Welcome to another edition of Developer Diaries! This week, we spoke to Luke Webster who recently released the adventure game, Bilkins Folly.
START OFF BY INTRODUCING YOURSELF
I'm Luke Webster, creator of Bilkins' Folly. Previously, I've made Cracked Crusaders under the Webbysoft banner and worked on Wildfire - a stealth game by Sneaky Bastards.
CAN YOU TELL US A BIT ABOUT BILKINS’ FOLLY?
In Bilkins' Folly, you play Percy Bilkins as he travels across multiple Caribbean islands searching for his missing mother and grandfather. You also have Drayton – your canine companion – to help in the adventure. As the relationship between Percy and Drayton grows, you'll unlock new skills together, allowing you to gain access to previously out-of-reach areas with the help of your pooch.
Bilkins' Folly is a narrative-driven puzzle game that takes inspiration from the top-down action-adventure genre (such as Zelda… minus the combat). Puzzles come in many different varieties, but the main gameplay loop involves the player receiving maps and clues, and digging up the solutions with their shovel.
HOW HAS THE DEVELOPMENT JOURNEY BEEN AND WHAT MADE YOU CHOOSE CONSTRUCT?
I chose Construct as it was the tool I had the most familiarity with.
Prior to being a full-time game dev, I was a high school teacher and taught several different game design classes. The first tool I ever introduced to my students was Construct (2 at first, then 3 later on). After working in that for a semester, students who wished to transition to 3D would move to Unity, while the rest would, more often than not, choose to stay in Construct for their assessment projects. By the time I decided to make my first solo game, I already had three years of using Construct daily with my students. From that perspective, it was an easy transition.
The development journey of Bilkins' Folly hasn't been too bad. I planned to make it in three years and only ran overtime by about six months. Early on, I decided I wouldn't try to make a game of this size without the support of a publisher, and so spent the first 12 months working on a prototype to present in a submission package. This worked out well for me, and I signed with Armor Games Studio, giving me the opportunity to work on Bilkins full-time.
WHAT'S BEEN YOUR BIGGEST DEVELOPMENT HURDLE SO FAR?
If I had to pick, it'd have to be getting certified for console!
Thankfully, I was able to bring on Ratalaika's services to get the game over to console – without them, this would be a PC-only game. For a while there, I was pretty concerned though. I made use of some pretty big third-party plugins, and they had to be translated to C++ before the game could even launch in the console runtime. If I could go back in time, I'd be a lot pickier about third-party plugins knowing that I'd want to target consoles from the get-go.
HOW HAS IT BEEN WORKING WITH ARMOR GAME STUDIOS AS A PUBLISHER?
They've been fantastic!
I always knew that Bilkins wouldn't happen without a publisher, so I'm happy that I got to sign with them. The offer actually came about from social media – their producer retweeted one of my gifs and I used that as an opening to introduce myself to the studio.
When it came time to sign the contract, I had a couple of different offers on the table. I was taking a bit of time researching the process and watched a video on GDC Vault about what red flags to be aware of when signing with a games publisher. The creator of that video was actually an Armor employee, and that sense that they're trying to look out for developers is something I think comes genuinely from them.
Having seen all the work they've done behind the scenes over the last two years, there's no way I'd ever try and release a game without a publisher.
ANY MEMORABLE STORIES FROM WORKING ON THIS PROJECT?
This isn't Bilkins specific, but my first game as a solo dev – Cracked Crusaders – was created as a response to some of my students who were questioning how much they could achieve with the engine.
As the advanced 3D students had transitioned to Unity, there were a few students voicing the concern that they were learning a tool that wouldn't be applicable to a real-world game development environment. I decided that the best way to allay those fears was to demonstrate first-hand the process of designing, producing, and releasing a game in Construct.
They got to take part in some of the early design decisions, and jumped in for playtesting later on, before finally getting to download it themselves on the App and Play stores. I think the project must've been a success as I no longer had students questioning the validity of the engine.
DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE FOR PEOPLE DOING THEIR OWN GAME PROJECTS?
I guess my first bit of advice is that thing devs will always tell you – and what I used to always tell my students – start on small projects first! Bilkins' Folly is the culmination of years of playing in the engine prior to taking on something that big.
Secondly, know your audience early. By that I mean, if you think your game might target consoles, don't leave it until the last minute to test controller support or speak to porting studios who will help get you on other systems. I feel like targeting a console release should be an automatic six-month add-on to any timeframe estimates… Especially if it's your first time around.
WHERE CAN PEOPLE FIND OUT MORE ABOUT BILKINS’ FOLLY?
You can check out the game’s website, or give us a follow on social media. Plus, it’s available on Steam and consoles, so be sure to look for it in the stores!
ANY FINAL THOUGHTS?
Construct is an amazing engine for making 2D games!
While its user base might be a lot smaller than something like Unity or Unreal, where it really shines is in the tight-knit community that exists – partially as a result of the smaller user base. I've lost count of the times I've jumped on the Construct Community Discord channel with a question, only for there to be a couple of experienced users online willing to lend a hand and jump in with answers. It's the real strength of the engine and something that has contributed to the relatively hassle-free development of Bilkins' Folly!
Cheers!