A new video game titled 'Bub' is set to offer players a deeply personal and unconventional experience, exploring the life of an artist in New York City grappling with the profound effects of chronic illness. Far from a typical video game, 'Bub' is an autobiographical project from artist and stop-motion animator Case Jernigan, who collaborated with coder and gameplay designer Todd Anderson to bring his story to life.
Jernigan spent extensive periods drawing, painting, and meticulously cutting paper pieces for the game's visuals, while Anderson developed the underlying scripts and physics simulations. The narrative transports players through the artist's present-day life in New York, interspersed with journeys into childhood memories and imaginative dreamscapes, all rendered in distinctive stop-motion animation. According to Anderson, the game aims to portray how the protagonist processes his past.
The core of 'Bub' is rooted in Jernigan's own life, with a significant theme being his health journey. Jernigan revealed that the game reflects his personal experience with Multiple Sclerosis (MS), including a severe relapse that significantly affected his hand movements and ability to create art. This struggle is encapsulated in the game's tagline: 'the anxiety of turning your memories into art while you still can'.
Originally conceived as a graphic novel exploring childhood anxiety and its adult manifestations, Jernigan found the format too restrictive. He sought a medium that would give players more control over their engagement with the work, allowing them to dictate the pace and duration of their experience. This desire for player agency is central to 'Bub', enabling individuals to linger in moments of invigoration, calm, or beauty for as long as they wish.
The game's aesthetic is as dynamic as its narrative. The 'New York City overworld' is depicted with a grounded pen-and-ink style, enriched by the diverse colours and textures of papers collected by Jernigan over the years. However, as players delve into memories or the character's art-making process, the visual style shifts to incorporate papercraft puppets, smudgy marker animations, and liquid paint effects. The musical score, crafted by Adam Schatz of Landlady and Japanese Breakfast, and Asher Kurtz of Old Feels, complements this visual fluidity with wistful, layered compositions, further enhancing the game's unique sensory identity. The development team is also working on features that will allow players to engage in undirected creative output, aiming to evoke the feeling of being an artist themselves.