This game is about War, Pain, Fear, and Hate.

You warred with the Colonists.

You warred with yourselves.

Then the Imperials came to your “aid”. Your cousins to the North fight under the banners of the North Valley Army and with the (allegedly) radical Valley Commandos.

You and your family are residents of the Southern Capital, occupied by a coalition of the Army of the Republic of the Valley, the Southern state to which you belong, and the Imperial States Army, foreign soldiers. 

Imperials do not look like you.

Imperials rarely like you.

Imperials never think of you as their equal. 

You can only hope to see the other side of the War.

So… Before the Boats is a game designed within the Wretched & Alone framework by Chris Bissette for 1 player about surviving in a state of war. A specific state of war. One in which a foreign power has co-opted your land, forces, and cause for its own machinations. The war will take the lives of hundreds of thousands. Chances are you’ll be among them. If you’re one of the lucky few to make it through you might not like what you find. 

Content Warnings: 

War, Imperialism, Colonialism, Occupation, Violence (including violence against children), Death, Racism, Corruption, Politics

Disclosure

This game is meant to speak to a very specific experience that is part of a larger pastiche that is the War. It is not intended to speak for all experiences for all affected by the War or even all the experiences of any given individual during the war. The intention is to recenter the lens on the often overlooked and washed over experiences and perspectives of those often relegated to the background, supporting cast, or faceless antagonists of narratives about the War. While some of the prompts are exaggerated few are wholly fictional. 

The conflict this work is based on was terrible to many groups including some systematically preyed on and forced to take part in the “police action” by a country that at the time and at the time of this writing did not treat them as equals to those in power. There were many victims but only a few true perpetrators who exploited the conflict for selfish gain and spilled the blood of innocents on all sides. 

Credits

This work is based on The Wretched, product of Chris Bissette and Loot The Room, and licensed for our use under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.

THE WRETCHED™️ is a trademark of Chris Bissette. The Wretched and Alone logo is © Chris Bissette, and is used with permission.

Before the Boats was written by Kevin Thien Vu Long Nguyen and was created for Wretched Jam.

Developed with “ Make a Wretched Game” by Litza Bronwyn  (https://litzabronwyn.itch.io/make-a-wretched-game)

Cover designed and laid out on canva.com

Editing 

Charu Chandni Patel 
Twitter: @cherrydrop | https://charupatel.carrd.com

Content Consultants

While not working on this game specifically, they each consulted on 

They Took Our War by Kevin Thien Vu Long Nguyen 

with which Before The Boats borrows a lot from and overlaps with. 

Hans Chun 
Twitter: @HansCTweets | https://hanschun.itch.io/

Vian Nguyen 
https://www.jubnuggets.com | https://jubnuggets.itch.io/

pnoyXP
Twitter: @barkadaXP | https://barkadagames.itch.io/

Simon Moody 
Twitter: @LuchaLibris | https://colorspraygames.itch.io/

Viditya  Voleti 
Twitter: @VidityaVoleti | https://vidityavoleti.itch.io/

A note about Before the Boats & They Took Our War

Before the Boats and They Took Our War are two games developed in conjunction with one another. There is significant overlap between the two, particularly with the prompts provided. Each offers, in the designers opinion, a unique experience. 

Before the Boats, one of an individual trying to desperately survive. 

They Took Our War, one of a group of people in a shared traumatic situation trying to get by. 

Considering such both games are available as a bundle at a discounted price for those interested:  https://itch.io/s/32763/the-war 

If you have purchased either but would like the other please get in touch with me directly and I will find a way to send you the sister game for the difference of the game you’ve purchased and the bundle. 

If you are a marginalized person

And you want this game but cannot afford the price and there are no community copies at the time available please reach out to me directly and I will send you a copy at no charge, no questions asked.