Current in-game title screen

By Dexter Woltman

Brunette Games has had the honor of working with top developer Jam City for a full year now, on five different titles either in release or still in development. One of our projects together gave me the chance to write new script content for the popular mobile game Family Guy: The Quest for Stuff. As a scriptwriting major in college, working on a franchise like Family Guy was the stuff of dreams, and now here I am, writing about the quest for stuff!

Screenshot of the in-game dialogue

Family Guy: The Quest for Stuff is a mobile game in which players get to build their own version of Quahog, the central setting of the television show. The story begins with the show getting canceled again, leading to a fight between Peter and his infamous chicken nemesis. Reminiscent of Peter's encounters with the chicken in the show, their fight leaves the town in shambles. Following this, players guide the characters of the show as they work to rebuild Quahog.

Official game artwork

I've been watching the television show Family Guy ever since I was, well, too young to be watching Family Guy. I've followed the beloved antics of the Griffin family for over a decade. When Brunette Games had the opportunity to collaborate with Jam City on its newest content, it was definitely a bucket-list item for me. And I'm not the only one obsessed with the franchise. In the time since The Quest for Stuff's initial release in 2014, it's acquired a steady following of committed players. 

Even though Family Guy: The Quest for Stuff originally launched nearly six years ago, Jam City's devotion to the title has added a steady plethora of new content ever since. I've already written several events for the game, and one of my favorites is "Life's a Zoo." This one sees Peter Griffin opening up his own zoo and facing competition from his daughter, Meg. As per typical Family Guy humor, this release has plenty of jokes, references, and whacky adventures. It certainly pushes the boundaries more than other titles in the casual market, making it a blast, for me to write for, personally, since many of our other titles are much more, um, circumspect.

To learn more about the game, hear it from the developers themselves with the official App Store description:

After another epic battle with the giant chicken, Peter Griffin has accidentally destroyed Quahog! Play for FREE and rally your favorite Family Guy characters (even Meg) to save the city in a hilarious new adventure. Or don’t, and regret it forever!

Game Features:

• It’s Free! Freakin’ free? Freakin’ sweet!

• Create a living Quahog that fits enjoyably in your pants

• Unlock hilarious outfits for your characters like Mermaid Peter, Bikini-Clad Quagmire, and Rambo Lois

• Send your characters on ridiculous quests

• Keep Quahog safe from pirates, evil chickens, and other invasions

• Peterfy your town with decorations such as The Petercopter, The Peterdactyl, and The Hindenpeter

• Unlock hundreds of brand new and classic animations

PS: You can play this game in French, Italian, German, Spanish, Russian, and Brazilian Portuguese!

PPS: Don’t forget to watch new episodes of Family Guy on Sundays - only on FOX!

WHAT'S NEW

The Family Guy: Life's a Zoo Event is here! Watch out for the animals in this new event from the Writers of Family Guy!

A new feature is coming. Travel the multiverse with Alternate Quahogs!

Features:

-New Feature: Alternate Quahogs!

-General Improvements to Game Performance

-New App Icon

Family Guy: The Quest for Stuff can be played on iOS and Android devices. To try the game and play "Life's a Zoo" for yourself, follow either of the links below!

A character we created for the in-development interactive novel app Crime Stories, a project where we had a great deal of control over the character cast. It's also one of our most diverse.

One of the services we offer at Brunette Games is character design. What this means is that in the process of designing narratives, we also conceive of a game's cast of characters. While we do not create the actual artwork for these characters, and our clients hold final approval on a character's overall design, we play an important role in either proposing the character at the outset or redesigning existing characters.

Geoff, a gay person of color, is your office bestie in 'Woman on the Bridge,' an interactive novel in the Crime Stories app. He is one of the chiropractors in the office where the player character works.

Designing a game character is a powerful act, one we don't take lightly. Characters can connect and resonate with players - and even influence or shape their conception of the world. 

Five members of our team of seven come from ethnic and cultural backgrounds that have been underrepresented in the game industry, and we design games for audiences that have traditionally been ignored. Diversity and inclusion is not only important to us from an artistic standpoint - it forms the very basis of our business.

The detective investigating the murder of your coworker in 'Woman on the Bridge.' He also becomes a possible love interest in this choice-based, branching narrative.

We're proud of the work we've done on this front with our clients and want to take Juneteenth as an opportunity to honor the characters we've created together. We support the campaign to make Juneteenth a national holiday, and it is already a recognized day of observance in our headquarters state of Missouri. We've decided to join with other companies in declaring it a day off. However, we also want to stand in solidarity with all those in the game industry who recognize that the work must continue.

A rarity in games even in the over-40 female player market: a character actually depicted as a 40+ woman.

At Brunette Games, we know we personally can do better - and we know the industry as a whole must do better as well. We pledge to push further in this important work. Won't you join us?

When Firecraft came to us with their deliveryman character, we chose to model his dialogue after intellectuals we admire in the African-American community, such as President Barack Obama and astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. Antonio is known for his factoids on cats and other topics.

 

We collaborated with fellow St. Louis-based Graphite Lab to create quirky engineer character Maggie, the genius behind the rides in RollerCoaster Tycoon Story.

 

While older women are usually depicted in games stereotypically, in some cases literally like "old ladies in rocking chairs," we worked with Kuuhubb to create a realistic character in Esther, whose murder you must solve in the interactive novel app Tiles & Tales.