What does a game designer do when his pet project’s gone gold? After he’s poured all that time and energy into it, sweated it out to completion, and finally let it loose on an unsuspecting public?

Game Design grad Johan Eickmeyer‘s solution – get to work with scissors and a hot glue gun. And foam. Lots and lots of foam.

Foamzilla is the brainchild of Johan and fellow grad Mark Barazzuol, who developed it as an Unreal Tournament 2004 mod while at VFS. The game follows the titular mutant reptile as he rampages through a military base, growing ever bigger as he comes in contact with water.

“It was an instant hit with every single person who played the game,” Johan says. “The Foamzilla character has an incredible ability to tickle the imagination of everyone.”

Now Johan’s hoping that appeal will translate from pixels to the coffee table.

The Foamzilla concept started with a search for T-Rex reference art and a picture of a sponge. Says Johan, “This reminded me of those pill toys that expand into a dinosaur when dropped into water. Making a 3D video game version of the game was the perfect solution to fulfilling the imaginative possibilities of such a toy.” Foamzilla was born.

You can follow the making of the video game over at the dev blog kept by Mark and Johan. And you can check out the finished product here. (UT2k4 required.)

People fell in love with the not-so-little green guy, and Johan just couldn’t bring himself to let him go. “It would have been a shame to let such a great character and concept die away, so I decided to do something about it.”

But it’s an uphill – and expensive – battle for indie video game publishers, so Johan chose to start small. Time to bring Foamzilla back to its roots.

In the plastic incarnation, players move a Foamzilla piece over a game board they lay out as the game progresses. When players pass through pools of water, their Foamzillas “grow” accordingly, allowing them to stomp all over their smaller opponents.

The real goal is the lone “MEGA Foamzilla” piece, which leads to what Johan describes as “a thunderous rampage across the game board.”

Johan’s releasing a 100-copy limited edition version of the game, numbered and signed by its creator. One could be yours for just $25 Canadian, plus shipping.

To reserve a set, shoot Johan an e-mail at WaterMonsterGames@yahoo.com with your name and e-mail address. He’ll give you your Foamzilla number out of 100, and let you know when your copy’s ready to ship. Payment will be handled through Paypal. (We should note that the game pieces are small and may be a choking hazard in the hands of young children.)

Orders are handled first come, first served, so hesitate and you miss out on this cool collector’s item!