Behind the Scenes of Roomerang: Dev Diary #1
The Jackbox Party Pack 9 is coming this fall and Roomerang is the first brand-new game announced in this upcoming release!
Over the course of the spring and summer, we’re giving you more behind the scenes access to our development process than we ever have before. We’ll be introducing you to team members on our TikTok channel, sharing monthly work-in-progress streams on Twitch, and posting periodic dev diaries where you’ll hear directly from the team about what it’s like to work on Roomerang.
In case you missed the first episode of Inside the Box, you can watch it now on YouTube:
Roomerang, the salacious reality TV party game, involves responding to prompts, role-playing, and whatever level of competition and drama you bring to the table. Read on to hear more about the game from the devs themselves!
How has Roomerang changed from the initial idea that was greenlit to the game that you’re coming out of pre-production with?
“For so long leading up to (the) pitch, we were in the headspace of distilling what made the game "work.” We avoided burdening playtesters (and ourselves) with wild twists and lofty ambitions for lore. We needed to determine the game's core elements. Pre-production was liberating, getting to re-engage in ‘Blue Sky‘ ideation for the first time in a while. We flooded our senses with TV clips and swapped stories of beloved canceled programs. It was beautiful! We leave pre-production with core pillars guiding our development, but also a better sense of the world of Roomerang, the verbs of this game world, and even a few ideas for easter eggs!” - Alex Weick, Lead Designer & Producer
“The version of the game that was greenlit was pitched using a Jamboard and digital sticky notes, mirroring a more practical “paper test” style. This allowed us to iterate rapidly and make changes quickly. So one of our first steps was transitioning what was working in that version into a digital prototype. And thanks to Farhan (Lead Engineer), we had a working prototype coming out of pre-production!” - Brooke Breit, Game Director
What do you think will be the biggest challenge the Roomerang team will face during production?
“There’s a lot of information onscreen that will be crucial to gameplay, so one challenge will be how best to manage and organize all of that information in a way that is both functional and artistically satisfying.” - Brooke Breit, Game Director
What were some of the sources of inspiration for the audio and visual aesthetic of Roomerang during pre-production?
“I was raised on reality TV, so I'm very familiar with the gaudy and garish aesthetics that reality TV can have. Instead, I wanted to approach the visual design with a specific art philosophy: to juxtapose reality with fantasy. Essentially, I hoped to warp realism in the same way that reality TV does so successfully. I was inspired by elements of cubism and the combination of animation and live action used in lots of media like The Amazing World of Gumball.” - Hector M Padilla, Lead Artist
“One of our team goals is to make this game a love letter to reality TV, so most of the sound design is based on what I'm hearing in the dozen or so reality shows I checked out. The ongoing challenge will be to refer to these shows but put our own spin on them. Anything I do kinda ends up sounding like me anyway, so I think it's a meetable goal. I’d also add that Hector’s art style is cool and has and will continue to inspire me.” - Brian Chard, Audio Lead
What makes the team working on Roomerang unique?
“A small group of us (Alex Weick, Tim Sniffen and myself) pitched this game to the greenlight committee, so we came into the bigger team with a strong sense of what was currently working and what our questions might be going into pre-production. Some folks on the team were already deeply into reality television and others did not have it as a part of their television watching experience but they are graciously willing to dive in. It’s actually very helpful to have differing degrees of interest and exposure because it creates an internal system of ‘checks and balances,’ which is wonderful when you are trying to make a game that appeals to fans of the genre but also to folks that don’t know a single thing about it.” - Brooke Breit, Game Director
“We try to bring the energy of reality TV to the group by meeting every Friday around a bonfire and voting someone off the production team. There have been some intense moments, and things could get tricky in July when one person is finishing the game on their own… but those are the rules.” - Tim Sniffen, Editorial Lead
What are you most excited about sharing with fans in the early stages of development?
“As a team, we are trying to take the elements we love about reality television and ask ourselves, ‘What is the Jackbox version of this?’ So, part of our process is adapting familiar elements and tropes but in a way that makes sense for the game.” - Brooke Breit, Game Director
Can’t get enough Roomerang content? Don’t miss the next episode of Inside the Box at 4:45 PM CT on Thursday, March 31st on Twitch and YouTube.
This is only the beginning! We’ll be sharing more updates and announcements about this upcoming pack over the course of the spring and summer. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook or join our Discord community for the latest news.
