For creative people, inspiration can be found anywhere and everywhere in the world… even a half-eaten KFC meal or your wife's sleeping face, as one indie dev behind a promising upcoming turn-based RPG has proven.
Please behold Billy the Hero – a dark fantasy RPG where you step into the shoes of an amnesiac bear (Billy), who happens to be "the world's worst criminal embodying all 7 Deadly Sins," according to its Steam page. Developer JOJOJOJOsoft makes a point of noting that "this game was born from a deep passion for Handmade / Hand-drawn Art," with everything from the character art, environments, enemies and sprites completely created "by human hands." Generative AI tools are out of the equation, aside from "upscaling specific image assets to enhance sharpness, and to assist with initial localization drafts – all of which are subsequently reviewed and polished by human developers."
JOJOJOJOsoft also says that "the wacky designs of these monsters actually come from 'everyday objects' you'd never expect," and as highlighted on ResetEra, the dev has been showing off just what this means over on Reddit. Specifically, the dev has created a "boss out of my sleeping wife," saying it's "the monster that took me the longest to create... mainly because the relationship took over 20 years to incubate!"
Why? "Since my game features a late-game marriage system, I needed a lore-accurate guardian for the wedding ring," JOJOJOJOsoft says. Obviously. "As an indie dev looking for inspiration around the house, what could be better than turning my own wife into the boss?"
A series of images show JOJOJOJOsoft's reference photos, which were taken after she'd "stayed up late baking for the kids." I somehow can't imagine the dev's muse being thrilled about the shots of her nose being squashed upward and bottom lip pulled down, but JOJOJOJOsoft insists that "deep sleep gives that raw, natural look. If she were awake, her natural instinct would be to pose and try to look pretty. We need monster material here!"
When you run out of ideas, but game dev must go on. (Making a boss out of my sleeping wife!)from r/IndieDev
After that, the photos were edited together, then overlaid with colors and raw textures, including those of raw meat. The monster was then embellished with extra "fleshy" details, including veins and tendons. "After some final color grading, she is ready to be unleashed. You can now queue up to spam your skills on her," the dev adds, in what might be a completely unique sentence.
Aside from JOJOJOJOsoft's wife, Billy the Hero also includes a boss inspired by a plate of leftover KFC, and – genuinely – it's one of the most ingenious examples of idea to execution I've ever seen. In a separate Reddit post from a few months ago, the dev explained: "I recently hit a massive Art Block. Desperate times call for desperate measures! While eating some fried chicken, I realized that leftover chicken bones actually create some wildly unpredictable shapes!" As for the result, well, you can see for yourself below.
When you're out of ideas but the work needs to go on (Part 2)from r/IndieDev
You might be wondering what the dev's wife has to say about her newfound fame as a grotesque amalgamation of heads. "Thanks for all your concern, guys," says JOJOJOJOsoft. "But don't worry, my wife is a very gentle soul and doesn't hold grudges over stuff like this. As you can see, she's still pampering me today just like usual." An attached picture shows said wife with her foot on the dev's back, her arms on her hips. …Perhaps it'll grow on her eventually.
