Tinker Burrow is a vehicle building game centered around bunnies digging holes.

Tinker Burrow Itch.io Page

Literal Dream Game

Inspiration can come from anything and everything. In the case of this game's strange mechanics, I found myself trying to recall the strange visuals in a dream. I had this dream around the 7th of November 2024 and made a sudden decision to try making a working prototype by the next weekend. The result was a small experiment on quick prototypes that turned out well!

Sketching Ideas

It seems the dream took inspiration from the many things that I take inspiration from. Could it be that me and my brain are the same entity? In any case, it was clear that this idea was feasable for me to prototype quickly as the mechanics could be created as iterations from games I had made before. Here are some initial quick sketches done on sticky notes to prevent the dream from slipping away into the aether.

Initial Mechanics

I knew immediately what to handle first. I'll write more here!

The Issue of a Big Space

Making a large space work requires some manipulation of how the game world is structured. Not only are large distances an issue, keeping the player stable while on a planet hurtling through space can be difficult. I'll write more here!

Walking With Gum on Your Shoe

It can be very tempting to polish a mechanic before moving on to the rest of the game. I tried to use this project as a lesson to focus on the wider vision of the game instead of small details.

Imagine walking down the street in a big city on your way to some location. While walking you feel the bottom of your shoe stick to the pavement. You know immediately you stepped in some gum which now makes your walk more unpleasant. If you stopped right now you could maybe scrape it off with tiresome difficulty, but standing with your foot awkwardly yanked upward in the loud street is a less than stellar situation.

It is better to keep walking with the slight discomfort at the back of your mind, waiting till you've reached the end of your walk to finally scape off the gunk.

Being Happy With What Came to Be

While the game lacks any for of accessibility, that is how prototypes are and honestly should be. There are plenty of bugs and oversights. There are a few things I actively ignored fixing like the moon drifting away because my focus was on short term quick scope. Some issues cause minor inconvieniences and limit the replayability, but those are problems to fix later after the structure of the game is understood. There are still many fundamental unanswered questions when it comes to the design of the game.

• What happens when you strand bunnies in space?
• What happens if you strand all your bunnies in space?
• Is there a goal to putting bunnies in space?
• What is the progression of the game?

For now these questions are unanswered and that is okay. Answered to these can now be solved with the basic structure of the game nailed down.

Understanding Through Other's Eyes

I have shared this prototype with friends and intend to continue gaining insight through how they interpret it. Everyone has unique ways of seeing an experience and I can evaluate where to take this aimless project by what aspects spark some joy in people. A few friends have explored the possibilities of the game themselves by making their own suggestions beyond that of the first-hand player experience.