08-25-2020, 04:12 PM
How Fall Guys’ bouncing, bumbling beans gave the game its soul
<div style="margin: 5px 5% 10px 5%;"><img src="https://www.sickgaming.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/how-fall-guys-bouncing-bumbling-beans-gave-the-game-its-soul.jpg" width="646" height="365" title="" alt="" /></div><div><p>Mediatonic creative director Jeff Tanton has <a href="https://twitter.com/Jeff_Tanton/status/1296494780998922240">shared a fascinating thread on Twitte</a>r revealing how the internal pitch for <em>Fall Guys </em>took shape. </p>
<p>The popular battle royale initially started out with the working title of ‘<em>Fools Gauntlet</em>,’ and was conceived by lead game designer Joe Walsh as a 100 player battle royale slalom that asked competitors to duke it out for a share of a 1 million gold prize pool. </p>
<p>While the core idea of getting a bunch of players to navigate a series of complex and hilarious obstacle courses was there from the get-go, the concept was ultimately scaled back from 100 players to 60 so that games would be “readable” and most importantly, fun. </p>
<p>Smitten with Walsh’s proposal, Tanton worked with him to put together a pitch deck within 24 hours, and with the help of principal concept artist Dan Hoang even managed to envision how the game might look. </p>
<p>What’s striking about that initial concept art is how faithful it is to the final product. According to Tanton, those images also brought about an epiphany. It made them realize that a game like <em>Fall Guys</em> wasn’t just about the obstacle courses, but also the plucky competitors who’re actually running the gauntlet. </p>
<p><img alt height="365" src="https://www.sickgaming.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/how-fall-guys-bouncing-bumbling-beans-gave-the-game-its-soul.jpg" width="646"></p>
<p>“This image (above) was super important for two reasons. First, all great pitch doc images make you wish you had a controller in your hands. I took one look at this and wanted to play the game,” explains Tanton. </p>
<p>“Second, the BEANS. Obviously just little capsule shapes Dan had thrown in but suddenly we realized the focus of this game was the competitors… not just the course”</p>
<p>“That’s probably where ‘<em>Fall Guys</em>‘ as a game title first appeared (RIP Fool’s Gauntlet and ‘Stumble Chums’) — our characters that would fail for our amusement, but crucially always get back up again. Always. They would be heroic in their indefatigability.”</p>
<p>Fast forward to August 2020, and there are over 2 million of those bumbling, bouncing, beans <a href="https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/367938/Fall_Guys_has_sold_over_2_million_copies_on_Steam_alone.php">running amok on Steam alone</a>, but there were still plenty of challenges to overcome before Mediatonic reached that point. To hear more about those, be sure to <a href="https://twitter.com/Jeff_Tanton/status/1296494780998922240">check out Tanton’s full thread on Twitter</a>.</p>
</div>
https://www.sickgaming.net/blog/2020/08/...-its-soul/
<div style="margin: 5px 5% 10px 5%;"><img src="https://www.sickgaming.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/how-fall-guys-bouncing-bumbling-beans-gave-the-game-its-soul.jpg" width="646" height="365" title="" alt="" /></div><div><p>Mediatonic creative director Jeff Tanton has <a href="https://twitter.com/Jeff_Tanton/status/1296494780998922240">shared a fascinating thread on Twitte</a>r revealing how the internal pitch for <em>Fall Guys </em>took shape. </p>
<p>The popular battle royale initially started out with the working title of ‘<em>Fools Gauntlet</em>,’ and was conceived by lead game designer Joe Walsh as a 100 player battle royale slalom that asked competitors to duke it out for a share of a 1 million gold prize pool. </p>
<p>While the core idea of getting a bunch of players to navigate a series of complex and hilarious obstacle courses was there from the get-go, the concept was ultimately scaled back from 100 players to 60 so that games would be “readable” and most importantly, fun. </p>
<p>Smitten with Walsh’s proposal, Tanton worked with him to put together a pitch deck within 24 hours, and with the help of principal concept artist Dan Hoang even managed to envision how the game might look. </p>
<p>What’s striking about that initial concept art is how faithful it is to the final product. According to Tanton, those images also brought about an epiphany. It made them realize that a game like <em>Fall Guys</em> wasn’t just about the obstacle courses, but also the plucky competitors who’re actually running the gauntlet. </p>
<p><img alt height="365" src="https://www.sickgaming.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/how-fall-guys-bouncing-bumbling-beans-gave-the-game-its-soul.jpg" width="646"></p>
<p>“This image (above) was super important for two reasons. First, all great pitch doc images make you wish you had a controller in your hands. I took one look at this and wanted to play the game,” explains Tanton. </p>
<p>“Second, the BEANS. Obviously just little capsule shapes Dan had thrown in but suddenly we realized the focus of this game was the competitors… not just the course”</p>
<p>“That’s probably where ‘<em>Fall Guys</em>‘ as a game title first appeared (RIP Fool’s Gauntlet and ‘Stumble Chums’) — our characters that would fail for our amusement, but crucially always get back up again. Always. They would be heroic in their indefatigability.”</p>
<p>Fast forward to August 2020, and there are over 2 million of those bumbling, bouncing, beans <a href="https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/367938/Fall_Guys_has_sold_over_2_million_copies_on_Steam_alone.php">running amok on Steam alone</a>, but there were still plenty of challenges to overcome before Mediatonic reached that point. To hear more about those, be sure to <a href="https://twitter.com/Jeff_Tanton/status/1296494780998922240">check out Tanton’s full thread on Twitter</a>.</p>
</div>
https://www.sickgaming.net/blog/2020/08/...-its-soul/