Jackbox Games Enters Indie Publishing with a Baby-Slapping Platformer

For over fifteen years, Jackbox Games has mastered a very specific niche. The studio has primarily focused on developing its own brand of social multiplayer experiences through the iconic Jackbox Party Pack series and various spin-offs. While this focus has yielded immense success, the company is finally ready to broaden its horizons. Jackbox is officially entering the world of indie publishing, and its debut title is every bit as eccentric as fans might hope: My Arms Are Longer Now.

Developed by Toot Games, this surrealist project centers on an impossibly long limb dedicated to petty larceny and chaotic mischief. The game is the brainchild of Matthew Jackson and Millie Holten, a pair of Melbourne-based comedians. This marks Jackbox’s first foray into supporting external creators as the company seeks to share its industry standing. During this year’s Game Developers Conference, Andy Kniaz, Jackbox’s VP of business development, detailed the studio’s new publishing ethos while Jackson showcased a hilariously disruptive demo.

“Bad things happen to good people,” Jackson remarked. “In this game, you are the bad thing.”

That is the core premise of My Arms Are Longer Now. More specifically, it is a physics-based puzzle game where players control a serpentine arm with a penchant for theft. The experience is broken down into vignettes, each requiring the player to fulfill absurd objectives. In one scenario, the arm snakes through a crowded train car to pilfer items from unsuspecting commuters. The mischief ranges from dragging a bicycle away from a dejected owner to snatching a dog from its carrier. Jackson noted that later stages involve progressively ruining a child’s birthday party—a streak of pure, comedic villainy.

The game’s humor is its greatest asset, stemming from the creators’ backgrounds in sketch comedy. The visual gags are sharp, supported by idiosyncratic voice acting that draws heavily from the unique energy of the Australian comedy circuit. When discussing the secret to making a game genuinely funny, Jackson emphasized that joke density is vital, but so is the pedigree of the staff.

“Comedy has to be woven into every layer of development,” Jackson explained. “When we hire, we actually consider if the person is funny. Whether they are a producer, an animator, or a programmer, they will eventually influence the game’s tone. You need a comedic sensibility driving the entire project.”

Jackson pointed to recent titles like Baby Steps and Thank Goodness You’re Here as benchmarks for modern gaming humor. My Arms Are Longer Now follows a similar trajectory—a focused, high-concept puzzle game designed for a concise three-hour runtime. Interestingly, Jackson and Holten’s friendship with the developers of Thank Goodness You’re Here almost sparked a crisis of confidence when they realized both games featured elongated limbs.

The tactile joy of the game lies in the arm’s interaction with the environment. The limb can weave through windows, wrap around subway poles, and tangle itself in complex geometry. Every NPC is a potential victim of slapstick tripping. Perfecting the “feel” of the movement was just as labor-intensive as writing the script.

“Millie and I have spent years on this, including long stretches just securing funding,” Jackson said. “A massive portion of that time was spent obsessing over the nuances of the arm’s movement. We joked about ‘going into the arm mines.’ The sheer amount of engineering required to make the wrist-to-hand transition look right was staggering.”

Securing a publisher for a debut indie title is often an uphill battle, but Jackbox Games actually sought out Toot Games after seeing the project at PAX Australia. Kniaz noted that while Jackbox isn’t a traditional publisher, the game’s irreverent spirit felt perfectly aligned with their brand.

“We’re developers and fans first,” Kniaz stated. “When we see a game with this much personality that might lack a platform, we want to help. Jackbox is in a stable, fortunate position—especially after the success of Party Pack 11. Using that stability to spotlight deserving indie projects is a dream for us.”

While this is Jackbox’s inaugural publishing venture, the studio isn’t looking to become a high-volume label. Instead, they are looking for “Jackbox DNA”—which could mean unconventional controls, a focus on humor, or a party atmosphere. My Arms Are Longer Now might be a single-player experience, but its mechanical novelty and wit make it a natural fit for the Jackbox audience.

Jackson is equally enthusiastic about the partnership, relieved to find a publisher that didn’t shy away from the game’s darker comedic edges. “My biggest fear was that some executive in a suit would eventually tell me I couldn’t include the baby-slapping,” Jackson joked.

“We’ve allowed it to stay. In fact, we applaud it,” Kniaz added. “You can quote me on that.”

Source: Polygon