Hey guys! I'm Britney/PotatoMika and I'm the narrative designer/game writer for IBYH!? (If Bad, Y Hot!?)
Link: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/50/ibyh
This was my first game jam and I had a blast! I haven't written any game scripts that didn't just end up staying as just that, a script. It felt super surreal to make write character barks and think up a story and have it become a real thing. I wanted to talk a bit about how the writing process was for me! I will write things in sections to keep this neat!
The World
The world of IBYH!? Is something interesting. Our team didn't think to go with this right off the bat and honestly we weren't too stoked with the theme until our programmer @trabasura started saying "No, no, no! We can work with this." We all were brainstorming on our Jam board and for some reason my brain started to think of Lupin the Third. So I pitched the idea of having characters be on the run. The world isn't really fleshed out in the game itself, but from our notes they live in a rather corrupt society that tends to keep the poor and less fortunate underneath their boots. So, all in all things kinda suck for our characters. We were originally going to have an intro/tutorial that would paint that picture a bit clearer, but game jams are tough and we were strapped for time.
The Tone and Dialogue
When it came to vibes for the game I think we all thought the vibes have to be cool. In notes we had a really interesting framework for a story but I then thought, if everything is so fast how do we get story in there? I never played warioware so I spent some time watching some gameplay. I then sat there like, "how do I get to have a job here 💀". This is when I finally thought of the idea of character barks in-between mini games! I thought it would be cool to have these characters come off as super goofy, and honestly I spent a lot of time cracking jokes with the team that it felt like a no-brainer.
Image: Gertrude begging Yug Dab to stop filming thirst traps
With such little time and with us being dead set on a warioware-like game I thought it would be interesting to tell as much of the story through subtext in character barks and in "Rest Stop" dialogue. Our heavier dumps on the characters are when they are the last one on the run. I like to imagine the "haha funnys" disappear once the group realizes their journey really is reaching an end. I won't show any of those here since I think it's better to find those out on your own by playing!
Before I go, I would like to also give small descriptions for our cast since I realized no one gets a proper introduction in the game itself!
The Lovable Menace, Yug Dab
We like to think of Yug Dah as the leader of sorts for the group. To keep it simple he's a fun-loving F-Boy who is the shortest of the group and has a penchant for hitting up anyone attractive in a 50-mile radius and Deez Nuts jokes (Credit to @arianad for the Deez Nuts jokes) He's pretty chill in most of his dialogue, but they are times where that smiley facade will fade to reveal bits of his real feelings.
Image: Yug Dab in fear of the possible wrath of Hoe #57
Bart, The Muscle, #1 Two Piece Fan Boy
Bart's one of our faves honestly. He's actually a walking nod to our programmer @trabasura, Thanks to our character designer's @arianad joke of us getting a character named Bart (Trab backwards) he then came into being. He's a fan of a show called Two Piece which is a nod to an anime called One Piece. Trab's a big fan and has been trying to get our team on the show but hasn't been successful just yet. Without his knowledge we kind of giggled and laughed as many lines Bart says are actually things we've heard him say. I realized I didn't want Bart to be a full on gimmick character, and so I also added some lines for players to find having to do with Bart's life before hitting the road having to do with his family and a younger brother of his!
Image: Bart being annoyed of the pronunciation of plantain (he's right)
Precious, the...Dog??
Literally the best character. Precious is a freak of nature and is also quite literally the best character in our entire game. She's a "dog" adopted by our lovely Gertrude. (Spoiler alert: Precious is just 1/8 coyote and Gertrude found her in a dumpster/craigslist for 2 dollars). Precious questions existence, loves pets, hates capitalism (also thanks to our character designer she's so awesome), able to drive, and write, and occasionally pees on car seats. Sooo...normal dog behavior!
Image: Precious talking about her day
Gertrude, the sane one
Gertrude is one of my faves design-wise. She is GORGEOUS. Right off the bat I wanted a character that was intelligent and asked for our character designer if she could make a an "inventor-like character". Gertrude was born, and I had to FIGHT to get her name to be Gertrude since the entire team HATED the name for her. I convinced everyone that having her be a really pretty and young inventor named Gertrude of all things would be great. I won the battle. Gertrude is a genius and an inventor but she is also a ride or die when it comes to Yug Dab and Bart. She thinks of them as compulsive idiots but they are HER compulsive idiots. She wouldn't be on the run with anyone else but them. Lots of her lines have her complaining, but that hides a heart of gold who cares for her friends and family.
That's the whole gang! If you read all the way to the end then I applaud you. There's a bit to discover in our game through dialogue and I enjoyed writing it. Also, if you can pinpoint all the references from the title of this post let me know! Hopefully one day me and the gang can get together again and make this a full on game! For now, please play and rate our game. Also follow me and the team on Twitter if you can! They're all amazing and talented people.
Thank you guys!
Link: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/50/ibyh
Image: Gertrude begging Yug Dab to stop filming thirst traps
Image: Yug Dab in fear of the possible wrath of Hoe #57
Image: Bart being annoyed of the pronunciation of plantain (he's right)
Image: Precious talking about her day