THE ADVENTURE PALS
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The Adventure Pals was another game my son and I played at GX. He was full of questions like, “Why is there a giraffe in my backpack?” and “How is this game so fun?” Artist and designer, Julian Wilton, was able to explain many things. He says, “We wanted people to be able to pick it up, instantly be able to play and for it be intuitive. We wouldn’t stop work until it felt fun to jump, for example. If it doesn’t feel good to do a simple action, it’s not going to follow through to the rest of the game.” I can also attest to their time and attention being well spent. (It’s really fun.)
As to the giraffe, worryingly, its hover ability originally relied on having the animal rotating its neck like a helicopter. Wilton tells us, “Then, I put his tongue out and had a little whirl with it, instead. I like the idea you
could have saliva particles going everywhere.” As one of the game’s typically weird aesthetic choices, this totally works, as do the bright colours and exaggerated animations. In fact, my son’s favourite thing to do is to run up to the edges of cliffs, just to watch the boy precariously overbalancing and to hear me scream, “Noooo.”
Wilton says, “I just enjoy making really cute things. A few of our big inspirations were Castle Crashers, Adventure Time and Gravity Falls. I love the vibrancy of animation and cartoons.” So yes, cupcakes and hotdogs, and animal friends, set as a quirky platformer that you’ll just straight up enjoy playing. I strongly suspect The Adventure Pals will be surrounded by people, so skip your lazy PAX breakfast and get there early. Just consider the merits of a pacifist playthrough and sidestep the guilt my son experienced after taking out the cutest squirrel.