Bub [Preview]: Storytelling in waves

We run through all of our emotions as we go hands-on with Bub

It’s hard to put into words to describe what Bub is. Developer Paperfrog, comprised of Case Jernigan and Todd Anderson, have crafted, quite literally, a sort of scrapbook of playable memories that lead the player into the mind of the artist, from traumas to successes, between life and death, from good to bad to everything in between. In fact the story behind the game’s development itself is as interesting and impactful as the game’s narrative itself.

Jernigan had started experiencing anxiety, and to help deal with it he started developing a game. As his anxiety got worse he opted to visit specialists, after which he found out that what he actually had was Multiple Sclerosis. Things became more and more dark, causing him, to spend time in and out of hospitals. It was at this point, when he had just enough of a reprieve that the two duo finally got back to developing the game they had started, but now opting to change it, using it as a sort of way to show others that there are dark spaces in all of us and that we hopefully can learn to deal with them.

MS can come in waves, sometimes with extremes and sometimes with enough of a normalcy that we can start to pick up the pieces, Jernigan explains to us, and a big part of what they want to accomplish with the project is to tell that story through an artist’s eyes.

In Bub we live through an artist’s memories, some formative and some that just seem to pile on the daily. In one scene we’re bringing in our bike and need to place it in storage, getting yelled at by the landlord. In another we’re happily swimming with a friend, until tragedy happens and our world gets dark. The narrative flows continually; there aren’t levels, there are no divisions of space or time. The experience is constant, with our character swimming or walking from one scene into the next with smart transitions that are always meant to be.

The duo used analog develop to create the visuals, with papercraft, hand drawings, cardboard, paint and more combining in unique ways to give a handmade look. This evokes more to us the players, because the realism is something we can connect to and understand a little easier.

The entire experience is meant to only be around two hours long, about the length of a film. When I picked up the controller and started the short demo I didn’t quite know what to think, but by the end I was emotionally invested. With aspects of dealing with loss and the power of our memories, it’s the kind of project that can transcend traditional gaming into something that we might remember as well.

Bub is tentatively schedule for release late in 2027.