Let’s start with the Chompy in Cave Digger 1. The producer wanted a companion in the game in the form of an imp. I didn’t want to spend our limited resources doing a full humanoid NPC, so Chompy ended up being a living chest. The concept came from the thoroughly corrupt mind of our concept/texture artist, Jussi Pylkäs and was modeled by Harri Snellman.

 

The gameplay requirement for Chompy was to be a mobile loot box for the CD1: Into the Depths update, since looting in the train caves was more free roaming in form than the earlier elevator looting mechanic. It would’ve sucked to have to return all the loot back to the train’s loot box. But Chompy ended up being way more than that.

 

 

Suffice to say, I went hog wild with the design, partially coding some of the functionality myself. I wanted to have a lot of different player-Chompy interaction, starting from basic helper functions such as autonomous loot collecting. But I also wanted to include stuff like playing catch with thrown loot and feeding mechanics involving favourite foods. In the end I had Chompy’s size and voice vary based on her satiation level. Fully satiated she was a big mama with a deep booming voice!

 

I don’t think any player in the history of CD1 ever realized the favourite / hated food mechanic.

 

 

But let’s talk about CD2! I had to convince our grumpy but lovable designer AMP to include Chompy in CD2 in the first place. I had to resort to threats, cajoling, bribery and flattery but in the end we reached a compromise of including Chompy in CD2 in a different role.

 

 

This time she’ll be the poster girl of Mining Trading Company, the shadowy organisation looming over the Frontier. Basically she’s sold her body and soul to capitalism. One of the relics in the next update will reveal how low she’s sunken in her fall from glory. You might say that the relic is very revealing!

 

 

So she’ll be involved in the daily errands that we introduced in the Halloween Update, but also she’ll come join you in some of the mining runs, helping with looting and combat.

 

 

Also as you can see from these previews, she’ll be a much more animated and charismatic character than before. 

 

In CD1 Chompy was a fan favourite despite all her quirkiness and bugs, so I’m glad she’s making a return. I hope we can include her in the Christmas Update, but no promises. Let’s see!

 

-Kharan (Jaakko Asikainen)

 

Random development quote: “Jos se halutaan pitää mukana, nii sille vois tehä jonku faceliftin ainaki. Enemmän semmosta chibi-söpöyttä, nyt se on ruma piereskelevä laatikko”…