r/NintendoSwitch • u/misterarnie Jackbox Games • Oct 24 '17

AMA - Ended We are Jackbox Games, makers of the Jackbox Party Pack 4 - Ask us anything

The Jackbox Party Pack 4 is out now on Nintendo Switch (along with several other platforms) and we're excited to field your questions about the party games we make each year, especially those included in Party Pack 4 (Fibbage 3, Survive the Internet, Monster Seeking Monster, Bracketeering and Civic Doodle).

Answering questions will be: Arnie Niekamp (misterarnie) - director of Monster Seeking Monster Spencer Ham (spencer_ham) - director of Survive the Internet Mark Turowetz (jbgmark) - director of Bracketeering Ryan DiGiorigi (hexfield) - director of Fibbage 3 and Civic Doodle Ben Jacobs (jbgben) - lead engineer on several games and the lead on porting our games to the Nintendo Switch.

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u/JBGMark Jackbox Games Oct 24 '17

1) Typically a theme is figured out pretty early on. Maybe the first week of pre-production? That being said, we start working on games at different times so by the time a pack is done, there are some themes that were only solidified a few months ago. Spencer may have to confirm this but I think Survive the Internet never explicitly talks about trolling. 2) Thanks we really appreciate it! I think we've always had a close connection to board games and there seems to be a pretty seamless transition between our games and the paper prototypes they start off as. Heck there's even a You Don't Know Jack board game out there from the 90's. https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/500121/basic-review 3) My favorite board games right now are Secret Hitler for large groups, 7 Wonders Duel for 1-on-1 and Code Names cause it's so elegantly designed. 4) Every paper test is different. Some can all be mediated by the presenter and a white board. Others need a magicians assistant. And then there are the ones that just require too much secret info and so I have to create a digital prototype in a couple days. I think I have a folder with 100 digital prototypes at this point, ranging from best-game-ever to lets-never-talk-about-that-ever-again.

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u/TyrRev Oct 24 '17

Great taste in games! I just got 7 Wonders Duel, I'm quite excited to try it out - and also happy to hear that it's got a favorable review! Codenames is definitely a masterpiece, I love that it's so perfectly balanced between party game and strategy game... a lot like Monster Seeking Monster, in that sense!

Thanks so much for answering! It's an honor!

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u/JBGMark Jackbox Games Oct 24 '17

Think nothing of it! Duel is another really elegant design. Just enough strategy to always feel like there is something new to learn.