1. Can you tell us who you are, what your major is, and a little about what you have found rewarding about being at Champlain College
If you know me from the college, I’m Seven Coleman, a senior majoring in Game Design. If you know me as a developer though, I’m cole+ games (coleplusgames, Cole+, or any of those variants too).
I remember it being advertised as one of the big selling points of the college, the “Upside-Down” curriculum, I believe it’s called, where classes actually central to your studies are offered alongside the regular assortment of government-mandated college classes (English-esque classes, Math, Science, etc.). I hadn’t really understood the value of this approach my first few semesters, but it became more and more apparent over time just how fundamental it is to truly growing skills in each and every one of the majors offered here, in a way that makes me question why it’s not a central part of other college’s curriculums. Through these four years, I’ve been able to balance my class workload and gradually grow my skills in game-dev, and take some pretty great classes within that field of study too. With classes that I’ve taken in the past, like Visual Communication, UI/UX, and Atmospheric Design too, these skills I’ve gained apply across much, much more than just game design too, and have been interdisciplinarily intertwined with other classes not intertwined with the Game Studio.
2. Tell us about the development of your game Pikki Rikki, when did the idea first come to you? How did it evolve over time? Did you have any support in the development either with the game itself, or just moral support?
At its very root, the idea began with the desire to design, and that alone. My mother had pre-ordered a Playdate for me, for my birthday, and I had no clue of what it was. I thought it’d be a gizmo or a doohickey that’d be able to string together basic actions with pre-loaded sprites or something of that nature, one of those kits that assist with creating a game at surface level. After looking into it more, investing myself within the development of the console, of the documentation, of the developers surrounding the console, and the games being made for the console, I had a much better idea of what the Playdate was, and what I’d be getting myself into.
Scrolling through the itch.io Playdate category (as the Playdate’s Catalog wasn’t in place when I began development), I was able to see just what sort of genres had been taken on by the developers. Puzzle games, strategy games, reaction and timing games, they were all there, but one of the genres I really enjoy… wasn’t there. Platformers! That’s where the idea truly began, and around that idea, I began to shape the game.
What animal (other than a kangaroo or a frog) is practically known for their jumps? A rabbit! I began to shape out the world of Pikki Rikki bit by bit, keeping my scope in mind and adjusting as development progressed. As the camera in the gamespace is stationary, and the tiling of the ground itself moves backward as the player moves forward, I found that within my time of development and my knowledge of coding and developing for the Playdate, it’d take a little too long to worry about giving the illusion of extra verticality. This is when I decided just what the game would really be, and how to make my own limitations into something fun for the player!
Pikki Rikki isn’t a rabbit that can jump! No, he’s a “rabbit that just can’t jump”! The idea of having the player pick plants to “gain an upward boost similar to that of a jump” (that is, to say, jump) in particular spots, to either collect coins, traverse over gaps, or navigate around spikes, this alters the player’s general focus away from the typical freedoms of a platformer and instead makes the game into more of a blend with puzzle and strategy genres. Once the idea of these plants, dubbed Pikk-Plants, was introduced, the rest was history. From there came art, level design, sound design, marketing, and so on and so forth!
The main support I had in creating the game came from the Playdate game developers I met along the way. Working on their own games, collaborating with the community to share tips and tricks both in the scope of coding for the Playdate, designing for the visual experience of the Playdate’s 1-bit screen, and working with some clever mechanics for the Playdate’s crank, it was a healthy, fun, and collaborative environment all the way through. Panic’s staff is totally included here, in conjunction with their onboarding process for the Playdate Catalog and just general feedback and updates along the way.
3. Where did you develop it? Can you describe the space?
Development took place in my room at home. Like, 100% in my room. I did all of my development on the same laptop I’m writing my response to this question with, this is the same laptop I’ve done all of my classwork, all of my gaming, all of everything on across these last four years really. My room’s a cozy lil’ spot, nothing all that notable in there though. I’ve got a water kettle that I used to brew tea just about twice a day while working on developer things, a nice, comfy chair to work in while listening to music, a cozy bed to crash on after the day’s done.
4. What was it like when you launched it? What were the reactions and feedback?
Launch day was one of the most fun things I think I’ve ever experienced! Including, uh… a day-one patch?
Past that day-one patch, though, everything flowed smoothly! Being able to see the game rise up on the itch.io Playdate category, listening to the soundtrack on Youtube, watching the trailer over and over again, it truly did feel like I made my first big leap into being a game developer. To be talked about on Hello Playdate Podcast and hear genuine reviews of the game, when the Playdate Radio (a livestream featuring the songs of newly released and fan favorite Playdate games) featured a song or three of mine, that was just astounding.
Pikki Rikki is definitely a game to have its own target audience, and the skew from the usual platformer genre gave… some interesting feedback. Some players absolutely loved it and wanted more, while others pretty clearly were looking for something different. And, honestly, while I think I can definitely do some work in making the next game appeal to those who didn’t enjoy the game as much as those who did, I think I’m happy with the split. Some get it, some don’t, and that’s alright with me.
5. From your personal experience, what advice do you have for other young developers out there?
My biggest advice to other young developers is honestly pretty simple advice, but I think it’s well needed.
“Do.”
“You can think, you can ponder, you can even rescope and reconsider. But, don’t not do.”
Having a team to work on a game is nice, you can divide tasks amongst each other toward whatever sort of skills you specialize in, enjoy team dynamics and the fun of working with others. Having a cohesive, clear idea, sculpting things out in each and all of their intricacies and figuring out just how it all works together right from the get-go is an important skill to develop over time, it’s extremely helpful in many, many cases.
Sometimes, though, it’s just you. And sometimes, when it’s just you, there’s no clear idea of what you’re doing. There’s going to be constraints, and there’s going to be a ton of things you don’t know how to even begin to approach… At times, you might scratch your head at a problem for weeks, and at other times, you might feel like you’re on the brink of either a new development or just flat out giving up. Even so, throughout any situation, the desire to create itself can be a drive strong enough to make it through any one of the challenges those situations can set before you. To make something fun, to not know what you’re really doing and just jump right in, to learn about your own work ethic and just what really works for you, to conquer (or at least mitigate) those doubts, fears, and other hiccups along the way, it just takes doing whatever it is you’ve got your mind set on doing sometimes. Game development, as is life, isn’t simply black or white, and I’ve been learning more and more about not just doing what I’ve been taught to do tit-for-tat, but applying skills that I’ve learned firsthand and observed from others to be able to truly immerse myself in game development, keep growing in all sorts of skills, and keep doing.
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