Developer Interview: Punchimals
Recently, I came across an absolutely adorable game where two animals fight each other inside ginormous mechs. Thankfully, the developers behind the game gave me the opportunity to learn a bit more about what goes behind the scenes in Punchimals!
Introduction. Tell me about yourself/the team!
Hi there, my name is John Millard; I've been making indie games professionally for over a decade as part of Two Lives Left. As the name implies, the team is just two people (for the most part), and while we do regularly collaborate on games and apps, I am solo-developing Punchimals. Aside from the music, I am currently doing all the design, art and programming.
The premise of obese animals getting inside giant, colourful mechs and fighting it out sounds like a pretty fun fever dream! What inspired this hilarious game?
Initially, I was just messing around with a prototype that was inspired by another game but with a different focus. I had no intention of developing it further, but after doing some basic work and a bit of playtesting, it became clear that the implementation was pretty fun. I tested various mechanics over and over again and worked on the game feel to bring out fun situations. The animals and world-building came later.
Building on the previous questions, what were the steps that led to such a unique premise? What did you start with, and how did you add each new, nuanced idea?
Once the gameplay was fleshed out a little, I made a basic robot model that was loosely modelled off Master Chief's helmet. When looking up references, I was reminded of the cat ear version of the Master Chief's helmet, so I then began incorporating cat-like features into it. One thing led to another, and I ended up thinking it'd be really fun to have a small animal pilot the mech like a big robotic [onesie].
How has the game's vision changed throughout the development?
Originally the game was a lot simpler: you only had three points of health, one type of punch, the levels were smaller, and players were much closer together. It was just a weekend passion project to work on in my spare time. As I got feedback from playtesting sessions, I found myself adding new features and balancing gameplay, and taking development a little more seriously.
People were having a blast playing it, and this motivated me to flesh things out more and more. I'm also an avid fan of traditional fighting games, so I ended up borrowing mechanics from games like Tekken, Guilty Gear, and Street Fighter.
What motivated the idea behind adding physics to the combat?
If you have a look at any of my previous games, game jams, or my YouTube channel, you'll notice that I almost always incorporate physics into my games. My previous iOS title, Crabitron, where you play as a giant space crab, was all physics-based as well. It also relied on dual hand controls, which is something I keep playing with since I find it so fun to control
What inspired the cuteness?
I like the idea of mixing different, seemingly absurd combinations of themes. Giant mechs violently punching each other but in a cute and harmless way. I also decided from the start that the animal pilots shouldn't actually be harmed, safe within their robotic cockpits.
What has been the biggest challenge of developing this adorable 2.5D fighting game (aside from financial)?
To be honest, there were a few technical challenges here and there (online multiplayer being chief among them), but it's mainly doing the art that I find most challenging. While on hiatus from my day job a few years back, I decided to enrol in an online 3D character workshop by Shane Olsen (he was the lead artist on Disney Infinity). I really enjoy making character art, but I never thought I'd do it as my job. Finding and paying the kind of top-quality artist I wanted on this game wasn't really feasible, so it was up to me. For me, the real challenge is in making hard surface models for the mechs since it's very precise work and requires solving a lot of specific design issues.
Building on the last question, what has been the most pleasant aspect of the development?
It's a little cliche, but to me, it's just watching people play and enjoy themselves. I recently ran a tournament at AVCON, a local game/anime convention, and I learned a lot of things about how people play the game, and it gave me more hope that there's a real market for it.
What have been some of the greatest lessons you've learned while developing Punchimals?
I think the main thing I learned was how fragile the balance of a fighting game is. Early in development, I added a parry ability, allowing players to reflect an opponent's punch back at them. A few times, I played against people who could pull it off almost every time, and it was impossible to beat them. I nerfed this ability probably 20 times in various different ways before it was balanced. It's really easy to create a game feature that exists on a knife's edge where any kind of buff will make it [overpowered], and any nerf could make it useless. There are no easy answers for this, unfortunately.
What can you tell us about the single-player campaign?
The plan for single-player is going to be sort of boss-rush survival mode, with Slay-the-Spire-style map (with paths you can choose). Different difficulty levels will be unlocked as the player beats the final boss in each one. At regular intervals, the player will unlock some temporary progression upgrades like [in] Vampire Survivors or be afflicted by stat modifiers (like, your head is now 10% bigger, attack cooldowns are +- some amount). Beating levels and bosses will award the player with some upgrade badges that can be used to modify your mechs loadout and tweak gameplay.
Lastly, if there's anything I haven't touched on that you'd like for me to mention, feel free to add it here?
Sure, we'll be showing Punchimals at PAX Aus in October as well as Sydney SXSW.
And that’s it for my interview! Thank you so much for reading! Don’t forget to follow Two Lives Left on X right here and wishlist the game on Steam!
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