Who is Johnny Sixgun?
A downloadable playable webcomic for Windows and macOS
You are Johnny Sixgun. You have been having the same dream every night, and it warns you of something terrible. It's time to figure your shit out.
SURREAL AND CINEMATIC
Who is Johnny Sixgun? is the surreal and cinematic first chapter to the story of the world's biggest Hooters fan: a shitpost epic adventure through the depths of a fractured psyche.
A VAST WORLD OF BEAUTIFUL NONSENSE
Inside Johnny's mind, you'll find an absurd romp through colourful and sickening dreamscapes, abandoned theme park rides, rants about Dark Souls 2, butch lesbians, and a vibrant cast of characters, all of whom are technically the same guy.
A SHITPOST EPIC
This story is about relationships, denial, how we hurt the people we care about, and how we hurt ourselves. It's also about breastaurants, contrarian videogame opinions, psychic clowns, evil train stations, humanoid cigarettes, and falling down escalators. Cry-laugh or laugh-cry, it's your choice.
FEATURED IN INDIEPOCALYPSE ISSUE #57
A game by Siobhan Dent and Percy Harris
Additional Programming and Design by Twig Tawny
Additional Music by Max Kearney
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this game FUCKS and so does DARK SOULS 2 BABYYY
sooooooo excited to see where this goes (if youre interested in finishing the story!) i love big johnny and i love jenny *does a kickflip
Hermoso el juego, me gustó mucho ver los videos al final, los amo chicos. 😻
¡gracias!
sweet game
this was a delightful read oh my God. it was so fast but.. enrapturing for every second it remained. i especially love the darksouls section - i got to the end of the dialogue just as the music was fading out and i was on the last set of stairs and the near silence and ambiance got genuinely scary. not even just jumpy scary - i was getting slightly hysterical for a second. i felt - as a bitch who loves the out of bounds and runs into every wall for secret paths - like i was somewhere i was not supposed to be. and that this world would consume me.
and before that, even!! johnnys ramblings really hit me as someone who loves infodumping. i felt very vindicated by the owl finally admitting "Fuck yes." like yeahh boi. it Fucks.
as well, as a transmasc boygirl with (possible) bpd and autism the hooters section like. Hit Me. Hard. just.. every subtle implication of it is sickeningly good. johnnys relationship with the women in his life being tangled up with his own repressed transness. like. of course!! he was never going to confront liv!! this was an internal journey. the fact that the hooters has a lot of sudden camera changes and you get given food you dont fucking want and its loud and intense and overstimulating. Reads So Very Autism. 2 me. thats also how i feel in resturaunts.
i am someone who simultaneously gets very defensive and uncomfortable around egg narratives, like, in general. i am always slightly uncomfortable with how most trans people around me talk about the concept of being an egg. (not a condemnation, its different for everyone and my beef is a personal issue) but the conversation between jenny and johnny is a really beautiful read on it, i think. like-
i get uncomfortable with the popular narrative that you should be pushy with an egg, and i think the prime directive is a fucking stupid idea, and im not even sure i believe in the concept of a "true gender", if that makes sense. i think transness needs to be abt autonomy above all else. but also. i am someone who once uttered the sentence "i truly believe i killed that little girl, and its ok, because she wouldnt have survived anyway." about myself pre-transition. so jennys dialogue and rage hits me, so soo hard.
(plus her being based off of a cartoon character and linked with hooters, a very.. obvious symbol of like. simplyifing women Compels me. as a trans guy who spent years longing for this similiarly simplified Man (tm). and it also strained my relationships with men)
i especially appreciate johnnys reaction to. Every implication of jenny. im so used to depictions of transness where the protag either meets the realization with completely noncomplicated relief or abject terror. what about apathy and concern. what about who is this self in my skin. is this me? it fucks.
on jenny, i get her. a lot. ive wanted to claw out of my own skin my whole life. not in a self destructive way but in a!! baby i want to live way!! and i dont blame johnny either!! is johnny morally required to submit to this apotheosis? i dont think so. but is jenny wrong either? for wanting to live?
(it reminds of the video essay "6 shapes of god" by cj the x. theres a section somewhere in the middle where he talks thoroughly abt the difference between revelation and destruction, and talks at the point that despite how overwhelming it feels, revelation is something that comes from within. it has really stuck with me, even as an atheist.)
the trio of big johnny, johnny, and jenny also feel.. especially pertinent to bpd experiences. that urge to destroy the self. ive actually had a history of thinking about running away/changing my name that has also been linked with my suicidality and transition thoughts, sometimes. that urge to escape. to change drastically. jenny represents that for me and.. its so hard to tell whether or not shes dangerous sometimes. (big johnny reminds me of depression episodes, and normal johnny makes me think of how often i have to forcibly mellow and even myself to out balance my insane highs and lows.)
her choice to shoot the owl and big johnny at the end, and johnnys acceptance of it.. it feels kind of like a manic episode. kill your depression and your reason, and i will run the show. but at the same time - i cant tell if its really manic, if its a bad ending. for years now, ive been considering changing therapists because sure - shes sweet and listens but she never pushes me to change at all. sorry if thats tmi but it felt relevant. jenny asks the question "is the thing keeping us safe holding us back? at what point does a comfort object become a burden? are we really above water, or are we just drowning slower?" without. saying any of those words. that is some incredibly smooth metaphor and subtext. and like. Oh My Fuck jenny. yeah.
just: at what point does inner exploration and healing without drastic change become a cycle? is the calm and reasonable voice, the one who speaks with a dizzying mix of every therapist youve ever heard, all in one vaguely approving choir - your friend? when do we have to change or we'll die?
uhm anyway. i adored this game and theres also a good chance im going to binge all of siobhans work and percys too. thank you so much for making this!!
I don't even know what to say, holy shit? This is the most beautiful thing anyone has said about anything I've made.
I adore your readings of the characters and the story - Johnny is 100% autistic for sure and I suppose now that I understand BPD more than I did when I was making the game, I was channeling that too without realising. As for women, well, yeah, Jesus Christ dude. I'm very fascinated with masculinity and the way that men's identity so often revolve around defining the things they ARENT, to the point of avoiding doing a lot of things out of this sort of deep fear that it would change them or shake their understanding of themselves as Men, which usually manifests in a super pervasive kind of embarrassment about like, anything emotionally vulnerable at all. Obviously I have experience with this as a trans woman, and I think there's an element of Jenny that poses, like, if my pre-transition self were to meet myself right now, I would be the most embarrassing fucking thing in the world. Even if I knew it was "inevitable" or the happiest version of me, there'd be a part who's like, well, fuck that! Fuck that, actually! I don't wanna be some sort of walking Twitter bio. But it's also me, it was always going to be me, liberated or not.
It's a little funny that I came to this metaphor of parts of Johnny being discrete characters as someone who has sorta discovered actual plurality in herself in recent months. The way that we compartmentalize parts of ourself to meet our needs (or our perceived needs) is super pervasive. I think a lot of that stuff operates on this principle that, if you're not thinking about it, it doesn't exist, which paradoxically means that acknowledging those parts are inherently destabilizing and confronting. Johnny's entire personality is built on repression and shame, he fucking hates himself and hasn't discovered the path to changing that, because he's so weighed down by this idea that he fundamentally will never be able to be authentic and happy, he's exclusively too much or too little - something I've felt for sure in my life. It's not a coincidence that Big Johnny uses more slang, especially slang that's a little, shall we say, f-ggy, these are things that he's absorbing and finds texturally delightful, but it's not a part of the performance of Johnny, and to let even this part of it slip would make the rest of it so much harder to maintain. I knew a big repressor at the time who I channeled a lot into the writing, because I was observing all the ways that denying a part of yourself - in this case, transness - basically cascades throughout every single part of your life, because you've made the decision that you CAN'T BE HAPPY. it's intellectualised and rationalised until it feels like this is just life, and you'll be fine, but it's obvious. I think we're fundamentally romantic creatures, in the sort of classical sense - we are all dreamers, and the decision to compromise on those dreams is one that causes basically constant psychic damage your entire life. It never goes away, even as you forget that the pain isn't a necessary part of your existence, or existence as a whole.
I dunno when the next parts will happen (I'm working on a big project rn and waiting to see if i have side project room for Johnny hehe), so I figure I'll add a little stuff from me that's beyond the script of this game just in case it's fun :) you could potentially see it as future spoilers, though.
Jenny is specifically a character from a sorta horny webcomic that Johnny's high-school best friend works on, which isn't that important to the story, but I think specifically fixating on a sort of fetishised ideal of womanhood is not an uncommon trans experience, and one that I see people occasionally be cruel to each other or themselves about. I mean, famously Contrapoints spent the better half of her entire video catalog thus far sort of arguing with herself about whether the idea of the cutesy anime catgirl is a problematic and infantile sort of image to pursue. I think this is literally just Being A Person and doesn't necessarily come at the cost of forgetting what it's like to be a real person (for whatever worth "real person" even is, a very societally enforced set of parameters), but it's sort of embarrassing, right? Oh, you don't want to be like a famously well written female character or even anything materially possible, you want to be the Carmen Sandiego ripoff your friend draws the pussy of for a living. There's obvs also that element of "do I want her or do I want to be her" that permeates favourite character lists for a lot of trans people.
Johnny and Jenny are now sharing bodies in a very jekyll-hyde way, and I do think that the change represents a sort of destructive maneuver. Johnny is too apathetic and scared to embrace Jenny, and Jenny is too resentful and emotionally malnourished to have patience with Johnny - with herself - and actually integrate without basically uprooting their lives. They're both fucked, because they're both Johnny, and they both have a lot of the same problems, because they're both Johnny! Neither part can imagine the version of themselves that is actually happy, functional and balanced, but Jenny is, at least, seeking change - destruction bears creation - and so, now our status quo is broken. What's gonna happen? :) I wonder~
Also, I'm so excited to get more into Liv. She's sort of secretly the real main character maybe. She's also trans and thats a whole thing that works into Johnny's mess. Ough. She's a total self insert in a buncha ways. You're gonna love her.
Anyway, thank you so much noxias! I can't tell you how much this sort of engagement means to me. You're incredibly thoughtful and well spoken and I'm honoured to have you around here. You're beautiful and swag and I love that my biggest supporters are all tboys because I'm the biggest motherfucking supporter of my boys. Have the best week sweetheart <3
Love this game so much the art direction is astounding!!! but you guys should really push it more on socials so that more ppl will play its criminal how I havent seen any1 talk abt this game :[
We do what we can, but the algorithm only picks something up if people are talking about it!!! You gotta post!!! Thank you though <3 even just this comment is so special and makes a difference
There's so much freedom and personality in it! It's so sincere and very self aware and it's not afraid to be waht it is. It doesn't fall into pathos or preaching or drama. It's pure! I don't know, how to say it better, sry. Sometimes good graphics, and writing, and effects and metaphors feel good, but feel like it's a mask the author is wearing, like it's a shield between them and me, but here all of it feels very like a direct conversation with the authors and it's precious! Thank you so much for this game, Percy and Siobhan!
Oh my god <33 thank you so much bulboka, amazing to hear from you!! It means so much to me to hear something so personal about my work, I put a lot of myself in just about everything I make, doubly so for Johnny :)
I just finished playing this game, and I have so many curiosities about all of the different metaphorical meanings, characterizations, etc. Without knowing the true meaning, I truly do resonate with the interpretation I have gathered from it. I think this "Johnny" specimen is so relatable, and the writing just brings comfort to me, and I feel almost looked at under a microscopic level. Side question: Was this, at all, inspired by the webcomic Homestuck? When I first stumbled across this game, I had thought Johnny was a character from the comic Sollux. The writing is a little similar, and it gives me the same inquiries.
This overall was an astounding, beautiful piece of art and literature, (even the "fuck my pussy chungus life.") What are y'all's thoughts on fanart? Are there any rules and/or boundaries? Thank you!
Hi!! You have correctly picked up that Percy and I are livelong homestuck kids hahahaha. Not so much a direct inspiration as it is the product of that story being one of the most important works of art for me in general! I feel like the comparison to Dave or Dirk is more obvious but I like that you invoked Sollux there :)
As for fanart/fanworks in general, go for your life!!! Whatever you want, write your weird fetish erotica. Just don't be hateful, and if you can bear to do so, pleaaase send it to me! My email is on my itch page :) Thank you for the kind words!!!!
damn, that was pretty good. did i understand the plot and metaphors? i'm not sure, maybe. did i like the talk about dark souls 2 while evanescence remix played? hell yeah
but if i'm being honest, the game has potential. the style is awesome, characters are quite interesting, idk i just wanna know more about what is going on in johnny's brain. the gameplay part is fine for me, but the segment where we just walk for 4 minutes or something before the reveal of big johnny was kinda too long, long enough for me to just get bored a bit.
anyway, i wish you guys good luck. y'all are awesome.
Thank you so much! We tried not to be too heavy handed with the themes, but it'll become more obvious in future parts.
dude, this was fucking FIRE. The art is incredible, and the style of this game is so cool. Me and my buds I voiced over as we played, which was super fun to do. I'm definitely gonna make some fan art of this.
Johnny Sixguns big fan.
I'm super hyped for more.
the game was super silly and fun to experience!! I loved the whole ds2 part, that was really funny. And also i hope big Johnny is okay </3 So excited for his return!!
somebody cooked here
can you guys just make a whole game talking about how cool DS2 is with a bunch of ds2/Evanescence remixes that would be super I mean it would just kick so much ass
Agreed
Just come hang out with me
VERY GOOD GAME!!! PLAY IT RIGHT NOWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!
if you like cool games and cool stories play thissss!!! I played it fully blind and it was hilarious and cool and emotionssssss!!!!!
thank you so much!!
no thx
all you had to do was play the damn game cj
you picked the wrong itch page fool
this rules!!! hope the next game will be called hoo is johnny sixgun
Very much enjoyed the game, the Vibes are great. Especially in love with character designs, definetly will be drawing Jenny. And making everyone who owns at least a microwave play this. None shall be spared. Hoo.
IF YOU DRAW JENNY YOU NEED TO SEND IT TO ME. I will have made it as a storyteller when i see horny fanart of her
thank you! :D it was rly fun translating shivs ideas for characters into designs
the game is great, I really enjoyed it. I love the surreal atmosphere, and projects like this are a source of joy for me. I was wondering if you could tell me where I can download the full art from the game? (for example, the one where Johny is standing with his ex)
or if you could send them to a social media platform like Telegram?
Here's a link to our press kit with a good amount of the important art in there: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1PYHvgd69jbbtpKNVoPaMpQEHfUNvZaS2?usp=sha...
And just for you, here's the sprite sheet with all the paintings in it :)
Parece interessante vai ter versão pt br?
thank you! sadly we don’t plan on translating the game
if you ever think about it, i would like to help you on the pt translation :D
Really cute and very funny little experience with an incredible atmosphere
very excited to see the rest!
An lovely piece of art, full of style and flare! Loved the writing and graphics, and this really resonated with me, as someone who is plural (and trans, but we won't get into that heh). This was great! Can't wait till we get more from this world and cast!
I'm so glad to hear that!!! I was a little worried about how I'm depicting what isn't explicitly plurality (as in, based on research or personal depictions of did/osdd) but is definitely evoking it, and resonates with my experience maybe sorta having alters (working on it with my therapist lol). I'm so glad you enjoyed!!!
Really stylish and cool! Loved the weird atmosphere and the look of everything, but the writing really made this work for me. It's VERY funny of course, but it got me really interested in Johnny as a character. I really do hope the end rings true, and I see more of this cast again soon <3
I don't know how long it'll take, but he was with me for 6 years before this first part came out! Johnny is patient! The entire story is planned out hahaga
Such a wonderful format, such beautiful graphics. I think I can kinda tell where the story's going but I'm really hoping I get surprised by what is to come! So far so good, and the little message at the end is adorable (and I've of course shared the game with everyone I know). I was familiar with Siobhan Dent's work already but I am discovering Percy Harris (and Twig Tawny!) for the first time. A wonderful alliance that i think really brings out the best in both of you very rich creative worlds. I can't wait to see the rest :)) You never disappoint!
Ahhhhhhh salem its so cool to be in a place where i get to be excited to hear what someone's gonna say about my next big thing.... Thank you as always for the thoughful message and for recognising that percy and twig are CRACKED!! I promise you it's gonna go some weird fuckin places, and I can only hope that I get to arrive at those places before I'm geriatric :) johnny is a bit of an ongoing side project alongside a big game i've gotten off the ground. Gotta figure out how to let y'all know about that one, huh?
AHHH!! You've got me hyped up for a project I dont know anything about!! I can't wait to see what you come up with, I think I confidently say I'm you number one fan LOL. Go, my awesome favorite indie dev (and just dev in general. and storyteller and artist. yay!!)
AAAAHHHH <3333 i wont forget yawhen i hit da big leagues kiddo 😌🚬
It was great ! Will definitely share with friends. Almost got me hyped to go back to DS2 traumas. Love the graphics, the narrative. Congratulations !
Очень необычная игра интересно! sub
one of the most visually unique and enthralling pieces of Dark Souls 2 propaganda I've played maybe ever, this rocks so hard!