We recently reported on the disbandment of indie developer Renegade Kid and followed it up with an interview featuring both founding members, Jools Watsham and Gregg Hargrove. As part of their surprisingly amicable split, both devs have already formed new teams and started work on their own individual projects. We will obviously be keeping tabs on both, but we recently caught up with Jools to preview Chicken Wiggle, the first Nintendo 3DS eShop release from his new development team - Atooi.
As soon as you pick it up and start playing, the feeling of Chicken Wiggle is one of nuanced familiarity. It's a puzzle platformer with a twist – not entirely a surprise when considering the fact that it's from the creative mind behind the Mutant Mudds series. The aesthetic will be immediately recognized by anyone acquainted with Renegade Kid's library of 2D titles, but that's about where the similarities both begin and end.
The premise of Chicken Wiggle revolves around a tiny chicken and his worm pal who must rescue other chicks from labyrinthine stages. The chicken is your main character, handling the majority of work including walking, jumping, and pecking at enemies to knock them off of the screen. Despite doing most of the heavy lifting, our chicken pal wouldn't get anywhere without his trusty worm sidekick.
Residing in the chicken's backpack, and giving off definite Banjo-Kazooie vibes, the worm can be called upon as a sort of projectile weapon/grappling hook – think Link's hookshot from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, but a little grosser. Launching the worm at an enemy will stun the creature and stop it in its tracks, but the worm's real purpose lies in its grappling power. The chicken's movement is limited, and he can only hop about one space at a time, but when coupled with the worm's penchant for latching onto walls and acting as a zip line, moving around the two dimensional maps is a breeze.
Chicken Wiggle is easily categorized as a puzzle-platformer, but it still manages to feel fresh and unique within its genre. The stages that we played, while early in the game, felt sprawling, and provided enough of a challenge to keep us wanting more. The difficulty curve was gradual, steadily increasing as new traps, enemies and puzzle elements were introduced on a stage-by-stage basis. The first world acts as a tutorial – one that is effective in teaching its players and a great way to draw them in.
The core of Chicken Wiggle's gameplay is its lighthearted and fun campaign, but we were really blown away by the level creation tool. It was previously mentioned that this game would allow its players to create stages of their own, but we weren't prepared for how fleshed-out the tool set was.
Not unlike the obvious comparison of Super Mario Maker, Chicken Wiggle allows its players to create stages using a grid-based map and a full array of tools based on stage elements from the campaign. Not only were we able to create new stages using the assets from the full game, but we also had the option to change stage objectives, so we weren't limited to simply creating stages that concluded by reaching the end goal. We were also told that there are plans to make custom stages shareable online, and we can't wait to see what unique scenarios the community comes up with.
We may have been exposed to a very early build of Atooi's new game, but the core mechanics were intact; it won't be a surprise to see both the campaign and the stage creation tools built out even more.
While a firm launch date hasn't been announced, this is definitely a release that we'll be looking forward to. One of the advantages of indie development is the focus on the players and the community, something that is exemplified in the words of Jools Watsham regarding his new game: "The response we've seen from people playing Chicken Wiggle for the first time has been wonderful. It is very encouraging and helps us focus our attention while on the final stretch of development."
Comments 22
Looking forward to this. Really love the art style.
@ImDifferDan
Me too! I think it will be a day one buy for me. I liked all Renegade Kid platforms thus far.
I haven't bought anything from Renegade Kid, but I will be supporting this for sure - probably day 1
I really like this game, I'll pick it around it's launch.
Definitely looking forward to it
Lookin' good so far!
Support the new RK 2D game studio! Definitely getting this day one and the creation tool looks too fun.
The art style always put me off Renegade Kid's retro-style games in the past, but this time it's pulling me in!
Looking good!
So essentially a Poor man's Super Mario Maker.
How about a Mutant Mudds Maker?
@Nintendoforlife Well, no. Levels can be shared online!!
Can't wait!
If you like Mutant Mudds then I think you will like this, looks in the similar style.
@Nintendoforlife The poor man's Mario Maker Version is the one for 3DS.
This is looking good, I'm not a fan of it's name though.
I'm happy to know how much it differs from Mutant Muds!! As someone expecting new things from these developers.
And it goes beyond being just a platformer to have an editing and creation tools.
And this beautifully colored pixel art is a work of a master!!!
Kudos to Atooi with their 2D labor of love!!
Yeah, right... listen, Chicken Wiggle, don't take this personally but... uh... there's another stage creation tool coming out this December and... don't feel cuckolded, I mean, you're wonderful, and you'll surely find another man who will love you just as I was supposed to, but... it... it kind of feels like I'm going all "I happen to have met another woman" on you... I could never predict a portable edition of Super Mario Maker being announced mere days after you got announced, and... it's not you, it's me...
Let me know if your date is before Maker and if your pricetag is cheaper, kay? I'll call you. [pinky/thumb gesture]
@roy130390 @maceng
I believe in the future their will be an update that allows some sort of online interaction. Whether it be Street pass, or a full on network. I seriously doubt they will miss the opportunity of online play with this game.
@AlexSora89 Heh. Cute, but the actual 3DS SMM doesn't interest me. I'll stick with the Wii U game. As for this game, I'm unsure.
@MagicEmperor
Thing is, although I've joked about it, I'm sorry about the ironically bad timing. The reason I was looking forward to this was the lack of a Mario Maker that could be played on the go. And, in an even more ironic twist, if I recall correctly the September Direct came mere days after this game's reveal. Hence the whole "I'm sorry but there's this girl I've just met" metaphor. Because it's like finding a girlfriend only to meet an even better fit for you when you're already dating the former.
Any word on dementium 2 still being released? I hate that you guys didn't ask about it when you interviewed everyone a few weeks ago....
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