After reviewing the wonderful Castle Pals. I found out through my wife that the developer has cited that the game was developed for his son and his friend. Intrigued by this story I decided to reach out to the developer to discover more. Not only did he respond but he actually answered all my questions. So I wanted to share this with the wonderful Ladies Gamers community. Remember behind every game is a development story and it’s those stories I love to hear about. Therefore, without any further adieu please welcome Brad Erkkila.
Career in Graphical Design
I noticed that you’ve had a long career in Graphical Design, what turned your attention to game development?
I was always interested in art growing up, and Graphic Design seemed like a great place to use that interest for a career. I worked in the news media industry in Canada for 14 years. It’s such a tough industry and has been for a long time. I started learning how to make games in 2014 as a hobby at first, but after various solo and collaborative releases, game development eventually became sustainable on its own. I turned my attention full-time to games in 2017.
A long history of drawing
Your portfolio describes a long history of drawing. What was your favourite thing to draw when you were in school?
Comic strips. I actually had a desire to try my hand at being a cartoonist as well, but that obviously didn’t work out.
Doodling away
Do you still doodle today, what is your favourite thing to doodle?
I still draw the odd comic strip for myself every now and then. Also, most of my character designs start with pencil and paper in a sketch book. You can also find level design sketches in there as well. Levels always start there.
Time to play video games?
Do you play video games in your spare time? Could you share some of your favourites?
Honestly, not as much as I would like. But, I do try and play different things with my son on Saturday mornings. I also play a lot of games by fellow developers during the development process, offering feedback and the like. I used to play Gears of War on the Xbox 360 years and years ago with friends. I’ve now rediscovered that series with Gears 5 and I try and play with friends every couple weeks.
Inspiration behind Castle Pals
I was really warmed to hear on twitter how Castle Pals was inspired by your child and his friend and that it was 4 years in the making. Could you possibly share how Castle Pals came about, from that inspiration to becoming a cute as heck game?
My first game for mobile was called Owen’s Odyssey in 2014, which obviously starred my son. It was sort of a Flappy Bird platformer. A nice introduction into game design where I could concentrate on finishing something using a tried and true mechanic. I told his friend Kylee that I would put them both in the sequel in about 2015. That idea knocked around in my head for a couple years as I worked on other, smaller things. Level design is exhausting and I didn’t really want to jump into a traditional platformer right away.
I didn’t actually start production properly until the beginning of 2018, with development taking about 4 months. Owen’s hat mechanic existed in the original game and I decided to make Kylee more action oriented, but not too complicated. Nothing more complex than Mario’s raccoon tail in Mario 3.
Originally, the player would be able to switch between both characters at will during levels. But, that presented level design flaws. If Owen could basically fly anywhere and avoid enemies, the player would never use Kylee to fight them. That’s where splitting them up came from.
Owen and Kylee
What do the REAL Owen and Kylee think of the game?
They love the idea of being in their own game. Kylee’s parents love it as well. I’m putting both characters in another unrelated game I’m working on, so they’re spoiled.
Do you play video games with your Son? If so which ones?
We do, yes. I’ve introduced him to the old Star Wars Battlefront games and we play that in split screen. We also beat the old Plants Vs Zombies game together. Brilliant game. He plays a lot of Minecraft, too. I try and peak in on what he’s building from time to time.
First Switch Title
Castle Pals appears to be your first Switch title. What do you think of the Switch as a console? Do you plan to release more of your IOS games to the system in the future?
It’s an excellent machine. I really enjoy the portability of it. I can see Switch releases as part of my schedule moving forward.
What about the future?
Lastly do you have any future projects in the works that you can tease?
Well, Golf Zero, a golf platformer that I worked on with frequent collaborator Colin Lane, is being ported by Ratalaika Games. Look for that soon!
As for currently in development projects, I have a third game in my FlipChamps series in development. It’s a very small game and will likely only be mobile only. But, myself and Colin are working on Rowdy Wrestling 2. It’s a sequel to our wacky physics arcade game called, not surprisingly, Rowdy Wrestling. We’re adding much more depth with a robust career mode. You can train your character, do side jobs for extra cash and work your way up the ranks on your road to glory. It’s been a lot of fun to work on. I’m responsible for the art in that. We’re hoping to have that on mobile, consoles and Steam.
I want to once again thank Brad for taking the time out of what must be a rather busy schedule. You can find out more about his portfolio here. Be sure to check out Castle Pals on Nintendo Switch, PS4 or X box One. I very much look forward to future projects from Brad and to see what adventures are in store for Owen and Kylee next.
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