The early 2000s webcomic Cyanide and Happiness crowdfunded a point-and-click adventure game in 2017. Explosm has branched out its darkly comedic series into plenty of other mediums, including animated shorts and tabletop card games like Master Dater, and a video game was the next logical step. Cyanide and Happiness: Freakpocalypse Episode 1 launched to a mixed reception in 2021, but Explosm is still going ahead with the series' full trilogy. To celebrate Episode 1's second anniversary, it's 60-percent off through March 23.
Game Rant spoke to Cyanide and Happiness co-creator Kris Wilson and Freakpocalypse lead game designer Roger Barr about the webcomic's nearly 20-year run online and how Freakpocalypse will aim to impress players with its next two releases. The following interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Q: How much of the team behind Freakpocalypse is/was involved in the comic?
Wilson: When it comes to the comic, all three of us are involved to a degree. Not only by adding jokes and concepts, but by proxy of the characters in the C&H universe and how they develop from one cartoon to the next.
Barr: We also have the same artists, animators, and sound designers from the C&H videos working on the game to ensure it feels like Freakpocalypse is an extension of that same universe.
Q: My friends and I are fans of Cyanide and Happiness going way back; I remember using the Random Comic Generator well before Joking Hazard became a thing. The webcomic is almost 20 years old, how does it feel to be involved in what is essentially an online institution?
Wilson: Surreal. Just a surreal feeling every day for almost 20 years. I feel like it was luck that got us noticed, but talent that keeps people around. I just have to stop myself from thinking about the “industry” of the Internet when we’re focusing on making dumb and silly stick figure jokes. Keep us to our roots.
Barr: Explosm kidnapped me. I had no say in the matter.
Q: Speaking of Joking Hazard, Freakpocalypse is not the first time the brand has branched out. What about this "universe" do you feel works well enough that it can transcend its original form in so many ways?
Wilson: When we’re making animations or comics, those mediums limit the C&H universe to be references and callbacks. A point-and-click game allows someone to view and explore it at an eye level, seeing popular characters or locations living their bizarre lives, and interacting with them outside a short-form gag. Plus, we get to look at the players themselves as a character within the universe, which adds a lot of material to play around with.
Q: Just how much concrete worldbuilding does Cyanide and Happiness adhere to across its different forms?
Wilson: I’d say we worldbuild to a pretty absurd degree most of the time. There’s usually some amount of cohesion to a lot of what we write, but we keep it loose enough to give ourselves options when we’re taking characters in a certain direction. We can kill a character and bring them back, but we have the how and why they’re alive again written and canonical (even if it’s just in our minds).
Q: Is it difficult to create something more straightforward and meaningful like a full-length video game in a world that's defined by its satire and dark comedy?
Barr: If anything, it’s easier for us. We’ve been working with this style of dark comedy and characters for so long, it only feels natural. We still have serious and emotional moments in the game, but we’re also swimming in absurdity 99 percent of the time, and that’s where we love to be.
Wilson: I wouldn’t call it difficult, but I would say it’s a fresh approach for us. It allows us to deconstruct C&H, as well as give the universe more time than we normally can in cartoons. When it comes to getting someone invested in a character, a game is much easier to pull that off than a quick animation or six-panel comic.
Q: Why was the original decision to go with a point-and-click adventure game for Freakpocalypse? Not only that, but starting with the promise of a full trilogy?
Barr: We grew up on point-and-click adventure games by Sierra and LucasArts, and it just made sense to us to take the C&H universe and expand upon the crazy narratives that had already been established. Having a full trilogy allows us to dive far deeper into all the characters than we ever would be able to do in a single game or video, not to mention getting to introduce a boatload of new ones.
Wilson: Point-and-click makes sense for us to stick closer to our wheelhouse with the process of making 2D animation. It’s also an old genre that has its own tropes and conventions we can bastardize. A trilogy makes sense to be able to tell a complete story, and take an actual full swing at creating a legitimate game rather than slapping the C&H branding on a trendy game type or licensing onto something that doesn’t fit the tone. I don’t think the world needs a C&H roguelike, walking sim, or WW2 shooter.
Q: What was the driving force behind the game's development? What were you looking to bring to help Freakpocalypse stand out from stuff like classic LucasArts games?
Barr: I’d say it’s our brand of humor and visual style. That’s what we’re known for, and we knew that’s what would make the game stand out. We have some incredibly talented people working on the game, including our wonderful cast of voice actors, so that goes a long way. That said, we still wanted to avoid some of the things that bothered us about the classic adventure games like limited interactions on any given scene, interaction menu buttons at the bottom of the screen, etc.
Q: What about modern indie gems? I recently spoke with the team at Tall Story Games, behind Lucy Dreaming, and they spoke about the community of point-and-click nerds out there. How much do you interact with their projects?
Wilson: More than I should! There’s a lot to be inspired by that keeps us coming up with new approaches to the simple format. Some might argue it’s not a point-and-click, but Disco Elysium is a fantastic example of how far you can take a relatively bare-bones game type, and my mind races with ideas when stumbling upon an indie gem.
Barr: I always enjoy checking out indie games, but after working on our own game all day, I usually spend my remaining free time reading or watching shows and movies. If I had to pick a favorite modern indie game series, it would have to be the Kingdom series. I think their pixel art style is absolutely gorgeous, and I love the resource-management nature of them. They’re an odd mix of relaxing/meditative and extremely stressful.
I love watching people play Dwarf Fortress, which Kris introduced me to. I’ve probably watched over 50 hours of people playing that incredible game. I’m also looking forward to the Turbo Kid game, as I backed the crowdfunding campaign in addition to the movie it’s based on.
Q: Coming up on two years post-launch for chapter 1, how is the team feeling? I understand reception to the game was kind of mixed, did that have a big impact on the approach going forward?
Barr: Watching so many people livestream the game and laugh their asses off was such a big morale boost for the team when it first launched. You spend all this time writing absurd jokes and storylines hoping that they’ll land, so to see them do exactly that was extremely satisfying. There were some early marketing mishaps that frustrated the dev team and resulted in mixed reviews, but everybody’s asking for Episode 2. People just wanted Episode 1 to be longer, so we genuinely see that as a positive thing that they want more of the universe we’ve created. Episode 1 is essentially the prologue, and Episode 2 is where the entire world gets turned upside-down and far more insane.
Wilson: Marketing mishaps are to be expected when developing your first game fully in-house. We learn and get better at those aspects as we continue, and learn to treat a game's release as an art form in itself, rather than a formality. I was more frustrated with feedback that would say something like, “It goes without saying the animation, humor and voice acting are well done.” I’m like, no, please don’t go without saying it! We want and need that input to focus on what people are hoping for in the next game.
Q: How much is going to still be taken forward from the first game following that reception? Was the whole arc planned at the start, or are you kind of winging it?
Wilson: The arc isn’t being improvised, but we keep ourselves open to certain changes.
Especially as we write the game, the world becomes more realized, and we discover more story elements that weave into the arc - as well as keep consistency between our animations. If, in a new animation, Senor Cleanfist changes and turns to a life of filthy crime, we want to reflect those kinds of developments within Freakpocalypse.
Barr: The rumor mill is still running wild with some fans who think it’s not happening, but I can confirm that we’re absolutely still doing the full trilogy, and we’re well into development on Episode 2. We’re not winging it by any means - the comedy is chaotic in nature, but we always spend a lot of time planning out the major beats and considering how other characters will be impacted.
Q: Since Cyanide and Happiness is such a comedic franchise, do you have any favorite jokes? From the original webcomics/show, from the game, or both?
Barr: There are too many to count from the original comics and videos, but if I had to pick just one, it’ll always be the gingerbread man having an existential crisis about whether he is made of house, or if his house is made of ginger flesh. That one still kills me, and it’s exactly the kind of dark, absurdist humor I live for.
As for the game, I won’t say my favorite parts in Episode 2, but Episode 1 has all kinds of highlights that still make me smile. Spoilers: Holly the ultra-aggressive hall monitor, Warren Wonderwall the creepy guitar guy, Coop’s frustration with his oversexed Grandma, his neighbor getting stung to death in a My Girl reference, all the tales of the insane bullying Coop has endured over the years, the Librarian wanting to take out his “little b*tch knees," I could go on.
Wilson: I don’t think I’ll ever be able to answer this consistently, but I’m always a sucker for the dark/depressing/macabre jokes we do. Our shorts like Sad Ending and La Comedie strike a specific chord for me. When it comes to Freakpocalypse, there’s a certain way to use a USB drive in a puzzle that I really enjoy. It’s hard to pick, but I see that as a good thing.
Q: What are you looking forward to fans seeing in Freakpocalypse going forward?
Barr: We ended the last game on a big cliffhanger, and now we’re getting to my favorite part of the story: the actual Freakpocalypse where Coop’s entire world is forever changed, so I’m really excited about that. I’m also looking forward to people who played Episode 1 getting to experience the before and after version of the town and so many of its inhabitants. I really want people to see all the killer artwork in the new game, as virtually every nook and cranny of Netherton has a fresh coat of toxic slime. I really think Episode 2 is going to feel like a huge payoff for those who’ve been waiting on it, and it’s super important to our entire team that we deliver on that.
Wilson: Avoiding spoilers, I’m looking forward to their reactions to some of the more outside-the-box moments. There’s a lot of them for such a “wittle” series.
Q: Figure it's worth asking, the game is going on sale in March. Beyond the anniversary, is this perhaps a push to get more players leading up to forthcoming announcements?
Wilson: Damn, that does sound like it would be a good move.
Barr: Wish we had thought of that.
Wilson: Oh well! Better luck next time.
Q: Is there anything else you want to add?
Wilson: Thanks for an amazing 20 years! It’s insane that some stick figure comics I started drawing at age 14 lead us here, talking about our new games to Game Rant. The surreal days keep stacking up!
Barr: Thanks, but I don’t feel like doing math (heyoooo!). Anywho, if you haven’t played Freakpocalypse Episode 1 yet, now’s a great time to do so since it’s on sale. It’s available on all platforms, and we also have limited stock of the Nintendo Switch and PS4/PS5 physical editions that include Coop’s special little notebook.
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Cyanide and Happiness: Freakpocalypse Episode 1 is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. Episode 2 is in development.