We’ve reached our tenth year of creating Party Packs. That’s ten years of phones as controllers, high-brow, low-brow, and everything-in-between-brow humor, and memories made at parties around the world.
With this milestone in mind, we’re working hard to deliver fans with some classic Jackbox magic, including an exciting sequel, Tee K.O. 2 coming to The Jackbox Party Pack 10 for PlayStation users this fall.
We’ve also made it a priority to push ourselves and delight fans with new ideas and ways to play. This mindset has been critical in creating the fifth and final title coming to The Jackbox Party Pack 10. Introducing…
Dodo Re Mi
Dodo Re Mi is the first ever musical game published by Jackbox Games. Players will use their phones as instruments to play songs together as birdy bandmates feeding a hungry musical plant, therefore avoiding being eaten by said plant.
Dodo Re Mi contains both original songs and familiar music played in unexpected genres. Each player will select an instrument to play-controlled through their phone-and be able to hear their bandmates’ instruments as they collaborate in real-time.
Bird-brained origins
Senior Software Engineer Chase McClure dreamed up the pitch for Dodo Re Mi. Chase remarks, “this idea of literally turning your phone into an instrument got into my head and wouldn’t leave.”
But Jackbox has never made a music game before, and Chase was hyper aware of challenges of making this game. “It’s tough to overstate just how new this idea and tech is for our studio and the initial prototypes were… rough,” he says, “but just enough of the idea was there to prove, if we can pull it off, it could be a really special game.”
The studio agreed that this game was special. Once Chase’s pitch was greenlit for Party Pack 10, the production team was assembled and ideas for the look and feel of the game began to flow.
Game Director Brooke Breit recalls quickly drawing inspiration from birds. “Birds are musical. And the idea that there are these fictional birds that can make the sounds of many different instruments became our wrapper, the creative vision for the world of the game. Then, it just made sense that these birds have to perform well for this carnivorous plant in order to survive. Nature is brutal, right?”
Making music
Among the many challenges of creating this game is that of creating the instruments. Party Packs typically require one audio lead per game. In this case, Nate Sandberg took on that role and wrangled some additional support in instrument creation from Avery Makel.
Avery shares, “Due to legal reasons, we needed to record our own samples for each instrument.”
The team recorded samples of several instruments played by masters of the craft, including students at Central Michigan University.
But of course it wouldn’t be a Jackbox party game without some body humor. Nate fondly recalls, “I guzzled two Dr. Peppers and jumped up and down to generate enough gusto for our burp instrument.”
Nate’s work isn’t all burps and tubas. Nate has worked tirelessly to compose the playable songs for this game. Dodo Re Mi’s Assistant Director Michael Siciliano recounts “Every time Nate dropped a new track in Slack was an event.”
Taking flight
Chase elucidates what makes Dodo Re Mi so unique. “It certainly innovates what a Jackbox game is just by being a new genre,” he says “But it also innovates on the entire genre of music game in the way your devices are producing audio in real-time and recording playback of your specific game session.”
As the team puts their final touches on Dodo Re Mi, it’s clear just how excited they are to share this with Jackbox fans old and new. Avery mentions, “I’d love to see a room full of new players jam out together and laugh themselves silly.”
Game Producer Pauline Ferraro anticipates broad appeal saying, “Everyone can find something to do that speaks to them in the game as there is a wide range of difficulty, genres and instruments to play.”
Get your band together
Nate shares, “I hope that players get that feeling of creative collaboration that I know well from my years playing in bands.”
With the launch of Party Pack 10 just around the corner, the Jackbox Games team is hoping to see groups of fans across the globe gathering to celebrate and play Dodo Re Mi on PlayStation.
The Jackbox Party Pack 10 comes to PS5 and PS4 this fall.
[This article originally appeared on PlayStation Blog]
