Behind the Scenes of Roomerang: Dev Diary #2
Get ready to live out your reality TV star dreams with our brand new party game, Roomerang, coming to The Jackbox Party Pack 9 this fall!
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 two episodes of Inside the Box, you can watch them 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!
Where are you at in the process of creating Roomerang?
We have a basic digital version of the game that we are working to get art, audio, and some of the more complex advantages hooked up. Most importantly, we are playing the game as much as possible to discover what’s working and what might need to be tweaked. Seeing all of this in the actual game is just as crucial as having design conversations because we can have a million theories as to what will work, but you don’t really know until you experience it. Feedback from internal playtesting helps our team in affirming our design decisions and drawing attention to things that may not be working the way we would want! - Brooke Breit, Game Director
Are there any specific team “wins” that you’d be willing to share?
We playtest our game prototypes frequently within Jackbox, and sometimes people will play who aren't necessarily working on the game, which is helpful for seeing if it's easy to jump in and have fun without a lot of advance knowledge. During a recent playtest, someone had won an advantage where they could "protect" another player from elimination – and they immediately asked the room, "Okay! Who wants to form an alliance?" This was exciting to see because it's exactly the kind of thing you can do in Roomerang, bring your own level of maneuvering and drama, so to watch people stumble into it on their own is promising. - Tim Sniffen, Editorial Lead
What challenges have you faced as a team?
It turns out everyone has their own definition of "appropriate" beachwear and that has led to more than one "high-volume misunderstanding" by the hot tub. - Tim Sniffen, Editorial Lead
There are so many specific moments that we are trying to capture in this game, that sometimes it’s hard to map out every single one in a way that makes sense for all departments. So, everyone is involved in design conversations, so if things change, all departments know what’s happening and can adjust! We are lucky to have an agile and creative team, and communication is beyond essential when they are so many moving parts. - Brooke Breit, Game Director
What are you most excited about sharing with the fans?
It has been so exciting to share art with the Jackbox community, and I am excited for everyone to hear the music that Brian Chard has been creating for Roomerang. It is ICONIC fits the world so beautifully. - 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, April 28th 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.
