cast is simply [[MissedASpotCheck oblivious]] to the fact that Georgio is a woman. Or perhaps the inverse is true, and Georgio is the only person unaware. Either way, it's completely irrelevant to the rest of the game.

* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: The game makes no attempt to hide the fact Georgio is played by a woman, nor does anyone comment on it. Whether the game [[CrosscastRole is playing the character as male despite such]] or that Georgio just happens to be a woman with a masculine name and everyone they interact with is just oblivious to this is not given explanation and is left up to the player to decide. They even grow a BeardOfSorrow at one point, and then "shave" it off... by unhooking it, which just [[WesternAnimation/Futurama raises more questions!]]

* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: The game makes no attempt to hide the fact Georgio is played by a woman, nor does anyone comment on it. Whether the game [[CrosscastRole is playing the character as male despite such]] or that Georgio just happens to be a woman with a masculine name and everyone they interact with is just oblivious to this is not given explanation and is left up to the player to decide. They even grow a BeardOfSorrow at one point, and then "shave" it off... by unhooking it, which just [[WesterAnimation/Futurama raises more questions!]]

* AmbiguousGender: Georgio is played by a woman, but the game entirely avoids gendered pronouns when referring to him/her. While this may be a case of [[CrosscastRole a male ''character'' being played by a female ''actor'']], it is possible that the entire cast is simply oblivious to the fact that Georgio is a woman. Or perhaps the inverse is true. Either way, it's completely irrelevant to the rest of the game.

* ComedicSociopathy: The player is not only actively encouraged by the game to run over pedestrians for rewards, but even ''InUniverse'' a lot of the passenger's quick solutions to problems is to run everyone in their way over (which Georgio obliges to without question).

* MyRulesAreNotYourRules: Averted for the police cars. While the cops don't spin, they are subjected to the same 4 HP rule as you and will blow up if they crash into anything 4 times. They'll also instantly blow up if they crash into the water like you do.

* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: The game makes no attempt to hide the fact Georgio is played by a woman, nor does anyone comment on it. Whether the game [[CrosscastRole is playing the character as male despite such]] or that Georgio just happens to be a woman with a masculine name and everyone they interact with is just oblivious to this is not given explanation and is left up to the player to decide.

''Roundabout'' follows the story of Georgio Manos, the world's first revolving limousine driver. Georgio must learn to navigate the perils of the luxury transport industry while driving a car that literally cannot stop spinning, including picking up passengers, making deliveries, nefarious French Canadians, and falling in love. All the cutscenes are all done as 70's B-movie style live action [=FMVs=], consisting entirely of shots of Georgio in the front seat and separate shots of the passengers in the back.

* BottleEpisode: The FMV cutscenes are all shots of either Georgio in the front seat of the limo or a shot of the passenger in the backseat, all using the same static camera angles and with an obvious green-screen stock-footage background where appropriate. The only exceptions come from shots consisting entirely of StockFootage and a few missions that have characters standing in front of the same obvious green-screen.

** The mission where you have to kill the triathlon competition has the screen washed in groovy colors due Georgio taking some drugs. The same effect pops up if you use the slow motion power up.

* NoBudget: [[invoked]] The game was made by a team of only two people on an obviously small budget. They even note in the ads for the game that the skeleton character in the game is a $40 skeleton they bought off Amazon.com. All of the characters have very low-budget costumes and the footage in the game is both obviously green-screened and shot in a cheap, old car (which was, in fact, a retired police cruiser and ''not'' a limousine). Audio from characters that didn't appear on screen was mostly provided by members of the Website/SomethingAwful Forums Let's Play community (of which the two devs, [=DeliciousBees=] and Panzer Skank, were members). The whole feel of the 1970s [=FMVs=] (and the acting in the game) is that it is a very low-budget affair, and the game clearly is aware of how low budget it is and doesn't take itself too seriously.

* AmbiguousGender: Georgio is played by a woman, but the game entirely avoids gendered pronouns when referring to him/her. It is possible that the entire cast is simply oblivious to the fact that Georgio is a woman. Or perhaps the inverse is true. Either way, it's completely irrelevant to the rest of the game.

* DemBones: Jeffery the Skeleton.
* DesignatedLoveInterest: Beth to Georgio. Beth is heads over heels for Georgio and their crazy spinning limo and Georgio goes on a personal mission to find Beth when the two of them are separated, but there's nothing else about them beyond the "friendship blooms into love" gimmick.

* EveryCarIsAPinto: Or rather, every limousine. Dying to anything, whether you've crashed into one too many cars or fallen off a cliff into the sea, results in your limo exploding in a fiery ball. This happens to [[spoiler:Renaldo's limo]] when you run him off the road as well.

* FrenchJerk: Ronaldo is TheRival to Georgio, and isn't very nice to boot,[[spoiler:at least until he is killed in a car accident]].

** The final mission has you driving straight instead of spinning. This is actually a lot harder than it sounds since acceleration, reverse, and steering are all done on the analog stick/directional buttons and you can no longer make the limo jump.

* NoBudget: The game was made by a team of only two people on an obviously small budget. They even note in the ads for the game that the skeleton character in the game is a $40 skeleton they bought off Amazon.com. All of the characters have very low-budget costumes and the footage in the game is both obviously green-screened and shot in a cheap, old car (which was, in fact, a retired police cruiser and ''not'' a limousine). Audio from characters that didn't appear on screen was mostly provided by members of the Website/SomethingAwful Forums Let's Play community (of which the two devs, [=DeliciousBees=] and Panzer Skank, were members). The whole feel of the 1970s [=FMVs=] (and the acting on the game) is that it is a very low-budget affair, and the game clearly is aware of how low budget it is and doesn't take itself too seriously.
* PaperThinDisguise: Mickey once dons a pair of those stock glasses with the bushy eyebrows and oversized noses in an attempt to hide his presence from Georgio. The most he can muster as a response is an amused nod as he goes to collect "Not-Mickey's" important business things. Likewise, the Canadian tourist looks an awful lot like the Swedish tourist from an earlier mission and Georgio isn't buying it.
* PostProcessingVideoEffects: The whole game has a grainy, 70's video style film overlay.
* SilentProtagonist: Georgio never speaks and is even specifically pointed out by the narrator to be talented at "communicating silently."

* TheVoiceless: Georgio never speaks, but the passengers are somehow able to know exactly what they're thinking by just looking at their facial expression alone.
* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: The game makes no attempt to hide the fact Georgio is played by a woman, nor does anyone comment on it. Whether the game is playing the character as male despite such or that Georgio just happens to be a woman with a masculine name and everyone they interact with is just oblivious to this is not given explanation and is left up to the player to decide.

* AmbiguousGender: Georgio is played by a woman, but the game entirely avoids gendered pronouns when referring to him/her. It is possible that the entire cast is simply oblivious to the fact that she is a woman. Or perhaps the inverse is true. Either way, it's completely irrelevant to the rest of the game.

* AmbiguousGender: Georgio is played by a woman, but the game entirely avoids gendered pronouns when referring to him/her.

* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: The game makes no attempt to hide the fact Georgio is played by a woman. Whether the game is playing the character as male despite such or that Georgio just happens to be a woman with a masculine name with masculine interests is not given explanation and is left up to the player to decide.

* NoBudget: The game was made on an obviously small budget. They even note in the ads for the game that the skeleton character in the game is a $40 skeleton they bought off Amazon.com. All of the characters have very low-budget costumes and the footage in the game is both obviously green-screened and shot in cheap, old cars (which may or may not even be limos). The whole feel of the 1970s [=FMVs=] (and the acting on the game) is that it is a very low-budget affair, and the game clearly is aware of how low budget it is and doesn't take itself too seriously.