A Mibabo Welcomes You
Been thinking about trying out blogging and will now be putting that attempt into practice here ^^
Hello! I’m Jada and I often use the alias ‘Mibabo’ online. At this point, I’m not really sure what direction this blog will go, but I figured I would use my first post as a type of introduction and summarize some of my interests that might emerge as future post topics.
Why blog now?
I’ve never had much of a social media presence, but since starting a game studio with my sister Jasmine, I realized it’d be nice to have an informal environment where I can talk a bit about what we’ve been working on and potentially meet some people who are interested. We make games as we feel motivated, but I learned from this most recent GDC how wonderful it is to watch others appreciate what we’ve been working on. We have big dreams of posting youtube shorts, a growing list of new projects that we hope to see the light, and also lore we like to share as we slowly build up the original project that inspired us to try taking game dev seriously (the game itself has now grown to a size that may amount to years of development). On my own I’ve also wanted to write a diary to log some of the loveably mundane parts of my day, or a space to gush about some of the things I love but don’t really have an outlet to do so.
And so… this is my blog debut!
Who even is a Mibabo?
Name: Jada Sumpter 「she/her」
Currently a Neuroscience undergrad at UCLA.
Interests:
Motor disorder research (primarily Parkinson’s)
CPGs of the Spinal Cord
Mind-body problem
Philosophy of the Mind and Consciousness, especially related thought experiments
Constructed languages
Japanese RPGmaker Horror Games (I was going to list them, but honestly if it exists, the chances I know of it are pretty decent)
Horror genre (body horror, eldritch, atmospheric, surrealist, absurdist)
The color yellow
Ball jointed dolls
Nier: Automata (often travel with a 9s plush or figure for good luck)
Magic the Gathering
Vocaloid
Music that sounds like it would be played by a bard in a tavern
Tortoises, Mushrooms, and occasionally Frogs and Moths
Most often seen playing: Rhythm, horror, farming, otome, gacha, puzzle, and turn-based > real-time games
Anti-rests:
Avocado
Dollarweed
The number forty-nine
Umbrellas
Love/Hates:
Socks - I don’t like them on my ankles, but I understand their necessity. Fluffy socks aren’t too bad
Grapefruit, because I can’t have it… furanocoumarins my arch nemeses…
The word lucrative, because it doesn’t mean what I think it should mean.
Iron gummies. I like having vitamin gummies, but the iron taste is too strong.
Top Threes
kinda an extension of interests but I wanna shout out my favorites as they come to mind
Games: Nier: Automata, Rune Factory 4, Witch’s House
RPGmaker Horror Games: Witch’s House, Ib, 1BitHeart (LiEat maybe ties for 3rd)
Songs: Java Jive (The Ink Spots), Storyteller (GG Xrd OST), A Sardine Grows from the Soil
Movies: Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013), Interview with a Vampire, A Real Pain
Books: I, Robot; Broca’s Brain; Dracula
Manga: 100 Kanojo, Frieren, Chainsaw Man
Light Novels: Silent Witch, Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint, Your Forma
Anime: Inuyasha, Assassination Classroom, Bungou Stray Dogs
Voice Actors: Mamoru Miyano, Hanae Natsuki, Sugita Tomokazu
Characters: 9s, Reze, and… I actually don’t know my #3
Leaves for Munching: Kale, Spinach, Basil
Snacks: Kimchi, Popcorn, Pickles
Mushrooms for Cooking: Blue Oyster, Portobello, Inoki
Voicebanks: Kasane Teto, Nurse Robot Type T, V Flower
NoMouth Studio
This is the studio I founded with my sister, Jasmine. We are still very new to the game dev scene, but have officially produced our first game “OWSU1!”! She takes over creative direction, and I’ve been placed in charge of the technical side. I think it’s funny to think of her as David Lynch, and me as her Yosuke Saito.
NoMouth Studio designs games with visceral interfaces for strange people. We celebrate and elevate games as a robust artistic medium by applying principles of phenomenology and neuroscience to our work. We explore how gesture and perspective shape the receptiveness of a player to different sensations.
My role is mainly in the programming - so far both “OWSU1!”, “Seh.Lah”, and our most recent undertaking have all been/are being developed in Unity. While I don’t do much on the creative side, I think most of the themes I contribute stem from interest in instances of disconnect between the mind and body.
I’m particularly drawn to situations when the body has been gradually degrading over time. The process is slow enough that you yourself don’t attribute the changes as physiological, and instead interpret the growing fatigue as a self-inflicted psychological barrier. Only through something like medical diagnosis can the real cause be revealed, providing an explanation for what had been a never-ending struggle and being able to realize that「you」were never the root of the problem. Up until that point, you’re stuck feeling something a little less than human. The frustration, confusion, or even guilt that can arise during these situations is something I hope to continue to explore in our game projects.
[ OWSU1! ]
A visceral rhythm game.
We had the honor of showcasing OWSU1! as a finalist for alt.ctrl.GDC 2025. It was 2024 GDC that inspired me to try my hand at making games, and this project that made it feel real.
[ Seh.Lah.Doll ]
Guide the journey of Villi, a young woman from our world who, through a twist of fate, finds herself reincarnated in the body of a notorious villainess in a dark fantasy realm. Set against the backdrop of the villainess isekai genre, Seh.Lah.Doll explores themes of identity, transformation, and the struggle for autonomy in a world that seeks to define and control the female form.
Our original passion project! Inspired by Japanese RPGmaker horror games and the villainess genre, we are working on a multimedia game project. In it’s current state we still focusing on the introduction - without really spoiling anything: a dress-up game controlled with hand gestures that features a few mini-games where you peak into the lives of others.
Current Focus
We are trying to get ourselves situated right now by deciding how much of a social media presence we want (partially what inspired this blog), updating our website, developing a household version of OWSU1! for itch, fleshing out more of the world of Seh.Lah to maybe release a short demo, and prioritizing a ~top-secret-special~ project we hope to be able to submit to some conferences in 2026. Stay tuned for updates and sneak peaks - I’m writing out a fake ‘request for funding of research’ doc right now to help me organize my thoughts on it, and I may reveal some of it if I’m happy with it. On personal coding projects, I want to at some point make some farming game mechanics and build my own tamagotchi but for now those will be on hold.
And so ends the first post!
I could ramble about things for longer, but I’ll save it for future posts.
Wonderful to meet you! ヾ(◍ ´꒳` ◍)
You’ve reached the secret zone… so random Mibabo fact: ‘Mibabo’ originated as my custom player name in DDLC - technically it was slightly different, but I like that it has a “Baba is You” feeling to it now.
How can you dislike 49, smh