Show creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker reveal South Park: The Fractured But Whole's original title and discuss its gameplay in a behind-the-scenes video for the game.

It's hard not to crack up every time one reads or says South Park: The Fractured But Whole aloud, but during the initial phases of the game's development, show creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker actually had a somewhat different title in mind that would have had us laughing in a different way. As discussed in a recently released behind-the-scenes video for South Park: The Fractured But Whole, the forthcoming super hero themed role-playing game from Ubisoft and the comedy duo's company at South Park Digital Studios had to have the first draft of its title changed due to retailers refusing to have the words printed and displayed in stores.

As seen toward the end of the video for South Park: The Fractured But Whole below, Stone and Parker discuss gameplay elements for the RPG, stating that they wanted to build upon The Stick of Truth's introduction of players having a magical butt hole, leading them to the logical conclusion of needing to have characters' farts in the new game become more powerful. While brainstorming, the two came up with the concept of fans being able to rip one so strong that it could manipulate the space-time continuum, which resulted in the original title for the release being The Butt Hole of Time.

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Of course, as previously mentioned, since retailers wouldn't have its stores associate with that name, it had to be changed in order for the game to eventually be released and sold, which required an extra bit of creativity on the South Park creators' parts. Thankfully, rather than scrap the juvenile joke altogether, Trey Parker dedicated what he claimed to be "hours" sitting at his desk trying to fit a pun or variation of the term "butt hole" into title, which resulted in the funnier and much more clever name we have now with South Park: The Fractured But Whole.

Also during the clip, Stone and Parker discuss the evolution of The Fractured But Whole's combat system from The Stick of Truth, confirming that its familiar JRPG turn-based fighting would remain intact, but there will be a new wrinkle of tactical thinking involved, which requires players to plan a few moves ahead during battles. As Trey Parker described the The Fractured But Whole's combat system, "You want it to be complex enough to be fun and challenging and have strategies, but you also want it to be simple enough that it looks like South Park and it is still just fun."

Refining gameplay elements from previous entries and incorporating the changes into sequels is always great idea to keep follow-up titles fresh yet familiar, but doing so is not always as easy as it may seem. Of course, with this being the case with The Fractured But Whole, not only are Stone and Parker given the opportunity to challenge their own creative abilities, but also players are being allowed the chance to interact with South Park stories in different and more compelling ways than with the TV show, which is possibly why video games might be the future of the series.

In any event, The Fractured But Whole seems to be shaping up quite nicely, and lots of South Park fans have been responding positively to what's been shown thus far since it was announced during Ubisoft's E3 2015 press conference last year. Plus, considering the fact that both Stone and Parker are entrenched in the game's development, fans shouldn't have to worry about the game staying true to the show's roots in deliberately obscene humor and razor-sharp satire. Truthfully, since the creators are involved at such deep level, The Fractured But Whole ought to be well worth the wait.

South Park: The Fractured But Whole is set to release on December 6, 2016 for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

Source: South Park Studios – YouTube