Factory Dude: How My Old School Calculator Game Became Dranky's Big Adventure

Oct 16

3 min read

Confession: I hated maths. Like, really hated it. We were in the lowest maths class in school, and we were very good at one thing: not doing maths. We got distracted, we procrastinated, and instead of solving equations we passed games around on our TI-83 calculators.

The one that started it all: Block Dude by Brandon Sterner. His original levels are in Factory Dude too, as the classic pack.

The best one was Block Dude. A tiny pixel man, a pile of blocks, and puzzles that seemed impossible right up until they weren't. I probably spent more maths lessons stacking blocks than anything else. My teachers might not be proud. I am.

So this year I made my own.

A little thank you to Brandon Sterner, hidden in the game.

Meet Factory Dude

Drink Drank Drunk: Factory Dude! is a block-pushing puzzle game starring Dranky, set in the factory where Drink Drank Drunk is made. Crates, conveyor belts, machines, and a lot of ways to get stuck.

Level 7. Everyone gets stuck here. Consider this your hint.

Kim drew the pixel characters and we brought them to life with a few directions and Claude.

We wrote the whole thing, directed the cut scenes and made the music ourselves, with some help from Claude, who did all the programming. The voices are me and my girlfriend Ylenia. She plays Winey, who's hidden somewhere in the game. Can you find her? I'm not telling.

There's a secret tunnel in the factory. That's all I'm saying.

There are little jokes everywhere. For example, every time you hit reset, it hurts Dranky. Physically. You'll feel bad. You'll do it anyway.

This is what happens when you hit reset. Poor Dranky.

And for the old-school crowd, the original Block Dude levels by Brandon Sterner are in there too, as a classic pack.

Make your own levels

This is the bit I'm most excited about. There's a level editor built into the game, the same one I used to make every level, so you can build your own and set them loose for everyone to try.

The level editor. Walls, boxes, belts, a door and Dranky. Build it, check it, publish it.

So:

Go for a high score on the main levels
Build a level so evil nobody can beat it
Play other people's levels. My brother Bob made a great one. Good luck.

The part I didn't see coming

Making a video game used to start with two questions: how much time, and how much money? For two friends making party games in Amsterdam, the answers were usually "too much" and "we don't have it".

Kim drew the characters. I wrote the story, made the levels, the music and the voices with Ylenia, and gave the direction. Claude, the AI, worked with me on everything that used to need a team of programmers: the cut scenes, the movement, every line of code. It even built me my own little music studio to make 8-bit tunes, and the level editor you can now play with.

Somewhere in the factory there's a hidden room where Claude and I jam. Can you find it?

So the question isn't "can we afford to make this?" any more. It's "what should we make?"

"Isn't it all just slop?"

Some of it will be, sure. When everyone can make anything, some crap will be out there. That phase will pass.

We all got pens and paper at five years old and learned to draw, and the world isn't full of terrible paintings. We don't make art just because it's possible. We make it because we want to.

To me it feels like the freest way of making things there's ever been. You bring the idea, the taste, the jokes and the heart, and the tools finally keep up.

Factory Dude is our proof. It's silly, it's hard, it's got a bottle with pink stuff coming out of his head, and we made it because we wanted to. Maybe a kid in the lowest maths class right now is about to make the next one.

Play it

Factory Dude is on our website. Find Winey, beat Bob's level, and tell us which one made you throw your phone.

And it's only the start. The new online version of Drink Drank Drunk is coming soon, playable on your phone with your friends. Join the list to get in first.

Felix