Find out How an Adorable Duck Drove us to Get Creative with Dodo Duckie

We’ve all skilled a time once we’re surrounded by individuals but really feel utterly out of place. That’s the precise feeling Dodo Duckie begins from: a duckling raised amongst chickens, satisfied one thing is unsuitable with him as a result of he simply can’t slot in.

A number of years in the past, we had been an unproven crew pitching a large, overly bold sport to publishers. Getting backing for a challenge of that scale is extremely troublesome in India’s indie scene, and the passes we obtained again ultimately pressured a sensible query: What can we truly construct and see via to the tip utterly on our personal?

The reply turned out to be a duck.

I’m Samhith, the inventive director at BornMonkie, a small indie studio in India that I run alongside my sister and producer, Samveda. That is the story behind our debut puzzle platformer, Dodo Duckie – now accessible on Xbox Sequence X|S and PC.

Though Dodo’s seek for belonging comes from a deeply private place for us, we needed his journey to really feel like a heat hug. It’s a vivid, cozy world the place his clumsy makes an attempt to slot in are performed for laughs, turning a heavy theme right into a light-hearted journey about playful discovery.

Quacking the Code

Again within the day, most of the studios we glance up to began their journeys with iconic mascot platformers. Wanting again, we realized we had by accident adopted of their precise footsteps with Dodo Duckie.

We constructed our first prototype again in 2019, however as a busy service studio, the sport turned a long-term labor of affection. For years, we chipped away at it on and off between consumer jobs and 1,000,000 different prototypes. Early on, we made a radical design resolution: take away the bounce mechanic solely from a 3D house.

We initially assumed this distinctive switching mechanic can be our principal hook. However as gamers examined the sport, they confirmed us one thing else: they had been falling for Dodo  Duckie earlier than they even understood the puzzles. That suggestions modified how we checked out our personal sport. We realized Dodo’s persona was the entrance door, and our puzzle design was the explanation to keep when you walked via. Juggling service work meant it took till 2025 to totally notice this imaginative and prescient, however we’ve lastly constructed a house we will’t anticipate gamers to enter.

Getting Dodo Simply Proper

Getting the sport to truly look proper was a large hurdle, we spent two to three months iterating on prototypes we simply weren’t blissful with. The turning level got here when our Artwork director, Vincent Boichut, joined the crew and identified the actual drawback. As a result of we had been balancing tight assets, we solely had the finances to construct a single set of property that had to work completely throughout two views. Every little thing had to be learn clearly, whether or not gamers noticed it head-on in 3D or flattened into 2D.

That restraint turned our superpower. It’s the actual purpose the world leans towards clear shapes, rounded edges, and vibrant colours. What seems to be like a purely stylistic selection was truly born out of a necessity for excellent readability, although we’re thrilled it occurs to be extraordinarily cute, too.

Discovering Our Wings

Beneath the puzzles is a narrative we care about deeply. Dodo grows up amongst chickens, making an attempt desperately to slot in earlier than studying that his variations are precisely what make him particular. It’s a battle our crew is aware of intimately. Rising up in India’s extremely aggressive tradition, pursuing a inventive profession in sport growth meant combating towards strict expectations and risking isolation simply to do what we love. Dodo’s journey is ours.

Due to that, we selected to inform his story with out heavy dialogue, leaning as an alternative on animation, bodily comedy, and character expression. We needed the emotional beats to really feel like a Pixar quick, touchdown purely via what you see, making Dodo’s story common it doesn’t matter what language you converse.

Our journey has lastly come to life. Dodo Duckie is now accessible on Xbox Sequence X|S and PC!

If there’s one factor we hope gamers take away from our little chook’s story, it’s this: a leap doesn’t have to look swish to depend.

Generally it simply has to occur.