Publishers Pan Macmillan hired Aardman Digital to create this online game to promote Tony Robinson’s Weird World of Wonders books. The books are beautifully illustrated by Del Thorpe, whose characters I was tasked with bringing to life for the game.

Tony Robinson worked closely with Aardman and together with developer Chris Underwood’s ingenious level design we produced an extremely playable adventure. I certainly gave it a more thorough testing than it probably needed.

Play Tony Robinson’s Weird World of Wonder here.

Until 1984, Burkina Faso was known as Upper Volta, the three tributaries of the Volta river originating within the landlocked country. The West African republic’s post-colonial name translates as “The Land of Upright People,” and their uprightness is only enhanced by their absence of coastline. Whichever way you approach Burkina Faso, the first people you meet are likely to be standing up.

Standing upright on behalf of the Burkinabe is President Blaise Compaore, now serving his fourth and officially final term since 1987. Despite having changed the constitution to shorten the term of a single presidency, it is rumoured that he intends to make further amends to allow him to stand for a 5th.

Whatever the outcome of his constitutional tinkering, he now joins the mostly upright men and women of World Leaders in Their Underpants.

Tusks are protruding teeth that outgrow their neighbours to become fabulous hornlike appendages, protruding in different directions according to the mammal sporting them. Except, that is, in Poland, where a Tusk is a prime minister named Donald, seen here in his underpants.

The improbably named Polish premier has held office since 2007, and is thus far the only head of government to be re-elected since the return of democratic elections in 1989. Unlike a tusk, Poland has yet to outgrow its neighbours, but like many of Central Europe’s new republics, it has spent the last 20 years trying.

Warthogs, narwhals and walruses all have tusks, although their teeth, no matter how flamboyant, can not stand for election anywhere in modern Europe, calling into question just how free these post-communist democracies actually are. Bears do not have tusks, but they do still defecate in the woods, unlike the Pope, who is no longer Polish. However, nobody’s questioning the Polishness of Donald Tusk, who now joins World Leaders in Their Underpants on behalf of that nation. We’d rather not dwell on where he does his other business.

Fairies are tiny humanoids with magical powers, and this winged sprite specialises in sniffing out malodorous cant. Hopefully the unnamed multinational will find her services useful in their efforts to stem the flow of stinky bunkum.

The world is riddled with scarcely recognised states, curious breakaway republics that definitely exist, and are often home to thousands of people who are certainly there. Nevertheless, for one reason or another, most of the world refuses to acknowledge them.

More often than not, these regions litter the borderlands of the former Soviet Union and represent tensions stirred up by the nationalistic tendencies of other freshly minted republics. World Leaders in Their Underpants has always welcomed the heads of these limbo states, from Nagorno-Karabakh to Abkhazia.

Today we visit a ribbon of land along the border between Ukraine and Moldova. Technically, the Transnistrian region is part of Moldova, but the mainly Russian speaking Transnistrians baulked at the declaration of Moldovan as the official language of the new republic. A short messy war ensued, and despite a ceasefire in 1992, the region has remained frozen in it’s barely recognised state until the present day.

Yevgeny Shevchuk, seen here in his underpants, is the breakaway republic’s president, tasked with improving relations with Moldova without unsettling their largest benefactors, the Russians. The growing number of such presidents now mingling with the undressed heads of state makes them increasingly difficult to ignore. Welcome, Yevgeny!

Former army general Otto Perez Molina assumed the Guatemalan presidency in January 2012, vowing to lead with an iron fist. As is customary amongst leaders proclaiming iron-fistedness, he’s holding his knuckles aloft in this picture. You will see it more closely resembles a cut of cured pork.

Guatemala emerged from a 36 year civil war in 1996, and Perez played a part in the peace talks that brought the conflict to an end. His military seniority has led to allegations of human rights abuses, but the president has consistently denied any involvement. Instead, his iron fist will be used to deal with the gang violence and drug trafficking that plagues this most central of Central American countries.

Leaders will be familiar with each others fists, from power-salutes to handshakes, and the occasional thump, whether delivered in mock-camaraderie, or malevolently, on the nose. Here at World Leaders in Their Underpants, Otto will become acquainted with much more, amongst the jostling elbows, ankles and belly-buttons of high command.

The Micronesian island of Nauru, formerly Pleasant Island, is the world’s smallest republic, which is just as well because it is made entirely out of bird droppings. For a while during the 20th century they enjoyed immense wealth thanks to the produce of their guano mines, but the tiny nation’s central plateau has been almost completely hollowed out, forcing the Nauruans into debt. Having depleted their resources, Nauru is now a dumping ground for Australian asylum seekers, under a policy named The Pacific Solution.

Sprent Dabwido, seen here in his underpants, is Nauru’s 3rd president since 2011. His predecessor spent barely a week in office before being ousted by a no confidence vote. As you can see, Sprent is a confident fellow, and with any luck his presidency will last until the end of the year.

World Leaders in Their Underpants welcomes Sprent, whose knees now feel the breeze of trouserless statesmanship, however briefly.

Saint Vincent & The Grenadines are a series of fibrocartilaginous islands forming the lower part of the Carribbean coccyx of the Lesser Antilles that extends down towards the Venuzuelan Pelvis of Latin America. A referendum in 2009 proposed the removal of Queen Elizabeth II as their head of state, but was narrowly rejected with 57% in favour of the remote British figurehead.

Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves, campaigned against the faintly silly idea of having an elderly colonial throwback as their chief public representative. Now serving his third term in parliament, he is affectionately known as Comrade Ralph amongst his fellow Vincentians.

This affectionate knowing can only deepen as Ralph joins World Leaders in Their Underpants where he will meet other senior figures whose statesmanship is confounded by the commonwealth.

Spain is a sizeable south-westerly nub of the European continent whose head of state is King Juan Carlos I. Despite his monarching, the King of Spain is usually credited with having overseen the transition from dictatorship to democracy following the death of General Francisco Franco in 1975.

It is in the same democratic spirit that Juan Carlos makes way for Mariano Rajoy, who we see here in his underpants. The popularity of Rajoy’s Popular Party fluctuates, but he succeeded in his third attempt to become Spain’s Prime Minister in December 2011. With over 20% of his people out of work, the highest unemployment rate in Europe, the socially conservative premier will be glad that his persistence has finally landed him a job.

That job, together with the king’s unusual modesty, thrusts him into the arena of near-naked leadership that is World Leaders in Their Underpants. Hola Mariano! There’s tea and coffee, and the toilets are at the end of the hall.

Tucked between Gabon and Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea is a postage stamp of West Africa that has accumulated vast wealth thanks to the discovery of oil reserves. Never the less, that wealth remains in the hands of very few, and the government ranks highly on Transparency International‘s Corruption Perception Index.

Until 1979, power was held by Francisco Macías Nguema, known for his penchant for executing entire families and villages. Obiang seized the presidency from Macías Nguema in a military coup, and relaxed some of the restrictions that had been enforced. He remains in power to this day and is now Africa’s longest serving president. Francisco Macías Nguema was his uncle.

In 2004, Mark Thatcher, son of the former British prime minister, funded an attempted coup d’état that would have resulted in a different pair of underpants being revealed here today. Whilst Obiang joins World Leaders in Their Underpants, Mark Thatcher got a four-year suspended sentence and a fine of around half a million dollars.