The popular "Florida Man" trope — which usually features a Florida person getting up to less-than-legal shenanigans, sometimes involving reptiles — has inspired an upcoming video game.
But rather than mocking the Sunshine State, the game celebrates the authenticity Florida and its sometimes chaotic nature has to offer.
In the game's trailer, a relaxed-looking dude in socks and sandals scoots a motorbike across a sandy beach. He also flies around a parking lot with a jetpack, gets blown up and traipses around a supermarket with an eerily familiar green logo alongside an alligator friend.
In "Floridale Man: The Joy of Chaos," players take on the role of the titular character, who travels around a parody version of Florida by any means available, including makeshift vehicles.
Floridale man works as an "acquisition specialist" for the fictional grocery store, "Hublix." His mission is to go around the world of Floridale collecting mundane objects and combining them together in unique and creative ways to fill the store's shelves. It's inspired by other titles like the 2019 hit, "Untitled Goose Game" that focus more on creativity and mischief-making than violence or combat.
It is no coincidence that Trento von Lindenberg, the CEO of Mouldbreaker Interactive, the nine-person video game studio behind the game, grew up in Wellington in Palm Beach County. He said while the game is meant for a wide audience, South Floridians will recognize certain hallmarks of the region.
"City Place in Miami is a very major reference for one of our maps. In the background of some scenes you may notice the burning Everglades, because for some reason they're always burning," Von Lindenberg told WLRN.
Von Lindenberg said he and his team wanted to channel the idea that being a Florida person is about being your authentic self. Rather than criticizing the chaos of Floridale Man's antics, the game embraces and encourages it.
"Floridale Man is chaotic because he just is. We want to remind you it’s fun to be yourself, to be creative, to want to unleash that inner chaos inside you,” he said.
The game will also play with the Florida Man trope, which has taken over viral headlines for years. Craig Pittman, an author, columnist and go-to expert for what makes Florida people tick, told WLRN why he thinks people are so obsessed with the state's people and their misadventures.
"The Florida Man and Florida Women are acting out the purest desires of their hearts without thinking, 'Oh, is this a good idea?' " Pittman explains. "Like, 'Man calls 911 to complain strip club won't let him bring his kitten in.' "
"Floridale Man is chaotic because he just is. We want to remind you it’s fun to be yourself, to be creative, to want to unleash that inner chaos inside you."Trento von Lindenberg, the CEO of Mouldbreaker Interactive
But Pittman says the trope can too often be used to make fun of people struggling with mental health. It’s a fact von Lindenberg and his team say they’ve been sensitive to from the beginning.
“We want to punch up, not down. It's helping people learn to accept the chaos, not only in [Floridale Man], but in themselves,” Von Lindenberg said.
Smaller games, indie studios
Mouldbreaker Interactive was founded last year amid a tumultuous time in the wider gaming industry landscape. Large video game publishers like Microsoft and Sony have closed development studios and laid off tens of thousands of workers in the past year and a half.
In that time, more and more developers have split off and created their own independent studios — known as "indie studios" — to make smaller games that have met with a positive reception from gamers.
At the Summer Game Fest event in Los Angeles this year, host Geoff Keighley touted that eight of the 10 best-selling games on the online storefront Steam were developed by small teams. The poker-themed game "Balatro," which was developed by one person and released on Steam this past February, has already sold 1.2 million units, according to Video Game Insights.
Von Lindenberg said he hopes his indie team can also find success and create a more sustainable business model for video games moving forward.
"Floridale Man: The Joy of Chaos" is slated for release on PCs later this year.
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