Summary
Thank Goodness You’re Hereis easily one of the most British games ever made. Coming with its own Yorkshire dialect subtitle track and more naughty-bits jokes than a Carry On film, plenty of its quirkier moments can slip under the radar of anyone outside of ol’ Blighty.
But there’s one neat little touch in particular that even people in the UK might miss. It’s not a joke, but it hammers home just how firm a grip developer Coal Supper has on the game’s aesthetic. Stick with me, I’m talking about the autosave icon.
Speaking of firm grips, Reggie’s wife could learn a thing or two.
Autosave icons are so common we tend to just ignore them. Like achievement toasts and aiming reticules, they’re just visual noise that serve a very simple purpose. Turn off your console when that bad boy is in the corner, and things won’t end well for you. Usually, it’s a rotating circle or even just a blinking icon, but Thank Goodness You’re Here’s is a bizarre collection of black and white stripes.
I’m Going To Talk A Lot About Local Broadcasting Now
If you’ve watched anything on British TV in the last few decades, you’ve likely ignored those bars before. Outside of Thank Goodness You’re Here, they’re called the cue mark, and serve as a way to warn broadcasters that an ad break is coming up. Cinemas had a version of them hidden away in the visual noise of film, to tell the projectionist when the reel was coming to an end.
Back in the day, adverts were controlled by local broadcasters who needed to coordinate with national shows, and so the stripes gave local teams a heads up. As local broadcasting becomes less common and more ad breaks are managed on a national scale, cue marks tend to only be used in live programming.
You’ll also see them when live shows cut between studio and location shots, such as during coverage of major events or something like general elections.
British TV is full of these odd icons, like the P at the start of a show that signifies it has paid product placement in it.
The fact that Thank Goodness You’re Here plays with such an unexpected hallmark of British TV is amazing. It even serves a similar purpose. There isn’t a projectionist racing to get the new reel in place or a local broadcaster getting ready to put up another ad begging you to visit Merry Hill, but the bars still let you know you may go and grab a cuppa very soon.
Only a massive anorak would notice it and use it as an excuse to infodump on the internet about UK local broadcasting technology, but it all helps build up thevery British identityof the game in a way that’s impossible not to appreciate once you see it.
It’s easy to throw in posh, dentally-challenged people asking about thruppence, orjab at Yorkshire quite liking its pies, and call it a witty commentary on life in the UK. And, thanks to being raised on a diet of Joyce Grenfell, The Vicar of Dibley, and Kenneth Williams, I would’ve lapped it up just the same.
But it’s the small details, like the autosave icon, that elevate Thank Goodness You’re Here from a parade of stereotypes to something made with care and affection for the idiosyncrasies of British life.
Thank Goodness You’re Here!
WHERE TO PLAY
Explore the strange town of Barnsworth in this cheeky comedy slapformer!After arriving early for a big meeting with the mayor of a bizarre Northern English town, a traveling salesman takes the time to explore and meet the locals, who are all very eager to give him a series of increasingly odd jobs…“Thank Goodness You’re Here!” is a comedy slapformer, which unfolds over time as the players' exploration and antics leave their mark on the strange town of Barnsworth. With each completed odd job, new areas of the town open up, stranger and stranger tasks become available, and the clock ticks towards our salesman’s big meeting. The town’s colorful inhabitants are brought to life with vibrant hand-drawn animation, fully voiced dialogue, and wall-to-wall double entendres.
