What It Takes To Hit The Road

Inspirations, Thoughts On Tarot, and Jack In Full Glory!

This week’s post is coming to you courtesy of the fuller release for Hit the Road, Jack! I say fuller release because now you get the game with all of the wonderful splashes of color, vibrant art, and awesome layout I’ve been working to Itchfund courtesy of the wonderful Sin! Have a look below:

Isn’t it nice? I work a lot in muted or dark colors with my other work, and the mood I wanted to capture in HtRJ was speed and intensity. That’s why you have a lot of oranges, reds, and other neons populating the book, though it might not be so evident from the picture above. It’s high octane energy fuel, right? To make you feel like you’re always going fast, which in some ways is antithetical to your typical journaling game. But I am impatient. I start playing a journaling game and four or five prompts in I tend to feel a little bogged down. So I just wanted something that played fast - or at least, it gave the illusion that it played fast.

With Jack you do have backwards and forwards momentum, but it is always when compared to your rival. Your foe. Your other half. So rather than creating boredom it, hopefully, creates an element of suspense as the number of prompts you must answer ticks down slower and slower. You draw your tarot cards. You answer your prompts. You see yourself inch closer or farther away from the other Jack. You are one step closer to freedom or death.

Tarot is one of those non-dice resolution mechanics that seems to have gained in popularity within the past few years, and I do have to think that comes down partly to the drama and layered meanings you can draw from it. Rolling dice you come up with nothing but pips, and as fun as the meaning of the numbers means there’s no mysticality or further meaning, unless you’re really into numerology. But tarot comes with its own stories, histories, meaning. Whether upright or reversed, with tarot there are so many levels of thought you can sift through. That’s why with the various prompts on Hit the Road, Jack I wanted to capture the essence of the card’s meaning. To seek excess through the Devil, closure through the World, or luck through the Wheel of Fortune.

Jack is the first big game I’ve made in a while, but it definitely won’t be my last! Trust me when I say I have irons in the fire. Things that are being planned, things I’m going to have to work hard on, things that will be revealed to all of you in due time.

But before I go, I would like to take a moment to ask that if you can, please help Sin who did this wonderful layout by purchasing the Sunflower Bundle here. All proceeds will be going directly to Sin, whether to pay for visa fees, be presented as proof they can travel, or else help them in daily life!