Magic Picture Games

Reenchanting the Digital Landscape

Eureka’s Piglet Panic

Eureka’s Piglet Panic is a self-funded indie game in the early alpha stages. I’ll be sharing updates, images, videos, and eventually full demos leading up to the final game!

The game is inspired by a scene near the end of Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, the fourth book in Frank Baum’s Oz series, where a spoiled pet of mine, The “Pink” Cat, Eureka, causes a whole lot of trouble after chasing one of Oscar Zoroaster’s nine piglets—even, the princess’s own!—into a vase. A trial is arranged, and Eureka must defend her honor. It’s an emotional roller coaster, and very funny. I think Eureka, the pink cat, deserves a whole game, in the style of old-fashioned maze games.

I am developing the game on Game Maker Studio 2, and so far I’ve implemented basic movement—which is not at all finalized, and the ability to bump into Eureka’s adversaries, the friendly people of Oz, and to make a piglet “disappear” (eaten? trapped in a vase?) when she runs in to them. It has strong similarities to Pac Man, with a puzzle-like element of the power pellets moving.

I have also learned some things about how to design levels for maze games to give a satisfying ‘flow’ and to make sure the whole map is easily accessible, while still having interesting features and loops. I am thinking there will be more than one level, and a lot of what will differentiate them is the layouts and the maze being in different environments around the beautiful Emerald City.