Dev Q&A: How We Turned a Meme into a Chaotic Adventure

We caught up with This Is Fine creator KC Green to talk about how he helped bring Question Hound from meme to full-on Metroidvania. From surreal level concepts to in-game jokes and cartoon powers, KC played a big role in shaping the world of Maximum Cope. Here’s what he shared with us:

• The “This Is Fine” meme is known around the world. How did you go about turning a single, silent moment into a full-on narrative Metroidvania?

  That was more on the side of Numskull when they presented the original pitch to me! But it made sense and I liked the idea! The main point of “this is fine” is ignoring your problems and pushing them down in your psyche. So actually getting to go inside of Question Hound’s brain to deal with his issues is the obvious next step!

• Question Hound’s mind is portrayed as a collapsing theme park. What themes or emotions were you hoping players would face in this surreal world?

  Question Hound’s issues are everyone’s issues. Everyone’s had a bad time in high school, dealt with the loss of someone close to them, letting their vices get the best of them, and so on. You’ll go thru the gamut of emotion with him! You might even laugh a couple times.

• This game dives deep into anxiety and inner turmoil, yet uses humor. How do you balance existential dread with satirical comedy in gameplay and storytelling?

  I do it often with my comics, so I think the idea is to make sure there’s some jokes in the mix and some funny images to look at too. I was excited to be able to give a pass on some of the in-game dialogue with the Angel and Devil on Question Hound’s shoulders. Throughout the game, they’ll pop up with something to say about any given new area.

• Fans know the meme as quiet acceptance of chaos. But in Maximum Cope, players actively fight through it. Was this shift intentional?

  I believe so, yes! Otherwise you wouldn’t have much of a game with a dog sort of sitting there, haha!

• Your art style is so expressive and hand-crafted. What influenced the look of the game — comics, cartoons, surreal art?

  I have to give it up to the developer Hero Concept for aping my style in their own way and making the game very colorful and animated and fun to look at! That’s what my comics usually go for as well, I grew up really loving cartoons and drew comics as a way to get that energy out of me. I still keep up with a simple but effective style as I’ve studied the craft of cartooning.

• Metroidvania games usually come with unlockable powers and tight progression. What kind of abilities can players expect? And how do they reflect what’s going on in Question Hound’s head?

  Each ability is tied to a kind of cartoon-based joke that Question Hound could do, if he were in his own Max Fleischer cartoon. He can turn his hat into a boat, squish down small to pass under tight corridors, and more.

• The Living Tombstone contributed a theme and music video. How did that collaboration happen, and how does music tie into the game’s emotional beats?

  The Living Tombstone were a backer of the original Kickstarter and even one of the band members makes a cameo in the game as a Shop Keeper! The music video they put together and all that was separate from this game. The timing for