{"id":110638,"date":"2020-03-23T07:18:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-23T07:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gamasutra.com\/view\/news\/359921"},"modified":"2020-03-23T07:18:00","modified_gmt":"2020-03-23T07:18:00","slug":"how-skookum-arts-built-the-pedestrian-puzzles-out-of-urban-signage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2020\/03\/23\/how-skookum-arts-built-the-pedestrian-puzzles-out-of-urban-signage\/","title":{"rendered":"How Skookum Arts built The Pedestrian puzzles out of urban signage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Envisioning and executing a refreshing premise in the saturated genre of puzzle games is a rare feat. Even more ambitious is trying to do that with your debut game, as a trio of homeschooled teenagers from Ohio.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re yet to play Skookum Arts\u2019 The Pedestrian<\/em><\/a>, it\u2019s a node-based puzzler where you play as a symbolic depiction of a person, the kind we see every day when we stop at traffic lights or spot civic signage.<\/span><\/p>\n

By making connections between the public sign system, you follow the protagonist on a grand adventure through an urban environment as the hum of society persists around you. <\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a game without dialogue, tutorials or even a formal menu screen, a brain-teasing cinematic short with a rousing jazz score. It\u2019s also been in development for the better part of a decade.<\/span><\/p>\n

Homeschooled homebrew<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cI think homeschoolers have an affinity for entertaining themselves, and creating their own stuff,\u201d artist and designer Daniel Lackey tells me. \u201cWe\u2019ve always been motivated to not only consume things – we wanted to be creators.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Lackey tells me how 2012\u2019s  Indie Game: The Movie inspired him to embark on the project alongside his brother Jed Lackey, the lead programmer and Joe Hornsby, who worked part-time on the game\u2019s design. After pulling together a vertical slice, the trio took to Kickstarter in January 2017, raising ~$30,000 with a polished 20-minute demo. <\/span><\/p>\n

But the genesis of the project started years before that defining moment. Skookum Arts split up and worked on a few prototypes including a multiplayer shooter and a wilderness survival game, before Daniel created a curious mobile game. \u201cIt was going to be a 2D endless runner where you had to make it to the bathroom before you wet your pants,\u201d says Lackey. <\/span><\/p>\n

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The team thought that the survival game would be their big score, but as Lackey started asking the rest of the team to add features to his incontinence project, the game shifted into many different forms, from a Super Meat <\/em>Boy<\/em>-esque platformer to a stealth game. Yet it was only when the team grafted in a level editor that the premise quite literally fell into place. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAs we were making levels, I found that I was having more fun in the level editor than I was playing the game,\u201d Lackey tells me. \u201cWe have all these different pieces that we\u2019re connecting together to make the doors link up – why not make that part of the game loop?\u201d The team introduced the mechanic, and even before they decided on a 3D play space they had found their fun factor. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an intuitive thing that people are used to – if you\u2019ve ever used computers at all you\u2019ll be familiar with node-based systems, it\u2019s just connecting dots,\u201d Lackey explains. \u201cWe learned a lesson there. A lot of times, you don\u2019t have a good vision for something, you just stumble your way into good ideas.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Real world research for an in-game aesthetic<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Pedestrian<\/em>\u2019s urban signage aesthetic then became complimentary to the mechanic and an earnest devotion to what they call \u2018clean gameplay\u2019 – they didn\u2019t want to use text or tutorials to impede on the HUD-less experience. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn the public sign system, everything is specifically designed to be understood from every language and seen from far away as you\u2019re moving quickly,\u201d Lackey tells me. \u201cThat design language, that art style fit perfectly with our priorities.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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The trio were further inspired by games like Myst <\/em>and The Witness<\/em> and how they passively teach the player how to proceed. \u201cIt\u2019s about encouraging you to experiment without holding your hand,\u201d Lackey tells me. <\/span><\/p>\n

Despite none of the team having any proficiency in 3D, Lackey picked up Blender and started embarking on research trips to the inner city in order to shape the game\u2019s urban world.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, we live in Ohio, kind of out in the country, so there\u2019s not much to research for cities! There\u2019s a few towns I went to and took a lot of photos,” Lackey says. “I got up really close looking at piping and gutters – I probably looked like a real weirdo.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

In absence of a major city to study, Lackey tells me that he spent his time in Google Street View looking at Chicago\u2019s infrastructure. \u201cI\u2019d just spend hours looking at corners of buildings and studying the architecture, like where they actually place street signs, where they put streetlights, you know. I would even measure like, how wide is a standard sidewalk?!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This focus on the minutiae of city planning gave focus to the world\u2019s design for Lackey, who realized how serious the measurements were to everyday life – how cars, buildings and sidewalks adhere to strict rules to ensure the flow of a city.<\/span><\/p>\n

The double-edged sword of feature creep<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Like many ambitious debuts, The Pedestrian quickly fell prey to feature creep during development. \u201cMan, we still have two huge whiteboards here in our office, and they\u2019re just full of stuff that we never did. It\u2019s kind of anxiety inducing,\u201d Lackey tells me. \u201cAnytime I watch a Let\u2019s Play of our game I see nothing but the things that could have been in\u2026 but I think that\u2019s normal, and you just kind of have to accept it.”<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The team found that approaching the long development cycle of The Pedestrian<\/em> with a \u2018wouldn\u2019t it be cool if\u2019 mentality was unhealthy, but Lackey admits that feature creep is what made their game. “The game was just going to be a boring 2D side scroller\u2026 we just kept exploring different ideas and by giving ourselves the time to experiment it made the game so much better.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

A snag came later in the project when external playtesting led many players to flag the initial iteration of one of the game\u2019s later mechanics as too tricky to understand, leading Skookum Arts to redesign it from chalk safe zones to paint pumps that lock nodes into place with more visual stimuli. Now with a deeper understanding of its systems, Lackey tells me he feels confident that they could remake the whole thing from scratch in a year. <\/span><\/p>\n

Using detail to nurture an immersive experience<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

One of the finer bits of detail that helps sell the hands-off experience of The Pedestrian<\/em> is the inclusion of televisions as pause screens, each one situated in believable spots in the scene the player is observing to ensure they\u2019re never dragged out of the whimsy of the narrative. <\/span><\/p>\n

The team developed this approach with what they call progression objects, items added to every puzzle hub that the player returns to. In the subway hub there are bites taken out of an apple every time you return to imply that there\u2019s a world still humming along beyond what the player perceives. This was crucial for Lackey and his team in order to get away from the static nature of most puzzle games, where the world stops for the player.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve always agreed that anytime you have a loading screen or a startup menu it takes  you out of the game and suddenly you\u2019re playing it and not living in the world,\u201d Lackey explains. \u201cIt\u2019s a weird psychological thing but as soon as you start adding GUIs and option menus as overlays, you\u2019re just viewing it.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Similarly, the team decided that the game would shut down after the completion of the story to make it feel theatrical. \u201cNow that the credits are up, you can walk out of the theater,\u201d Lackey tells me. <\/span><\/p>\n

An orchestral, jazzy score from Logan Hayes serves this vision. Lackey tells me that he went back and forth over a period of years to create the genre fusion, with weekly check-ins and much inspiration from composers like Danny Elfman and Jerry Goldsmith. <\/span><\/p>\n

Learning to maintain productivity<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Now that The Pedestrian<\/em> has been released, Lackey and his team feel like they\u2019ve realized more about what not to do in game development. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDevelopers are notorious for not taking care of themselves and practically living at the studio, working, you know, 70-80 hour game weeks,\u201d Lackey explains. \u201cYet that\u2019s what we did through the whole production of this game. We didn\u2019t expect that at all. When we met our composer we were telling people the game would be done by the end of the year – that was four years ago\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Lackey tells me how the team had unrealistic expectations and deadlines that they kept missing the mark on, leading to a vicious cycle. It was a <\/span>GDC talk from Jason Rohrer about maintaining productivity<\/a> that started to change things for them.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe talks about how the career of indie developers is akin to an author, because you work for years in solitude, then put it out into the world and see what happens\u201d Lackey tells me.<\/p>\n

This led Lackey to read interviews concerning the British author Roald Dahl about how he would only spend four hours a day writing in focused stints in the shed in his backyard. This led Lackey\u2019s team to experiment with that style and it revolutionized their productivity. They worked more than four hours a day, but by setting discrete boundaries their productivity spiked. <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet spending six years emotionally invested in one project caused problems for the team. \u201cYou have these amazing games where you hear stories about how the developers worked long and hard and just invested their life into it, but that\u2019s very dangerous – you can hurt yourself emotionally. We were starting to care too much and there was too much at stake.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The next two paragraphs contain spoilers for the finale of <\/em>The Pedestrian<\/p>\n

Lackey tells me one of his greatest regrets is listening to peers who were against implementing the game\u2019s ending, which sees the symbolic protagonist escape his 2D confines and flip to first-person, as they inhabit the body of a human to solve physical representations of the game\u2019s puzzles with real objects. <\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a mind-bending twist evocative of the ending of Portal <\/em>that demands to be seen, but the team delayed working on it until late in the project. Despite it being a clear highlight for players, the team wanted it to feel more impactful, akin to an M Night Shyamalan movie. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe just ran out of time. And it\u2019s funny because, we say that but it\u2019s not like we have producers breathing down our neck, telling us we\u2019re running out of money,\u201d Lackey tells me. \u201cWe were just feeling extremely burnt out and put our foot down – we decided that this grand finale mechanic is so awesome, we have to treat it like a teaser trailer for what\u2019s to come.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Postpartum depression <\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

With all the effort The Pedestrian<\/em> required, Lackey describes this period after the game\u2019s release as something akin to postpartum depression. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve visualized yourself completing the game and you\u2019re so excited about it, and you think about how you\u2019ll be much more happy and things will be better,\u201d Lackey tells me. \u201cBut honestly? Nothing feels different. Other than the amazing compliments we\u2019ve gotten to encourage us that this was worth our time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

To fight off the ennui, Daniel and his brother Jed started prototyping their next project a week after The Pedestrian launched. \u201cI think in a strange way, it\u2019s healthy for us – it keeps your mind off checking Reddit and Twitter and looking at stats.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

As for the future of The Pedestrian<\/em>, the team are averse to DLC due to the one-off nature of the game, but the potential for a sequel is not lost on them. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want to leave The Pedestrian<\/em> behind, but we are definitely burnt out on the title, so we\u2019ll be taking a break as soon as it\u2019s been ported to consoles,” Lackey says. “It\u2019ll be on the PS4, Switch and possibly Xbox as well.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

The team are taking a break from the game to work on something else for their own sake, though the idea of a sequel is not out of the question. They express concern about pivoting too hard from puzzle games given the fanbase that they\u2019ve built, but realize the focus should be on making what they enjoy first. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m happy we did it, but I\u2019m glad it\u2019s over because it was not always easy or fun,\u201d Lackey says of The Pedestrian<\/em>. \u201cBut I\u2019m proud to be part of the puzzle genre – one that is very near and dear to our hearts.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Envisioning and executing a refreshing premise in the saturated genre of puzzle games is a rare feat. Even more ambitious is trying to do that with your debut game, as a trio of homeschooled teenagers from Ohio. If you\u2019re yet to play Skookum Arts\u2019 The Pedestrian, it\u2019s a node-based puzzler where you play as a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":110639,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110638\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}