One very important part of making game worlds memorable is making them first and foremost believable, as absurd as they may be. This can be done in multiple ways, ranging from interactivity to populating them with NPCs, to adding small details here and there that make the world feel more alive and “lived in”.
One small instance in Dudebro II is the addition, right before the entrance of the oil pipeline facility seen in the first chapter of the game, of a billboard sign showing its company name. Before that, the compound was simply referred to as “the facility”, because that’s what it was made for: as an industrial-like setting to contrast the naturalistic landscapes of Alaska, and shake up the level design after the introductory areas. Leaving it with such a generic name and little to no identity would have made it certainly quite forgettable, so we decided to give it a name and branding, to put front and center what it is, and what it’s used for.
Of course, a billboard alone is not remotely enough to make a setting memorable, but the other steps we’ve taken will be discussed later on.