So I wasn't actually using the SDK to load the files, I was doing it all myself to get around those problems. "I would allocate a huge chunk of memory for that, and then in order to avoid memory fragmentation, I would just load the files into that chunk. So we couldn't load each frame at a time, which meant we had to create these big, individual images that I had just packed into a single file," says Inman, explaining how each of those files are essentially film strips. "The initial look-up to locate the file on disk took a really long time. He says that, early on in development, there were "a lot of issues" with bandwidth and actually accessing the files needed to ensure the game could stream frames of animation as quickly as players could crank them out. Inman also recalls how another big issue the team ran into concerned memory management. So reconciling those two timelines broke my brain for a week, but we eventually figured it out."
", you only advance it as you crank, and that's dependent on the speed of the crank. Then you have the timeline that Crankin and Crankette are on, which is powered by the crank," he says. It's always moving forwards and time is constantly elapsing. "You have one timeline that enemies are on. Are you having a wind up?Ĭhatting about how time manipulation works in the 2D space, Inman explains how there are two timelines in the game. The design document also reveals that Takahashi flirted with the notion of other hazards including but not limited to the police, vehicles, and "flying poop." How many of these made it into the final product remains to be seen. In the final game, these take the form of butterflies that, while equally deadly due to their poisonous powder, feel decidedly more wholesome when on-screen. To that end, the veteran designer rustled up a comprehensive design document (dated November 2015!) littered with details explaining everything from how the core cranking mechanic works - "this game’s mechanic is like an old type film projector, all his animation and behaviour are present" - to early enemy concepts that were eventually tweaked to make the title more family friendly.įor instance, at one stage Crankin would've needed to dodge knives being flung at him by some off-screen murderer. Still, with no hardware in sight and work underway, Takahasi wanted to ensure production ran smoothly by pulling together a crystal clear plan. Inman recalls how the team spent that much time testing the feature, the rubber eventually completely wore off the thumbstick. To find a workaround, the dev team managed to use the right analog stick of a gamepad to simulate the crank in tandem with the SDK, which captured the variable speed metrics needed to fine-tune the control scheme. Some developers I've spoken with ultimately decided against making the crank do heavy lifting for that reason, but in the case of Crankin' that simply wasn't an option. While that in itself wasn't a huge concern due to the Playdate SDK being pretty robust, it did mean the team had no way to preview crank inputs in the real-world.
Like many Playdate maestros, Uvula began production on Crankin' before they had access to hardware. Speaking to Game Developer last year about the journey from design doc to download, Takahashi, Mohler, and Inman broke down some of the more unique aspects of developing for Playdate with a view to helping other creators follow in their footsteps. It's a simple premise but one that's elevated thanks to some delightfully expressive animation and novel design elements that makes the most of the title's unique control scheme and Playdate's modest screen real estate.
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In-game, players can rotate the Playdate's attached crank forwards and backwards to advance or rewind Crankin's timeline, helping our drowsy protagonist avoid obstacles as he attempts to meet his darling Crankette for a series of very important dates.
Given the secretive nature of Playdate development - Panic wants to keep most of its Season One releases a surprise - Crankin' has become something of a poster child for the equilateral console, and has been featured heavily in trailers and promotional shots due to its emphasis on placing the iconic crank front and centre. Uvula was assisted with development by Panic engineer Shaun Inman - who also masterminded Playdate's in-browser game engine, Pulp - and sound designer Matthew Grim.
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