Meet the Galway couple who created a hand-painted video game inspired by Irish mythology

A Galway couple have raised more than $60,000 (€52,132) to help complete Bibdu, a hand-painted role-playing game inspired by Irish mythology, featuring iconic locations from every county in Ireland

For the last three years, Lara Clifford and Eoin Barry, both 26, have worked on 'Bibdu', a fully hand-painted Irish mythology role-playing game. 

A Galway couple have created a hand-painted video game inspired by Irish mythology, which celebrates every county in Ireland.

For the last three years, Lara Clifford and Eoin Barry, both 26, have worked on Bibdu, a fully hand-painted Irish mythology role-playing game. Players must try to unravel myths and legends through open world exploration and strategic card battles.

The pair behind indie game studio Rat and Monkey launched a Kickstarter in July to help commission original music, translation, as well as voice acting for the game. They have raised over $60,000 (€52,132) from more than 850 backers — with a week in the fundraising campaign still to go.

Their aim is for Bibdu to be fully playable as Gaeilge, with options for those wanting to learn some words while still playing in English.

The immersive game features over 300 landscapes, depicting sites from Ancient Ireland, such as Newgrange, Rathcrogan, and the Hill of Tara.

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The idea was born in the waiting room of a hospital clinic, where the pair started brainstorming the kind of designs they would love to see in a game.

“There are tonnes of games out there covering different mythologies, and we both wanted to play an Irish mythology game. I think that was the very first seed of us wanting to create something or fill that gap,” Eoin Barry tells the Irish Examiner.

While they are both developing the game, Eoin focuses more on the coding, while Lara paints the designs and researches Irish mythology.

“ I do all of the code stuff, so making the logic work, getting it running in a game engine, fixing all the bugs, which is where most of my time is spent. I’m making all the little systems work together, so it doesn't feel too clunky or slow,” says Eoin.

From the Beara Peninsula in West Cork to Lough Gur in Co Limerick to the Ring of Kerry, the pair have been exploring county after county — collecting soundbites along the way.

On site, Lara paints the landscape they see with their very own eyes with watercolour.

The pair behind indie game studio Rat and Monkey launched a Kickstarter in July to help commission original music, translation, as well as voice acting for 'Bibdu'.

“We wanted to make the game feel quite authentic, and for the stories to be attached to real-life places. We wanted to go and visit the places in real life, to meet the people who lived there, and get the stories that way,” she said.

Once her designs are painted, they collect soundbites, to mirror what one might hear when visiting a site.

The pair are hoping to encourage players to celebrate the landscape as well as animals which can be found across Ireland.

 ”A lot of the animals in the game, for example, are endangered now or even extinct. One of the main reasons we're doing the game is to highlight these places and these animals and bring awareness to the fact that their habitats are going away,” says Lara.

One of the sites they visited was the Hill of Allen, Co Kildare. In Irish mythology, the site was the seat of the hunter-warrior Fionn mac Cumhaill, who led a band of young warriors in early Irish literature.

“We went to the Hill of Allen, and three-quarters of the whole hill was just quarried off and blocked off. A lot of these historical sites are just treated with very little respect in real life,” says Eoin.

“ If there was more of an attachment from people to these places, I think we might be able to protect them and defend them better from knocking them down or building something right beside them."

The couple met during covid after playing video games online. They only met in real life a few years later. Working together has only strengthened their relationship.

“The road trips are phenomenal. We get to go to all these beautiful sites. We get really lucky, we get great weather,” said Eoin.

After years of working 9-5 to save up, the pair decided to take a leap of faith and work on the game full-time. While Lara’s background is in architecture, Eoin’s is in software engineering, “It’s just fun, getting to work on your passion rather than getting stuck doing something you don't want do right now,” he says.

In Bibdu, players get to explore as a goddess cursed with mortality, who is condemned to roam Ancient Ireland with her hound, Cú. Through card-based combat, they get to wonder how far they would go to once more become immortal.

While they have already reached their main target on Kickstarter, extra funding will go towards making Bibdu playable on various platforms.