rarelikeaunicorn Exclusive Developer Interview for Pip!
We had a chance to sit down with the solo dev behind rarelikeaunicorn to chat more in depth about his new game, Pip! Check out the exclusive interview below!
Hi There! Please give us a quick introduction of rarelikeaunicorn. What’s your mission?
Hi! I’m Travis but I mostly go by Rare online, so feel free to stick with that. I’m a hobbyist game developer slowly working towards the long-term goal of making games and other forms of art my profession in life. My goal is to make accessible, enjoyable experiences for players while also bringing something new to every project. I have a strong fondness for slightly older game consoles/aesthetics, particularly the late 80s into the mid 90s, and meshing those with modern game design concepts is where I feel most at home.
What’s a fun fact that others may not know about yourself?
There was a time where I was getting close to becoming a professional bowler. I ended up deciding to go to college instead of focusing on the sport which was totally a mistake.
How did you get involved in developing indie games?
My first babysitters as a kid were my SNES and then my PSX. Ever since then I’ve had a fascination with interactive storytelling and digital gaming. As I grew up and found myself wanting to be creative and tell my own stories it felt like a natural fit and, after several years of procrastinating or being peripherally active, I’ve started to focus a lot more on game development as of late 2017.
What do you do when you’re not developing indie games?
Mostly I work a normal day job and explore some other artistic outlets, including writing fiction and creating typefaces.
Let’s talk about Pip! now. This high flying platformer is tons of fun and has more than enough feathers to go around! How did you come up with this amazing concept?
The original concept artwork for Pip! has been sitting around on my computer for over a year with no real plan to ever use it. When I started working in PICO-8 (a fantasy console developed with retro games in mind, and the software which I used to create Pip!) I created a bunch of mockups using the restricted color palette and resolution that the software would allow for.
Late last year I was itching to start a new project and decided to use the old concept art as placeholders until I decided what the game would become. After the first couple days of development and seeing the art in motion it just started to feel right so I kept on working with my little birb buddy. (Fun fact: Pip started life off as a duck named Darlin’.)
What was the biggest challenge you encountered in building Pip!?
Trying to make the experience of being a bird feel good while also getting a flying mechanic to work without rendering level design irrelevant. Unlimited flight is neat at first but can be way too powerful in a platformer if you’re not careful. At this point I hadn’t sorted out what the player needed to do to complete the game yet either. Tying the strength of the player’s flying into their progress through the game felt like a natural extension of the traditional Metroidvania formula, so I was able to kill two birds with one stone.
What was your budget for Pip!?
Nothing! This was a project I started for fun and practice which grew into something a little more solid over the course of development. I would love to tackle a larger version with a budget at some point though.
8. What lessons have you learned through the stages of development of Pip!?
Save your files with clear names and update your code comments immediately or you’ll probably regret it later.
Don’t be afraid to kill your darlings: early in development I added a little ‘bonk’ mechanic where you would lose control of Pip if you ran into a wall or ceiling while flying. It was really cute to me thematically as a tie-in to their being very young/inexperienced, like you hadn’t quite sorted out the whole “being a bird” thing yet. The more I designed and played though the less fun it became to constantly worry about losing control for minor mistakes. Eventually I cut it entirely, with the remnants recycled into the temporary damage state you enter if you touch the lava.
Lastly, have playtesters come in to give you feedback before designing the entire game; they may tell you something doesn’t work and you’ll have to edit so much that all those pretty levels could get thrown away.
What feature did you develop for Pip! that caused you to step outside your comfort zone?
Polishing the physics of Pip’s movement forced me to work with more math than I like to. Tweaking the basic gravity itself plus the strength of Pip’s jumps and airjump was a delicate and intertwined process. One seemingly tiny change could make an area completely impossible or way too easy and I found myself having to adjust the numbers over and over and over to get close to something I was happy with.
Anything you want to tell the Plexstorm community before we sign off?
Just a big thanks to everyone JI appreciate all the effort the streamers put in to their content as well as all the work that goes on behind the scenes for a site like Plexstorm. Here’s hoping people have a bit of fun with Pip!. There’s nothing like the feeling of stumbling upon a total stranger playing something you created just because they found it and liked it; it’s one of my favorite moments that comes out of making these games.
The full version of Pip! is available for download HERE for free, but if you would like to show your support further, you are more than welcome to pay what you think is fair for the game. Be sure to visit and engage with rarelikeaunicorn via the game’s Itch.io page and the developer’s official Twitter handle below as well!
As always, thanks for reading and keep on streaming! ❤
