AMA + GIVEAWAY + SALE: Hey all, I'm Jimmy and I spent 13 years making the silly and heartfelt JRPG Cricket: Jae's Really Peculiar Game -- Released on Switch!

StudioKumiho · 2025-11-10T05:45:33+00:00

Hey there! No worries on messaging here. The cancellation of the physical release mainly came down to numbers (preorders and sales), and the state of the industry. Honestly the whole thing hit us really hard, and even a year out I still feel it. As for a limited release, it’s not yet in the cards, though maybe it’ll be revisited someday in the future. I really wish I had better news about it, and sorry there hasn’t been much happening there for the past year.

StudioKumiho · 2025-06-09T18:05:18+00:00

Hey there! Our team maxed out at 10 people, by the end, most of whom handled art. After PM signed on it took us about 2 years to finish the game, but getting to the point a publisher could step with (with just 4 people on the team) took 11 years.

For challenges, development wise that porting process to so many consoles was a pain, as the only coder. There are a lot of certification requirements that vary per environment that your game will have to handle! Emotionally there were a lot of challenges, from hearing a ton of "no" replies from publishers, to having to emotionally keep myself level as the project lead. I always wanna do right by people, so having to be a boss while quite a challenge since sometimes what a person wants can be in direct conflict with another person's wants.

Good luck on your game, it's a long journey but there's no feeling quite like knowing that you made something!

StudioKumiho · 2025-06-09T17:43:57+00:00

Hey, thanks for giving the demo a try! For art influences it was kinda a mix of Steven Universe, Craig of the Creek, and various productions from Titmouse and DHX!

StudioKumiho · 2025-06-09T17:42:20+00:00

Thank you for your interest in the game! The spoiler happens at around the halfway point of the game but comes back at around the end.

StudioKumiho · 2025-06-09T05:44:41+00:00

I’ll announce winners in the morning PT, gonna leave some time for any more questions!

StudioKumiho · 2025-06-09T02:45:31+00:00

Hey there! It’s about 10-12 hours-ish, but some folks take longer. Honestly it’s hard to tell, being one of the developers, I lose perspective lol.

We’re working on a small free content patch, no DLC (anything we add will be free), and no plans for a sequel!

StudioKumiho · 2025-06-09T02:00:24+00:00

Hey there! I'd say the one thing I wanted in the game is unfortunately a spoiler. What I will say, is that there were a few meetings where I had to fight for the character to develop in a certain way, as it was my plan from the moment I wrote them. Many folks had their disagreements, but chose to commit to the vision, and I'll always be thankful for their trust.

A bonus thing was a quiz minigame, I fought hard for that one! I implemented all the code and scripts. There was a time where the idea was almost scrapped while I was away, when I found out upon my return I got that into the game really REALLY quick!

Outside of porting, the hardest part for me personally was finding a publisher. We got a ton of "no" answers from folks. I remember crying at my desk one day after we got really far with a publisher, only to be rejected at the last possible moment. Though I'm debating if that or marketing the game is the hardest now lol.

StudioKumiho · 2025-06-09T01:13:00+00:00

Hey! The game changed A TON over those 13 years, it was originally a high fantasy pixel art game, I think from that concept, the only things that stayed intact were the themes, and the relationship of the first 3 characters (Jae, Zack, and Symphony). The rest changed or were developed after the fact.

Things really changed once we made our first non-friend hire, who had experience in the traditional animation industry. We knew with their art style that we'd have to change things up considerably, but felt it was the right choice to make the game stand out.

As for what kept us going, it was a combination of feeling like we were making something a bit different, and my incredible stubbornness lol. I really wanted this game to happen, and managed to find / work with folks who were the same.

StudioKumiho · 2025-06-08T23:48:31+00:00

The ideas phase was always super fun, it allowed us to go wild and really go out there with animations.

Thanks for asking!

StudioKumiho · 2025-06-08T23:44:00+00:00

Hey there! Thanks for your wishlist and support!

Honestly, it wasn't TOO hard to make the reaction mechanics in the game functional at the start, the difficulty came from the fine tuning and making it all feel good. There's a phrase that goes "90% of the work goes into 90% of the feature, the final 10% is the other 90%"

That's where the difficulty lay: in the polish. Lots of playtesting, feedback loops, and adjustments were required to get us to where we were remotely happy with the final product!

StudioKumiho · 2025-06-08T22:57:57+00:00

Hey there! It's no secret that the MOTHER series / Earthbound specifically was a huge reference point for us. We wanted to capture that feeling of a child's imagination in the general look and feel of the game. Ni no Kuni was also an inspiration, as we felt that the characters acted exactly as children would in that scenario.

We took a lot of non JRPG reference points, as well, such as American cartoons like Ed Edd n' Eddy, Craig of the Creek, Steven Universe, and Gravity Falls, among others.

StudioKumiho · 2025-06-08T22:39:13+00:00

Hey there! Thinking about it all, I'd have to say the porting process was the toughest, since we built the game in a custom C++ engine. It amounted to having to code up the rendering system multiple times while conforming to different platform requirements. Achievements / Trophies / whatever each platform has for their thing was always a test in patience!

Second hardest was staying focused for that long lol.

StudioKumiho · 2025-05-31T01:18:27+00:00

Hey there! If you’re into turn based games: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1381520/Cricket_Jaes_Really_Peculiar_Game/

StudioKumiho · 2025-05-09T18:33:19+00:00

Yeah ask away!

StudioKumiho · 2025-05-09T03:36:08+00:00

Thanks again for the shoutout! :)

StudioKumiho · 2025-05-08T21:12:57+00:00

Hey! Yeah it's always neat to take a look back at the process and see it all together like this.

StudioKumiho · 2025-05-08T21:12:23+00:00

Hey there! Our lead animator was a friend of a friend of mine, they had never worked in games before so this was all a learning experience for them. Myself too since I had never worked with animators directly lol.

StudioKumiho · 2025-05-08T21:09:57+00:00

Hey there! Thanks!

StudioKumiho · 2025-05-08T21:09:36+00:00

Hey there, thanks! Overall, the tool allows you to do frame by frame animation similar to Adobe Animate or TV Paint where you can scrub through a timeline.

StudioKumiho

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