Making The Jackbox Party Pack 2
On October 13th, 2015, The Jackbox Party Pack 2 was released with five party games: Fibbage 2, Earwax, Bidiots, Bomb Corp., and Quiplash XL.
This month, we’re celebrating Party Pack 2 by offering a special discount on Steam codes in the official Jackbox Games shop. Pick up a copy, play the games, and then settle in for some behind-the-scenes morsels from the game developers themselves.
When asked to recall their favorite memories from creating the second Party Pack, multiple team members recounted their experience creating the trailer:
Creative Director Tim Sniffen remembers the chaos of creating this trailer. “Filming that live-action trailer was wild,” he says. “We knew Arnie would be the host, and he had gone out to look for some kind of weird outfit at Chicago thrift stores. He called the studio and said ‘Okay, so I found this fancy old pink tuxedo... but it will take the entire prop budget.’ Allard said, ‘Do it.’”
Studio Editorial Director Arnie Niekamp remembers being roped into this commercial shoot. “I was somehow talked into being in the promotional video for Party Pack 2 as a sort of unhinged spokesperson in a pink tuxedo who kidnaps the announcer and keeps him chained up in a Jackbox Party van. It was a fun day of shooting but I remember being outside recording by the side of the road with loud trucks driving by and saying, ‘Are we sure this audio will be usable at all?’ I was assured it would be usable but of course it wasn't.”
VP of Audio Andy Poland remembers this audio issue all too well, saying “it was kind of a pain in the ass. But it was hilarious. The audio was unusable and I had to have all of the voices dubbed in. It ended up being a bizarre trailer.”
On Thursday, February 9th, Jackbox game developers gathered for a special Inside the Box livestream. During this stream, team members reflected on their time building the second Party Pack. Take a look:
https://www.youtube.com/live/5UmFJDW_6qk
Bomb Corp.
Bomb Corp. is like experiencing a casual day at the office. You’re an intern doing intern-y things like getting coffee, stapling papers, and defusing bombs.
This game actually just got updated. You heard that right. We released a 2023 patch for Bomb Corp., which you can read more about here.
But the game we know and love today took some time to develop. Jackbox CTO Evan Jacover shared that “Bomb Corp. was originally pitched to be a game about Scouts not Interns.” Additionally, Evan shared a list of rejected names for Bomb Corp. including:
Bomb Temps
Bomb Interns
Don't be a DUD!
Bombful
Oh No A Bomb!!
Another Bomb!
It's Gonna Blow!
Scary Incendiary
Studio Art Director Dave Innis remembers another name in serious consideration for this game: “This Job Blows.” Dave recalls, “We didn't think that would fly for the final name, so we went with Bomb Corp. But we were able to keep that as a subtitle for the game on a post-it note on the box and in the game.”
Dave also shared this 3D art concept for the game that ultimately got swapped out for its current style.
Fibbage 2
When we went back to the drawing board for The Jackbox Party Pack 2, two things were clear:
1) we needed new markers and
2) fans wanted a sequel to Fibbage.
A franchise was born and it weighed a healthy 8 lbs, 2 ozs. Fibbage 2 is the second of 3.5 sequels in this fib-till-you-win trivia game. As in the first Fibbage, players are presented with an obscure trivia fact that’s missing one key detail. The objective is to fill in the blank so that it fools others into thinking it’s the truth.
Take a deeper dive into the creation of the Fibbage franchise in this article recalling the development of the first Party Pack.
With this sequel came the need for some new art concepts. Take a look at these creative concepts for Fibbage 2 from CCO Allard Laban:
Earwax
In Earwax, players must creatively work within some constraints to produce an auditory experience that best captures a phrase. Let’s say you get the prompt: “The craziest football halftime show.” You then choose two sound effects from a short list that best sum up the prompt. A car alarm and a donkey braying? Sure. A donkey braying followed by a long fart sound? Now we’re talking.
Andy Poland recalls his time as the Audio Lead for Earwax, saying “I wouldn't say coming up with all the SFX for Earwax was fun but I did record a lot of farts; frankly, it's all kind of a blur. It was fun co-directing Earwax with Allard.”
Check out this tune that may be slightly familiar, but is ultimately slower than the theme music used for Earwax:
Quiplash XL
To many, “Quiplash” and “Jackbox” have become synonymous.
There are no rules or correct answers in Quiplash. Trust your gut and type in your response. Your answer will be pitted against another player’s answer in a head-to-head battle. Other players – and even an audience of up to 10,000 people – then vote on their favorite answer. It’s that simple.
Take a look at this Kickstarter campaign for the first iteration of Quiplash. The video tells you everything you need to know about this joyous game and how teeny tiny the studio was when this was created.
Shortly after its release, this expanded version was included in The Jackbox Party Pack 2 including more prompts than the standalone release.
Check out these unused art concepts for Quiplash from Lead Artist Dave Innis:
Bidiots
In Bidiots, players are given a prompt to create a “masterpiece” on their mobile device. Then the auction begins. Throughout the bidding process, you are given hidden tips on your phone about which works of art (based on the prompt) are worth the most or least amount of money. Players bid accordingly and win by earning the highest profit with their purchased pieces. The problem? Well… let’s just say that paintings can look VERY abstract.
Dave shares that “Bidiots was almost named Bidicule. I'm sure there were some hot debates about the name, as usual. I even just coined the phrase punmanteau to describe them.”
Arnie remembers recording temp host audio for Bidiots. “I recorded the original temp track of host audio for Bidiots, never intending it to go in the finished game, where I was a southern auctioneer who got really excited when there was a big bid and yelled ‘I just pooped my pants!’ It was funny but it was a lot better when we got Tim Sniffen to play a more sophisticated auctioneer for the final game.”
Tim recalls this host-swap, saying “When Arnie asked me to host Bidiots he said something like ‘Be mean and judgy, like you usually are, but maybe with a British accent?’”
Throughout the upcoming months, we’ll be highlighting the work that went into each of the Party Packs. Stay tuned for more behind the scenes snippets, livestreams, discounts, and more. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok to keep up with all the behind the scenes content.
