Tonnerre mes chiens! The Dark Quarter App Is Available

Two years ago last month, we published a preview of a new cooperative adventure game set in New Orleans called The Dark Quarter from Lucky Duck Games. It’s an app driven game like some of the other successful games from Lucky Duck like Destinies or Chronicles of Crime. 

https://boardgamegumbo.wordpress.com/2022/04/04/the-dark-qua…

We were provided the introductory scenarios with the game as part of the preview, but that’s just one part of a longer storyline. Here’s what I had to say about our experience:

And of course, it’s got that lagniappe – it’s a dark tale of the underbelly of one of the most iconic Europe-meets-America cities, New Orleans. The writing in the first scenario is top notch, and makes New Orleans another character in and of itself. Kudos to the writing team for capturing the feel of the city circa 1981. I could almost smell the beignets and fried shrimp po’boys coming out of the box while we played.

And now, the Kickstarter backers have their copies in hand and the app is live! Jeremy already has it booted up on his iPad and should be diving in soon, so I’ll get a report from him. 

But I wanted to touch on my involvement in the app. Lucky Duck was kind enough to reach out to me to help review the Cajun language flavor text and conversations that the writers created for the different characters. 

I am credited in the game for working with “Cajun Translations”, but to be honest, my part was very small. The writing team wanted to ensure that the characters who knew Cajun French sounded authentic. 

I worked with one of their developers (“Nelow”) even though I am not a fluent Cajun French speaker. Luckily for me, I have access in my family and friends to people who grew up in the language who could help me with the task. 

To help me with the couple of dozen phrases they were trying to tighten up, I first dove into my library of books for guidance and ideas. In particular, two books were very helpful: Amanda Lafleur’s Tonnerre mes chiens!: A glossary of Louisiana French figures of speech and Rev Jules Daigle’s A Dictionary Of The Cajun Language. I recommend both of them highly. 

But I also went over every phrase that I was assigned with both my mom — who spoke French before she spoke English, and whose parents both learned English at school on the prairies of rural Lafayette and Evangeline Parish — and my friend Steve, who grew up speaking Cajun French south of Lafayette with his family. 

It was important to me to try and get multiple sources. Since Cajun French hasn’t been in written form much since the 1910s (although there is currently a wonderful renaissance going on with the language — watch last week’s 60 Minutes program on the Cajun / Creole music scene for a taste), and since its speakers have ancestors that hail from different parts of the Francophonie (like Quebec or Haiti or Paris and Normandy), the language has variations in phraseolgy or in expressions and idioms that I wanted to try and represent. 

I tried my best to represent our beautiful Cajun culture with these small conversational touches. I really tried to bring some funny sayings that we have here in south Louisiana to the project. I hope people enjoy this little insight into our Cajun language, even if it is only a few phrases here and there. 

Did you back the game? I’d love to hear what you think about the characters and conversations.

Until next time, laissez les bon temps rouler!

— BJ from Board Game Gumbo