PLEASE START US OFF BY INTRODUCING YOURSELF:

I am Narwhalnut and I am a solo game developer! I have always loved drawing cute creatures and programming little worlds. It’s my dream to do indie game development full time.

I released my first game over 7 years ago as a little hobbyist project. I went on to develop Belle Boomerang for Steam and Nintendo Switch. I think that’s where I learned the most about game design and development. I am now working on my newest game, INSECTILE!

TELL US ABOUT INSECTILE.

INSECTILE a creature collector RPG where you piece bugs together to form attacks!

I always thought shape puzzles would be an interesting addition to an RPG battle system. In a way, it kind of replaces the need for magic points. Spells that are more powerful have larger shapes that are harder to use on a given turn.

I tried out the idea in a project called Carni-Forest. It was for a game jam with really tight graphical limitations, so the idea of putting the enemies on the board with the spells came about as a way to save inputs and screen space. It ended up being super fun!

John Walker later wrote an article about the game on his site, Buried Treasure. His article inspired and encouraged me to turn the jam project into a full game.

HOW HAS THE DEVELOPMENT JOURNEY BEEN

It has been a blessing to develop INSECTILE. I really love the style and battle mechanics I am able to work with.

WHICH GAME ENGINE DID YOU CHOOSE AND WHY?

I chose Godot for this project. I mostly just wanted to try it out to see if I would like it (and I absolutely do). I also got some strong recommendations for it from my college professors. In my experience, Godot promotes positive software design patterns.

WHAT'S BEEN YOUR BIGGEST DEVELOPMENT HURDLE SO FAR?

INSECTILE has been surprisingly hard to balance. This is really easy to see in Carni-Forest. Battles can get to feeling sluggish and numbers can inflate really fast. The first prototype for INSECTILE had players bored in about 10-20 minutes. I was worried at that point that the idea really couldn’t work as a full game.

I had to go back to the drawing board and determine why battles felt like a chore. Though the puzzle board aspect was really interesting, I think it was turning super quick enemy encounters into tedious interactions. I predicted that focusing more on clever combinations of bugs that finish battles fast would make the game more engaging. So, I reworked encounters to be only 1-2 turns and implemented new status conditions like SCARE that reward smart placements.

It came time to test a new prototype and my prediction was right! Players were thinking much more about creature variety and rarely felt disengaged in encounters. I now keep a design document for the game that helps me make sure every mechanic I add draws from and enhances those core concepts.

ADVICE FOR FELLOW DEVS?

Never hold on to any of your ideas too tightly! I think my willingness to step back and rethink INSECTILE at multiple points in development is why the demo has been so well received. Be willing to throw out stuff that’s broken to make room for new ideas. In my experience, a better idea nearly always comes along if I am looking for it!

ANY FINAL THOUGHTS?

Thank you so much for reaching out! I hope to create a fantastic game that all sorts of players will love!

Narwhalnut.

Insectile on Steam