The Art of Peggle
After a few more attempts and lots of collaboration, a set of 10 characters emerged from the drawing boards — Peggle Masters who were a hodgepodge of creatures that were utterly fun to look at. Best of all, the characters meshed with the game so well that it was hard to believe they weren't there all the time.
But the great characters didn't simply compliment a great game. They actually encouraged the team to reorganize the game's theme around a Peggle Institute where the player learns new skills from each Peggle Master. "Without Walter's great character designs" says Sukhbir, "Peggle would be a much different game."
The 10 characters also helped spawn 10 stages of game play, each featuring one Master and his/her Magic Power. This new twist in theme meant the green peg no longer featured a choice of power-ups — the player now had a single Master's Magic Power to use through each stage. Players found this new approach kept the game fresh and exciting, with so many possibilities — and the fun increased exponentially!
Level up
With the characters conceived, the rest of the art followed — all the backgrounds and objects you see in the game, such as the Ball-o-Tron and the Fever Meter.
Walter applied a space-age theme to everything from the ball launcher to menus and buttons, giving the game a sleek, exciting look.
Meanwhile, Marcia focused on the backgrounds for each level. Since all the peg layouts had been designed by Brian and Sukhbir, Marcia focused on creating art that fit in those levels and offered a dazzling (but not overpowering) style.
Peggle was one of Marcia's first projects at PopCap. "It took me a while to get into the groove" she says, "but once I got a feel for Peggle and all its quirks, things flowed pretty smoothly". The result was a vivid collection of backgrounds that matched the whimsical personalities of the 10 Masters and their eccentric environments.
Everyone was impressed with them, and Marcia was thrilled: "They really captured the spirit of the game."
