Dudebro II

Dudebro — My Shit Is Fucked Up So I Got to Shoot/Slice You II: It's Straight-Up Dawg Time, often called Dudebro II, was a 2D side-scrolling action game that never came out. Members of the NeoGAF forum worked on it. The original release date was set for 2010, then moved to 2011, but after a reboot of development, the team never announced another date.

In 2017, following a MeToo controversy tied to the NeoGAF website, the developers said the game would drop all references to that forum. They planned to reuse the work under a new developer name, but no updates on that plan ever appeared. The only playable content from the project came out in 2015: two user-made levels in Super Mario Maker that used salvaged level design.

The game was meant to parody modern military shooters. Despite its title, it was not a sequel to any real game, though the developers invented a fictional series of prequels.

The plot followed B.R.O. Alliance Forces members John Dudebro and his sidekick Habemus Chicken. It began with a briefing from General Dawgless Lee, who showed them a polaroid of a terrorist named Armando Pesquali—a scarred, mustachioed man selling illegal weapons in the Middle East. Dudebro and Chicken were sent to stop him.

Gameplay was a 2D side-scrolling shooter with 8-bit pixel art, but also used modern features like complex physics and video post-processing. The player controlled John Dudebro through hostile environments, using a keyboard or game controller for actions like shooting, slicing, switching weapons, picking up and throwing objects. His health bar, called the Brodiocity Meter, refilled when he killed enemies, rescued ladies, or drank beer. With a controller, Dudebro could switch weapons in real time using a weapon wheel.

The game had multiple environments set around the world, with layouts similar to Metroidvania games. Players explored to find weapons, gear, and medals. Medals unlocked boss fights and later chapters. Some boss fights ended with a button-mashing quick time event called the Fist Bump Finisher. The tone was humorous, spoofing common shooter tropes. For example, a trailer mocked forced hacking minigames and the two-weapon limit common in first-person shooters—the first could be skipped by pressing a button, and the second was laughed at in a cutscene.

Development started when a NeoGAF user named Cuyahoga made up the title to mock another user who called him a pedophile for enjoying the game Imagine: Babyz Fashion. Other users—Jocchan, Thetrin, and Mik2121—took the idea and began working on it. Many forum members joined discussions, contributing ideas and assets. Will Goldstone, who wrote a book on Unity, later handled programming. The project quickly got attention from gaming press. The team got Jon St. John, voice actor for Duke Nukem, to voice John Dudebro.

The game was originally scheduled for summer 2010, then pushed to 2011. The source code was open to any NeoGAF member willing to contribute. At one point, the developer name "Grimoire Assembly Forge" drew threats of a lawsuit over alleged trademark infringement of "Grimoire," a role-playing game by Grimoire Systems Pty. Ltd.

A cancelled top-down version was planned as a 3D third-person shooter with 2D sprites in 3D environments, using the Unity engine. Players would control Dudebro with the keyboard and aim with the mouse. Weapons and upgrades were found in the environment. Gameplay was mission-based: each map had missions accessed by touching medal-shaped markers. Missions could involve killing enemies, speedruns, saving girls, finding hidden objects, or surviving for a set time. Completing missions awarded medals, and some unlocked new paths for more missions or easier backtracking. Completed missions and levels could be replayed, and unlocked paths stayed open.