PINPIN #1 — Setting Up Shop

Hey everyone! Happy Friday, happy February, and happy first devlog! I'm excited to get this show on the road, and I hope that you're here ready to see some cool stuff, too. If you're asking "Now what's all this then?", I suggest you check out our introductory post "A One-Way Ticket" to see what all this is, then. I went into some decent detail trying to explain the game we're working on.

TLDR: We're making a pinball RPG. It's gonna be awesome.

And it is my great pleasure to reintroduce the name of our awesome pinball RPG with a new kick-ass logo hot off the press:

PINPIN: TILTEDTALE launches tomorrow for the—

Oh, I'm being told that's not the case yet. Sorry. No launch yet, folks (yet!).

But a big round of applause is still in order for our Design Director, Tim, for coming up with this logo. It shows off the cute and playful aesthetics of the game in a silly yet gorgeous style.

Much of our work these past two weeks have been a lot of housekeeping. That's not to mention we're only working with two weeks of progress instead of two months. Sheesh! Getting documents in order, establishing schedules, stocking the imaginary fridge in the imaginary break room with imaginary drinks, all that jazz. Very important work, but not the most exciting. I'm not gonna sit here and give a summary of our technology development plan. I also don't think my folks at Oscuroso would want me to spill our internal documents (boohoo!).

Even still, we're drumming up concepts left and right, building up the world and trying to capture that juxtaposition of pinball, kidcore, and RPG. You may have been wondering how these pinball battles look like to the inhabitants of PINPIN. Is the pinball board just a really wacky non-diegetic metaphor for combat?

Not at all! When a PinPin battle starts between two opposing parties, the world transform into two massive play fields to allow for some intense dueling. These areas are transformed through a combination of Pin's magic and the will of the parties involved. Because there's an investment of an animal's self, PinPin battles aren't all fun and games.

Except for when they are, such as in the PocketPin battle below. Ain't it sweet?

What takes place on the board in PinPin battles can be felt by the involved parties, the intensity of effects influenced by a multitude of factors such as emotions, intent, resolve, etc. A battle between friends can merely end with some choice words and hurt feelings while a battle between rival gangs could end with an alleyway of knocked out animals.

Still, nothing relieves stress and solves conflict like a good PinPin fight. You'd be hard pressed to find someone that would turn down the chance to battle and have fun. Well, hard pressed if it weren't for Pino, the main character who's a little grump about the predicament he's found himself in. After all, his adventures begins in the heart of the PINPIN world, Pin City! A bustling metropolis with Pin Academy sitting at its center, every twist and turn is adorned with pinball paraphernalia. Take these pizza shops, for example, where each name is a pinball pun. To do otherwise would probably be too blasphemous for the animals to bear.

And one of the greatest attractions of Pin City is the gigantic pinball that sits in a park. There are actually a couple of these scattered across the world from the era when Pin threw a fit and tried to eradicate all animals on the planet. Wonder if they'll have any importance?

Lastly, what's a city if not the people that inhabit it? Well, in the world of PINPIN, there are actually no people. All of the inhabitants are animals and are referred to as such (and if you've got a keen eye, you've probably picked up on that). No humankind or person here, just animals, animals, animals. Takes these cute canines, for instance, showing the different shapes and sizes of the animals of PINPIN. This is only the tip of the iceberg for a look at the world, so stay tuned for more!

In our last post, we showed off a very short prototype of the battle system, but fights are only half of the fun in this game. Gotta have somewhere to go to and from battles, after all. Take a look at this wandering Pino below:

That's right, PINPIN will take place with 2D characters navigating a 3D environment. Best of both worlds! This is where you'll be spending most of your time with the gang, talking to characters, picking up items, solving puzzles, and getting into the frequent PinPin battle. Don't mind that Pino is navigating a barren wasteland of cubes. He'll find his way back to civilization eventually. If he doesn't, he probably deserved it.

Over the next two months, we're going to work on building out the game's mechanics and aesthetics to show off in more snippets. A cut scene with some dialogue happening down a city street that triggers a battle? You can bet it's coming!

That's all I've got for you this time, but we're just getting started here! Check us out on Bluesky and follow us for regular updates or subscribe directly to our mailing list. It's a long but exciting adventure ahead of us.

See ya' next time.