On March 3rd, Kyle Bosman and his live Twitch audience created an imaginary fighting game called Bruised Egos. The basic theme: strong characters with big egos lose esteem as they take damage, causing dramatic debuffs, and weak characters with small egos gain self esteem as they deal damage, creating powerful buffs. Just to be triple clear, this game never existed and will never exist. All of this was for fun. If you're interested you can watch an archive of the whole process here.

The purpose of this game jam is to create a prequel starring one of Bruised Egos' eight characters. Like any good prequel, the goal is to make players more invested in a character and their world. You could fill in their origin story, reveal a new aspect of their personality, or sometimes it's just nice to play as a cool hero doing cool things. These are each of the characters: *color by LittleKittenBit **Also these illustrations are like ultra sloppy concept art. They're not strict depictions, so please feel free to go nuts

Izil, a Small Ego pirate owl. Transforms into a giant owlbeast with high self-esteem


Ultra Mint - a Big Ego little girl who summons monsters from her valuable trading card collection to fight in her place. Regresses to weak summons with low self-esteem


Alexandria, a Small Ego undead warrior ashamed of her defeat. Proudly embraces her skeletal form with high self-esteem


Bulgy Muscles, a Big Ego clown who loves his own jokes (but primarily fights (please note he's not actually wearing a shirt under his jacket)). His makeup fades with low-esteem


Scratch Ballista, a Low Ego reluctant fighter who just has a natural build for this kind of thing. Gains good posture and flowing hair with high self-esteem


Executive Cobra, a Big Ego businesswoman who uses her wealth for strength. Purchases and equips bulkier, slower mechanical armor with low self-esteem


Haver, a Big Ego PRG protagonist who just finished his first adventure. His sword turns back into his girlfriend and walks away with low self-esteem


Waffuru, a Small Ego waffle mutant forged in a freezer when a foolish adventurer tried to protect themselves from radioactivity. Becomes a cute smooth blob with high self-esteem

 
Submission rules:
- The game must star one of Bruised Egos' eight characters. (You can use any others, but one must be your chosen protagonist)
- The game can be any genre except a fighting game
- The game cannot take longer than 1 hour to complete
- The main character must discover a special move they'll eventually have in Bruised Egos. You must give the move a name.
- The game must feature an optional boss fight against Dark Schippie Dues, pictured below.  Little is known of Dark Schippie Dues; there is no incorrect interpretation. Dark Schippie Dues can be defeated but must not die.


I (Kyle Bosman) will stream each of the entrants on Wednesday, April 7th at 4pm ET on twitch.tv/KyleBosman .  Voting ends two days later, and judging will be open to the public. The criteria for judging will be weighed equally: Character investment (how much we now care about the hero), Sticking to the rules (because rules are important), and Actually a fun game (we acknowledge it's hard to make something actually good considering the time constraints and absurd rules). The winning game of this jam will be the only entrant to be considered official Bruised Egos canon.