Official ‘Family Guy’ artwork

By Dexter Woltman

In my time with Brunette Games, our team has had the exciting opportunity to work on two Family Guy titles for the well-known game publisher Jam City. One of which—Family Guy: The Quest for Stuff—still receives new content from us on a weekly basis! Written in collaboration with the writers of the hit TV show, Family Guy: The Quest for Stuff stays true to the show’s characters and often references its many iconic episodes. There’s a lot to unpack in Family Guy’s 21 seasons (and counting), and another writer may have felt the pressure of honoring a decades-long IP; but for me, it’s a dream-come-true. Long before I was a writer for the Family Guy games, I was a fan of the show.

My coworkers say I have an encyclopedic knowledge of Family Guy. It feels like I’ve been watching all my life—and really, I have been! The show recently celebrated its 24th anniversary, making it almost as old as I am. In its latest season, the show surpassed 400 episodes. It’s a milestone achievement, and I’ve watched every installment! I grew up with Peter Griffin and his family’s wacky hijinks, even if the characters haven’t actually aged.

My familiarity with Family Guy started at a young age—too young of an age, some might say. Despite its crude humor, I’ve been tuning in since I was a kid. Sure, my mom tried to stop me from watching it until I was older, but I couldn’t resist youthful rebellion, and I snuck in the occasional episode or two on cable while she was at work. Once Family Guy dropped on streaming, it was game over for my mom. My sister and I watched each episode repeatedly, and we still find ourselves frequently quoting our favorite jokes.

Years later, I began studying scriptwriting at Webster University. I developed my skills writing film, TV, radio, plays, and—most importantly—games. At Webster, I met the one-and-only Lisa Brunette when I attended her course on narrative design. In one of my TV-writing courses, I was instructed to write an original episode for an established TV show. Naturally, I chose Family Guy.

I wrote my own episode titled “The Curious Case of Peter Griffin.” Of course, my skills were less developed back then, and the episode doesn’t compare to the talented writing that comes from Fox. But it was my first attempt at capturing the characters’ voices, and it would later prove a valuable practice when our team was tasked with writing for the Family Guy mobile games. Classic character traits—like Peter’s distaste for his daughter, Meg—are all present.

In “The Curious Case of Peter Griffin,” Peter Griffin becomes a child again, and his genius baby, Stewie, works to restore him to his proper age. It has plenty of hijinks, and it’s one of my favorite pieces of writing—even if I've kept it safely hidden away in the depths of my computer until now. It also highlights the differences between writing for television versus games when I tie in gameplay elements and focus on dialogue to convey jokes rather than the complex animations regularly found in the show.

As soon as I graduated, Lisa hired me on full-time. We got the opportunity from Jam City to work on their Family Guy titles, and knowing my extensive knowledge of the show, Lisa asked me to write scripts. Never did I expect that my childhood obsession would someday be a vital part of my career! Knowing each season of the TV show inside and out has helped me craft exciting events that can tie into fan-favorite episodes, and my familiarity with the character voices is showcased in the games’ dialogue. 

But just like with the show, writing for the Family Guy games is definitely a team effort. Each of us at Brunette Games has lended a hand in shaping the exciting world of The Quest for Stuff, and in fact, all five full-time staff members have taken a turn at writing scripts. With a top-notch crew of narrative talent, we ensure each event is filled to the brim with LOL-worthy jokes. Best of all, no one gets burned out, and we always have a source of fresh ideas.

Having been tasked with the game’s narrative for three years now, Family Guy: The Quest for Stuff is one of our longest-running titles at Brunette Games. My experience with the franchise illustrates that if you’re passionate about something, you should never let it fall to the wayside. Personal hobbies may wind up tying into a career in surprising ways. And just like the characters of Family Guy never seem to grow up, I’ll never outgrow my favorite animated sitcom.

You can download Family Guy: The Quest for Stuff on the Apple App Store or Google Play.

We celebrate our seventh anniversary as a studio this month, and we've enjoyed a bit of fanfare around the milestone. Here's a roundup of Brunette Games in the news as we reflect on how far we've come.

Cover This

Our team landed on the cover of the Community News, a newspaper that itself has been in business more than a hundred years. As reporter Wendy Todd points out in her lede, while women make up 46 percent of video-game players, they represent only 16 percent of executives in the industry. So our founder's place in the industry was not without its hard-won aspects, though Lisa Brunette herself cites Brunette Games' status as a small business as her number one challenge: "Increasingly, the world is built to work against us, with rules and regulations often favoring large corporations at the expense of mom-and-pop shops like Brunette Games."

Fun Fact: Community News is Brunette Games team member Sara Hardin's former employer; she penned stories on beekeepers and veterans for this well-loved paper before joining us as a writer/designer.

In the Pocket

Our story was picked up by PocketGamer.biz, which highlighted Brunette Games' status as a niche storytelling studio, a key aspect of our success: 

For a diverse, female-led studio like Brunette Games, this anniversary will not only be an achievement in itself but also symbolic of how a specialist studio can maintain its place in the mobile gaming industry. While many may think that a studio has to be all things at once, being able to focus on providing critical narrative support has helped their games consistently chart across top 20s.

We couldn't agree more.

Stairs to the Top

CEO Lisa Brunette was a guest on the GameDevStairs Podcast, a free philanthropic community whose mission is to help people start their careers in game development. They outreach especially to those affected by the current war in Ukraine, connecting 2000+ subscribers in their Telegram channel from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and elsewhere. Here's the hourlong interview with Sergey Gres of GameDevStairs:

It was an honor for us to help out GameDevStairs, which offers such an important service to the game community.

The 7-Year Itch

It's said in US culture that a relationship can suffer from the "seven-year itch," as the couple might feel tempted to stray from their mission together when they cross that milestone. As  for us, we're fully committed to our focus on great game storytelling. We added voice acting to our suite of offerings back in 2019, and we're exploring some new services you might see on our menu in the year ahead. We're very proud of our accomplishments, which include:

• We have credits for the narrative in 36 games, many of them top-performing, genre-defining hits, including Merge Mansion, Lily's Garden, and Matchington Mansion. Our clients' games consistently rank in the top 20 in the app store charts and are played by billions.
• Our expertise spans casual mobile genres: hidden object, match-3, slots, merge, jigsaw, and others. We also have extensive experience on deep interactive novels with branching dialogue, including the first mystery novel published in the Choices app. We've recently expanded into subscription-based games as well, with Netflix and Apple projects currently underway, and we've worked on some mid-core projects, including one NFT/blockchain title.
• Our clients include large, well-established studios such as Jam City and Metacore, as well as talented up-and-comers like Trollgames and ZiMAD. We've worked on some of the best IPs in the world: M&M'S, Family Guy, Disney Frozen.

We've weathered incredible change over our seven years in business, and we've witnessed great creativity and innovation in our clients' projects as well. We look forward to what lies ahead. Here's to another seven years!

This fall, Brunette Games reached an exciting milestone of 35 released games featuring our narrative work. Read on for insights from all five of our full-time employees and two of our contract voice-over actors on what accomplishments stand out to them and how story can make a difference in mobile games!

First, let’s check in with Lisa Brunette, owner and chief creative officer.

What key differences have you noticed in the mobile game space since the inception of Brunette Games in 2016? 

Lisa Brunette: It’s a radically different landscape here in 2022 compared to six years ago! My first project as an indie back then was Matchington Mansion, and the folks at Magic Tavern and I were basically teaching puzzle players how to enjoy a story along with their gameplay. What I brought to that project––a strong storyline, a relatable lead character, a diverse character cast overall, and puzzle pieces thematically tied to the storyline––these elements are commonplace now, but they were huge innovations in 2016, innovations that paid off.

How have these affected the way you and your team approach your work?

Lisa Brunette: We evolve as the industry evolves, and that’s the key to our success. While we carved out a niche for ourselves with story-driven games in the match-3/decorating genre, our expertise also encompasses interactive novels, idle battle games, city builders, jigsaw, solitaire, merge, of course, and more. Right now we’re deep into NFT/blockchain, web3, and the subscription model.

If you could give mobile game developers one piece of advice, what would it be?

Lisa Brunette: Taking a cue from the success of my own studio, I would say innovation and change are two things to always embrace. We’re constantly approached by studios who see a new hit on the scene and want to copy it. But that hit didn’t become a hit by copying something else! It’s a hit due to its own innovation, the change of pace it gave players.

And now, a word from our VP:

What would you like to see more of in mobile games?

Anthony Valterra: Lately I’ve been enjoying quieter games. I think the frenetic pace of many games has become tiring. I am enjoying the relaxed pace of Jigsaw Puzzle Villa and would like to see more games with that sort of tone.

What’s a stand-out moment in your time spent as part of Brunette Games?

Anthony Valterra: One moment I will always remember was getting to insert a cartoon version of my grandfather in a game. His odd accent and speech mannerisms were hilarious and perfect for a quirky side character.

Let’s see what our Writer | Designer team has to say:

What do you enjoy most about writing for games? 

Dexter Woltman: I enjoy creating original characters. Whether they’re the relatable heroine, scheming villain, or comedic best friend, it’s always fun to craft a new personality from the ground up. Between writing their backstories, deciding their relationships, and giving them a unique voice, there’s a lot of ways to make each character feel special.

Jenna Hume:  Integrating story and gameplay. This is always a challenge, but one that’s fun to take on. From creating tutorials to consulting on artwork, it’s exciting to see the story and gameplay come together in ways that are unique to each game.

Sara Hardin: I like the challenge of crafting an impactful story within a mobile game’s limited space for text. I often find myself thinking from the players’ perspective when I’m drafting a game script, considering what would be the most satisfying development for players who are invested in the game’s narrative. Maybe I’m biased, because I’m a gamer who’s a sucker for a game with a good story!

What do you enjoy most as a player?

Dexter Woltman: Is winning too basic of an answer? I enjoy achieving my gameplay goals and reaching the end of a level or game. When I see “level cleared” flash across the screen, it fills me with pride and excitement. I’m also very structured and organized in my own life, so crossing a finished game off my list—or crossing a task off a literal in-game list—is always satisfying.

Jenna Hume: I’ve always loved puzzles, so my favorite games are those that make me think just a little bit. Recently, I’ve enjoyed merge games a lot. Trying to figure out which items to merge to get the items you need is always a fun, rewarding challenge.

Sara Hardin: Aside from story, I live for the unique satisfaction of winning something I’ve been working toward for countless hours. Whether it’s a particularly difficult level in a mobile game or the final boss in my favorite rougelike (Supergiant’s Hades, by the way), nothing beats the euphoria of chipping away at a goal until I’m finally victorious. I named my betta fish Zagreus after the PC in Hades, if that’s any indication.

And last but not least, some insight from two of our über-talented voice-over actors:

Imagine you've been cast to record voice-over for your dream role in a mobile game. Who's the character?

Andy Mack: If I could record for a "dream" mobile game, it would probably be for either something like Disney Mirrorverse/Sorcerer's Arena or Marvel Strike Force. Having family ties to Disney and being a former cast member, the brand and characters are near and dear to me. The Mad Hatter is my favorite character and I've been lucky enough to do him for the DL Weekly (Disneyland podcast) promos, but it would be awesome to do it in an actual game format. As for MSF, that is my long-running mobile addiction, so it would be great to be a part of that cast and pretend I have superpowers or muscles, ha, ha.

Nicole Perez: My dream role in a mobile game is a hammy, witchy villain! A role I can really sink my teeth into—perhaps a villain with a “soft side,” someone that we eventually sympathize with, who never felt quite “understood.” This villain cackles, hollers, and has a sarcastic flair. 

Can you share a fond memory you have of recording VO for Brunette Games?

Andy Mack: I've had many fond memories over the years with doing VO for Brunette Games. The one that makes me laugh the most was doing the dog, Marlowe, for Ava's Manor. It was a challenge trying to convey various types of emotions nonverbally while trying to remain lovable/sympathetic for players. However, I knew I was on the right track when my own dog started barking at what I was recording. If I could fool him, I was doing something right!

Nicole Perez: I loved recording Lucy Hill [from an in-development game by Uken Games] because she is this over-the-top, ooey-gooey-sweet neighborly woman with this peculiar country charm and sweet Southern drawl. The process is to record three takes per line. I enjoyed this process because it allowed me to explore the character deeply; I made three distinctly different possible acting choices for how this character would come alive.