I'm back here again after seeing Francis "Frankiesmileshow" Coulombe release his game, Look Outside, and being instantly reminded of Barkley 2's sprite work. I knew I'd seen those deranged faces somewhere before, that color palette, the cyberpunk-grid dialogue boxes. I'm glad to know I was right in making the connection that Francis had done work on Barkley 2, because it reminded me of a good thing.
Like many people here, I had good memories of the original Barkley Shut Up and Jam Gaiden. Its irreverent tone, its surprisingly deep lore, its jabs at genre conventions. It never pulled any punches, and never spent too long on any one joke (even traveling slowly on the world map, where the slowness is the punchline. The map is not overly large, but just large enough to make you wonder why you're moving so slowly). When they announced Barkley 2, I had high hopes on seeing the return of Tales of Game's.
I met one of the team members at their booth at Pax West many years ago. We talked for awhile about the original game, and I told him how I'd really appreciated the writing, its constant levity punctuated by moments of surreal sincerity. Not to act a poser, I brought up how even a small-time character like Zalatar hits you with the "you're running away from yourself" line with such surprising earnestness. It's easy to laugh at the community you find down there in the sewers because of the way they're presented, but then they hit you with the real talk, and you're reminded of why you stick around playing such a weird game. And then I laughed with him about how one of the songs was titled "Zalatar's Pellets" or something and he looked back over his shoulder and nodded, mentioning Chef.
He invited me to "have my fortune told" at their booth later in the afternoon; I was working at the convention as an Enforcer, and I asked one of my friends there to cover my shift for me, for just a little while. I walked into their booth, a makeshift tent, and one of them came out as a wizard (presumably the same wizard as in the trailer) and he asked me a bunch of questions, like what animal I'd be, and what kind of job I'd take (I said Game Developer, and he regaled me on how terrible of a choice it was, haha). In the middle of this he asked me to solve a chess puzzle and I picked up one of the pieces intending to move it. We both paused for a moment, then I put the piece down and he knocked away the board, saying "Enough of this! We don't have time for games!" I realized later that the board was probably impossible to solve and that he likely intended to knock the board away from the beginning, but he lost his chance when I picked up the chess piece and had to wait for me to put it back down again haha. After the fortune telling, they gave me a long printed out "receipt" that was supposed to generate your character class at the beginning of Barkley 2 (I still have it! Stashed away somewhere in a box of memories).
I say this because I remember Barkley with great fondness, silliness and all. It's a shame Barkley 2 never materialized, but that's the way of things. Life goes on.
Nowadays, I can't help but smile every time I cross paths with Barkley 2 again; it comes up at the oddest of times. I appreciate every instance I'm reminded of this game, and of this team. Regardless of whatever happened to them, I hope they look back on this project not as a failure, but as a stepping stone to whatever happened next.
Thank Clispaeth.