Steve Bowler

First, some backstory: I'd worked on literally every Game Party since the original one on the Wii, when it got started at Midway Games. This would be #4 or 5. I HATE these titles. They're just quick cash grabs with nominal gameplay kids will "tolerate." I wanted to break the mold

By this time, WB had acquired Midway's entire library, so I was working at Phosphor games and Joel Seider contacted us about doing development on another Game Party. I was put in charge as Lead Designer (was more of a Creative Director on it). WB wanted a new "hook" for this one.

WB wanted there to be a Story Mode in this "Party Game." Like, it's a $20 "fool Grandma into buying a Wii U game on the endcap kiosk at Target" level of strategy, but they wanted...STORY MODE? Uhhhhhh...okay. I decided I'd run with this football WB had given me.

I want to say @ibjade had just done a talk about "always disrupt something in your game design" at the most recent GDC, so I decided to disrupt the FUCK out of a Party Game's Story Mode. They wanted some rich story for a children's party game? Okay. Let's do this. Disruptive AF.

After chatting with Vic, the Art Director on this title, we decided on a "Pixar-esque" art style, as close as we could hit on this budget and the Wii U, and I wrote a script that the team would later describe as... "Fight Club, For Kids."

I'm not kidding when I say I wrote the most *serious* (and admittedly kinda messed up) story for kids. This wasn't like a "hey let's have a power fantasy and save the world!!" thing. It got WEIRD. And DARK-ish. But the reveal was way at the end. And WB A P P R O V E D the script

When Joel told me in our next meeting "Hey I loved your script treatment. I sent it along to WB with my blessing and they approved it straight away" I kinda felt like I'd gotten away with murder. Because like, I snuck in the weirdest story-mode of any party game, EVER...

And most reviewers tapped out there. But it deffo gets WEIRDER. If you pay attention, Jace doesn't actually talk to anyone else, in any scene, but Riley. Other characters talk to Riley, and interact with Riley, but not Jace. Jace O N L Y speaks to and interacts with Riley.

The hook of the entire game, is that when you win at the end, in the World Championships of Arcade Redemption Games (yeah, I fuckin' went there. They wanted a Story Mode for Ski Ball and I fuckin' delivered), Jace walks down this long hallway and kinda...fades out and disappears.

Because (did you guess already?), Jace IS Riley's dead dad. He's just a ghost, and only Riley can see/hear him. He's trying to motivate his kid that he loves to get up off the couch and do something with themselves, even if it's just being the best Arcade Redemption Player Ever.

AND I GOT THIS STORY APPROVED. FOR AN EFFING SHOVELWARE P A R T Y G A M E. When @YuriLowenthal read for Jace he was laughing like "holy shit you got this script approved???" and we had a good laugh about it. To date, maybe like, five people have actually seen the end

I was in a weird place at the time. I had a this amazing kid in my life (Riley, my first daughter), and was constantly thinking about recording "life lesson" videos for her (and any of my kids) to watch long after I'm gone. So, I put a bunch of that into Game Party.

For the record, Riley is 15 now, and has NO IDEA that game is "about her" and my desire to leave something behind for my kids long after I'm gone. We don't even have a Wii U, lol. So she has no way to even play it. Also? It's not a great game, ha ha.

There was one YouTuber who managed to play all the way through to the end, and I watched their entire playthrough, and when Jace fades out and they realized what happens they just yell WHAT THE FUCK???? and to this day it's like the greatest emotion I've ever nailed in a game.

Last note, the YouTuber I linked above HATED the story mode and said "oh my god this is so forced/cheesy" and it makes me laugh every time, because I literally wrote Jace's lines IN MY VOICE. It's not a character. It's actually how I hear myself talk in my head, and Yuri NAILS IT

So here it is, the actual ending (time-stamped at 12:34 for those on mobile), with commentary, from someone who goes through the emotional turnstile of realizing (mostly) what happened at the end. https://youtu.be/sX-MZy9vREY?t=754 …

Special thanks to everyone on the team at Phosphor who worked on this one, I know I was a super pita to deal with sometimes, and it seemed weird to be asked to care about a story mode in a party game, but seriously, I appreciate everyone's effort on this, a LOT.

Hopefully the final note on this: shout-out to @powerhouseanim (yeah, THAT Powerhouse who animated the Netflix Castlevania series). This was the first project we worked on together, thanks to mutual buddy and Producer Extraordinaire @Overeasyplease recc'ing we try them out!!