Judero‘s developer spoke with Indie Games Plus about Scottish folklore, Kirby inspirations, and the challenge of storing stop-motion figures.
Judero explores the folklore of the Scottish Borders as a Celt that’s attuned with nature. Can you tell us a bit about what inspired you to create this experience and capture this folklore with a game?
Jack King-Spooner – It’s where I grew up and they’re incredible stories. The English tried to silence these stories – most Scots couldn’t even tell you the Celtic creation tales because Gaelic was almost wiped out with the English “Education Act” in the late 19th century. I wanted to be with these stories and see how they sat with other folklore and fairy tale archetypes.
Can you share some of the folkloric stories that shaped the game? Why do you think it was about these specific tales that struck you?
None of these are in the game but I like them:
Balor had a single eye that would cause desolation if opened. Thankfully, he had seven eyelids. As each eyelid opened, a new state of ruin. I like Balor because it is a personification of how cruel the stages of Autumn and Winter must have felt.
One of the four Gaelic treasures was the Stone of Fal that screamed when the correct person stood on it. The Gaelic Stone of Fal treasure has reverberated through all folklore and probably influenced the Sword in the Stone and the Holy Grail, which was originally a stone under the cross during Christ’s crucifixion. It is probably the Stone of Destiny that has been used for centuries to coronate kings and Queens.
English men would cut deep slices in the top lips of women they thought might be witches. The witch trials echo through the game. Conflict is a theme – conflict between English and Scottish, Christendom and older beliefs, the pure virgin and the earth goddess, the academic and the instinctive, the physical body and the spiritual.
The Fomorians, a race of fish-like people that live in the sea, were always lost but had fun tricks like wagering that someone can’t light a fire under a certain pot. Then, when the person is presented with the pot, they reveal that the pot is the size of an island. I like how there are so many stories about Fomorians and you feel safe that they never win.
Your work can be so relentlessly dark, funny, hopeful and touching – seemingly conflicting yet unapologetically human as it explores the messiness of our lives and feelings. How do you weave such complex feelings into your worlds, and how did this deft touch for writing work its way into a story that touched on Scottish folkllore?
You’re kind. You just have to write and write and write. Take note books and write in them. Then edit and edit and edit. Judero could have a lot more writing and editing, but who wants to read and read and read when they’re playing a game? Not me. So, I edit it down to almost aphorisms – aphorisms that include a bit of the speaker’s character. There’s some bits I’m not happy with but I wanted to keep. There’s lots I would have liked to have included.
The folklore angle is mostly just because it is something that I love and had an angle on.
Likewise, how do you weave such complexities into your characters? What thoughts go into creating interesting and unexpected characters for players to meet and interact with in Judero?
This is simple; I want them to be entertaining. I don’t really want to be doing anything much more than entertain with my writing. However, I find gross stuff, meaningful tidbits, horrible sentiments, poo jokes… All these things I find entertaining. Maybe it’s not just entertaining – truth, beauty (whatever that means), and intuition perhaps play a part.
I believe this marks the first time you’ve collaborated with another developer this extensively. What drew you to work with another developer on Judero? How did creating this game with another person feel, and how did it shape what the game would become?
I went all kinds of grumpy trying to finish a game by myself during the pandemic. Working with Talha was class – lovely guy, felt constructive. I think there were some concerns that he wouldn’t stomach my idiosyncratic nonsense, but I got it past and he even encouraged it at times. But this was definitely a case of two heads are better than one and Talha is an incredibly creative developer in his own right.
Judero contains more action and combat than any of your previous works. What drew you to have combat and action in this game? To explore this element of games in Judero?
It’s fun. We didn’t want it to be heavy. It paces things.
Not only this, but you went all-in with an array of minigames and various things to play around with. What thoughts went into designing all of various things players could do in Judero?
Again, just thought it was fun. Non sequiturs can help contrast things.
What inspired the idea of possessing creatures? How did you design the various creature abilities to give players some interesting things to become?
This was totally Kirby – that he gets different abilities when he inhales other dudes. The creatures kind of filled out Judero‘s arsenal and are like tools.
You can feel a very human touch in Judero‘s visuals thanks to its hand-made characters, creatures, and world. What challenges did you face in crafting this huge world and all of its characters by hand? In what ways do you feel it added something unique to the look and feel of the game?
I can’t think of any challenges really, it’s all a challenge. Challenge is a good thing. Maybe storing all the silly things I made. Probably the biggest challenge was finding a work flow that allowed me to get animations done in a timely manner. The first animations were taking me about ten hours each, but now I can get a few done in a day.
I hope it looks unique in a way that makes the player identify with the assets. “Oh look, it’s a messed up wrestler action figure!” “That’s literally a cotton ball!” “Look, you can see his finger print!”
Can you tell us a bit about the process of creating one of the characters or places? From conception to the nuances of physically crafting and animating them?
This making-of is a better explanation than any words.
Music is an integral piece of weaving the world together, drawing from traditional British folk music. What drew you to this musical style? Can you tell us a bit about the research that went into learning about it as well as the instruments and features of its sound that you wove into the soundtrack?
It was the obvious choice as a massive part of folklore is passed through song. We take many songs from the documentations of Francis James Child, a folklorist who documented folk music from the British Isles and the Appalachians. There is a primary acoustic timbre for most of the game, but interiors and bosses have more experimental music that sets them apart.
How does it feel to explore your own game world after spending so many years weaving its pieces together? What do you hope that players feel when they explore it themselves?
I listened to some devs on a podcast thing talking about the games they’ve been working on for three years and they both sort of agreed that they no longer loved their games but just wanted to get over the finish line and move on. I really love Judero still. I love the characters. I love the themes in it that only I know.
I hope that people will make their own interpretations about it. I don’t really care too much what they feel. I hope they don’t feel angry or sad or something. I hope they are entertained.
Judero is available now on Steam.
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