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Fine, Fall Guys is probably a better name than Stumble ChumsFancy a stumble, chums?
Fancy a stumble, chums?
WouldFall Guyshave been half as popular if it’d been called Fool’sGauntlet? How about Stumble Chums? I’m quite fond of the latter myself, so it’s probably for the best I’m not Jeff Tanton. The Mediatonic creative director today posted a whimsical dive intoFall Guys' early life, winding a wobbly trail through concept art, ditched names and winning over publishers with Japanese gameshow gifs.
Those daft names came out ofTanton’s Twitter feedearlier this afternoon, with the creative director offering a peek into the process of getting Fall Guys off the ground. See, it seems you can’t just tell the moneymen you want to make videogameWipeoutand instantly get funding - there’s a whole system of putting together internal pitch docs and bashing together mock-ups before you can even consider showing it to publishers.
Fall Guys was the easiest deck to ever come together. As a designer you dream of getting that pure bottled-lightning moment; a unique, instantly understandable, and sellable idea - and Joe had basically nailed it. We had a skeleton deck ready 24hrs after the one-pager pitchpic.twitter.com/vf9893DW9Y— Jeff Tanton (@Jeff_Tanton)August 20, 2020
Fall Guys was the easiest deck to ever come together. As a designer you dream of getting that pure bottled-lightning moment; a unique, instantly understandable, and sellable idea - and Joe had basically nailed it. We had a skeleton deck ready 24hrs after the one-pager pitchpic.twitter.com/vf9893DW9Y
— Jeff Tanton (@Jeff_Tanton)August 20, 2020
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The first “one-pager” bashed together to sell the game to management imagined “Fool’s Gauntlet” as a 100-player obstacle course that swung back and forth between teamwork and dicking each other over. Like Takeshi’s Castle, the initial plan was to have a prize pot split between all surviving players at the end - more players means a higher likelihood of getting through, but a smaller reward on victory.
That’s probably where ‘Fall Guys’ as a game title first appeared (RIP Fool’s Gauntlet and ‘Stumble Chums’) - our characters that would fail for our amusement, but crucially always get back up again. Always. They would be heroic in their indefatigability.pic.twitter.com/Cjbc1FIE2w— Jeff Tanton (@Jeff_Tanton)August 20, 2020
That’s probably where ‘Fall Guys’ as a game title first appeared (RIP Fool’s Gauntlet and ‘Stumble Chums’) - our characters that would fail for our amusement, but crucially always get back up again. Always. They would be heroic in their indefatigability.pic.twitter.com/Cjbc1FIE2w
— Jeff Tanton (@Jeff_Tanton)August 20, 2020
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The entire thread is a well good read, diving further into the process of nailing the look of the ‘guys, taking the game to shows, and flooding your powerpoints with star wipes into Takeshi’s Castle gifs - something Tanton recommends “even if it has absolutely zero connection to the game you’re pitching.”
Of course, the rest is history. Fall Guys comes out, and is so immensely popular Mediatonic’s server crumble under their own weight. If you’re playing today, an update just came out toprevent team games from occurring back-to-back, along with timer changes to Team Tail Tag and Royal Fumble. Fall Guys is available onSteamfor £15/$20/€20.
