The Czech title, in which players transform into the “most famous domestic homeless man” Jiří Kára, is celebrating its first big success. In less than three days, the creators managed to raise half a million crowns in a crowdfunding campaign. The game continues to collect contributions from supporters, so the developers are looking at expanding the content and a possible mobile version of the “simulator”, one of the creators, Tom Barsweik, told the editors of Aktuálně.cz.
“Wow, you should have been here four minutes, you moron!” was heard in the now cult amateur film The Wedding of Jiří Kára, which at the turn of the millennium allowed the wider public to look under the hood of the tragicomic life of Prague‘s alcoholics. Now, 25 years after the premiere, the most famous Czech homeless man will be immortalized in a computer game called Jiří Kára Simulator.
The Czech independent game Jiří Kára Simulator has raised the target amount in crowdfunding on Startovač. | Video: Voodoo Collective
In the skin of a loquacious legend of the domestic Internet, players will trudge through the streets of Prague, throw empty bottles at opponents and, above all, look for Blanka, who evaporated the day after the wedding. The beginning of the game is also stylish – Kára wakes up in one of Žižkov’s dustbins.
The game has already collected the target amount of 450 thousand crowns for development in the first 55 hours. However, contributions on the Startovač platform are increasing, the game is currently approaching the 700,000 crown mark. At the same time, there are still more than 20 days left until the end of the crowdfunding campaign.
“The first goal we have chosen means that we will create a game. A linear experience with six locations and six bosses. At the same time, we are aiming higher – we want to add much more content, weapons, characters and stories from Prague to the game. We would also like to tackle the mobile version, which we have set as one of the other goals,” Tom Barsweik, one of the main authors of the game from the Voodoo studio, told the editors Collective.
Greater Prague and a regime for more “homeless people”
If the developers manage to collect more money, they would also start creating another part of Prague, where Jiří Kára would have more freedom. “We are also interested in multiplayer mode and Slovak dubbing. Everything now depends on the interest of players and contributors,” he told the editors of Aktuálně.cz.
Reactions to the game are overwhelmingly positive, although at the beginning the authors anticipated criticism due to the subject matter.
“People laugh, share our content and write to us that this was missing here. The feedback on a Czech game with such a theme is surprisingly positive. Of course, there will be someone here and there who doesn’t understand that it’s not a parody of Kára, but a tribute to a phenomenon that has become part of Czech culture, but that’s part of it,” added Barsweik.
To this day, Jiří Kára is perceived as a controversial figure in the Czech internet environment. The documentary from his wedding was not only riddled with vulgarities, but also with a considerable cadence of Nazi allusions. According to “carologists” in internet discussions, however, this speech by the actors of the video was not proof of the wedding party’s inclination towards Nazi Germany, but rather a manifestation of drunkenness.
Return to old Žižkov
The simulator is supposed to take place in the dusty corners of Prague’s Žižkov, and although the creators classify the game as a classic retro shooter, Jirko Kára will have to do without real weapons and rely more on iron pipes or empty beer bottles.
Speaking of alcohol, the game also works with “drunkenness”. Excessive sobriety glorifies the player, while excessive alcohol in the blood, on the contrary, blurs the image and makes the fights more difficult. Jiří Kára Simulator is to be released next year.
