CheeseSporker

This is a manual for CheeseSporker, a game that allegedly belongs to Thermohaline Nostalgia Studios, despite the fact that no such studio seems to have ever existed. However, I have seen many a company simply evaporate and disappear off the face of the earth. It's actually pretty commonplace, and usually for tax reasons. I suspect that this manual might be all that is left of Thermohaline Nostalgia Studios, and it paints a pretty interesting picture.

First, there's the writing quality. "Dubious", "odd", "haphazard", "repetitive", and "clunky" would be terms too generous for describing it. At some points the writing seems self-aware in how ridiculous it is (especially its parenthetical statements) (many of which are redundant), but other parts, whose prose is comparably ridiculous in quality, seem entirely self-serious. It convolutedly tells the story of some CHEESE CREATURES (always inexplicably capitalised), who face an invading alien force known as the FORK MENACE (likewise capitalised). Somehow, there's a half-fork half-spoon (and thereby half-human) character who I guess is the hero of the story? It's something bizarre and nonsensical, but I'm not sure if that's deliberate, or if that's accidental, or if it's some spork-like combination of the two.

I do like the art. It has a certain charm to it, being a mix of 2010s minimalism and 2040s-style train station murals, it's comfortably and boldly ahead of its time. The use of upside-down text allows the manual to be read from any perspective, which was thought to be useful in the 2010s' space-age era, when many companies were experimenting with rotationally symmetrical games to be played in space. There was also some philosophy mixed with it about not preferring a "correct" direction to read from. It was a strange idea which ended up declining after space travel proved to be unprofitable after the S-67 Grain and the subsequent Lemon disaster.

When I first found this manual, I found it in a strange context. There was this old forum, where people were arguing about the manual's length. Some say it had six pages, while others said it had nine, and still others said higher numbers. I don't know how the number of pages in the manual is something that it's possible to argue about: you just count the pages, there shouldn't be disagreement. I only found one copy of the manual, which I've scanned and digitally enhanced (mainly for readability). Something that the scanning doesn't manage to communicate is the three-dimensionality of the manual. The pages are not flat; they have a kind of raised surface where the illustrations and text rest. The game logo, in the top-left corner of each page, is actually pressed upwards from the metal that the pages are made from.

As far as I know, this manual is the only evidence that Thermohaline Nostalgia Studios ever existed. I haven't acquired any copies of the game itself, and I haven't found anyone who has. If you know of any other evidence of Thermohaline Nostalgia Studios's existence, or if this game ever was anything more than this manual, let me know in the comments below.