Tinykin is doing well for a new indie game. The Metacritic scores are dancing around the high 70s and 80s along all major platforms. Are those scores enough to get it the attention it deserves among an ever-growing crowd of fall releases? This is the time when companies start dropping games like it’s going out of style and indie games like this have their challenge cut out.
Tinykin has a unique premise and art style not found in too many indie games out there. That gives it a leg up on the competition but is it an experience for all to enjoy? No, but perhaps these few tweaks will get more people interested in checking it out.
6 Tweak The Jumping
The only thing mechanically that could use some work in the game is the jump physics. They are close to being perfect, as one would hope in a platformer. Right now the game's jump mechanics are about good, but there is work to be done. Some jumps require almost a pixel-perfect performance.
Since a majority of the game scales vertically, missing a jump can send players far below, making them have to redo the climb again. This can be frustrating but hopefully, a patch can tighten things up.
5 Highlight Targets Better
The main character cannot interact with the environment aside from talking to NPCs or jumping on things. It’s like this game is divided into two parts. One part is a classic platformer game while the other is something akin to Pikmin. Most actions in the game then require Tinykin, the titular creatures of the game, which behave like the aforementioned Pikmin.
Things will highlight a certain color depending on which Tinykin can interact with that object. A vase or camera, for example, will have a light pinkish-purple hue to it. Crates, on the other hand, will be highlighted with red as the red Tinykins can explode things. Sometimes it’s hard to tell what can be interacted with, so it would be handy if these objects could glow brighter. There could be a sliding scale added to the options menu to either increase or decrease this brightness.
4 Add Co-op
A co-op mode could help some of the mundane tasks more enjoyable in Tinykin. It might be tricky to make it work, but it is possible. If two players tackled the same environment with one person exploring the right region and the other exploring the left region, things would get done quicker.
This could shorten the game’s lifespan which may not be good since Tinykin isn’t a long game, to begin with. There is another option as the developers could add a separate multiplayer mode to the package. Perhaps two or more players could compete in who can collect the most amount of pollen. Pikmin added multiplayer and co-op modes starting in the second game, so there is a guidebook for the team to look at.
3 Add Fast Travel
One of the most aggravating aspects of the collectible-infused platformers that thrived during the 90s was backtracking. Players may have acquired an item to then backtrack to an NPC to then perhaps continue the quest further to another area or NPC. The Banjo-Kazooie games are great examples.
Backtracking in any game used to be a bother until fast travel became a more prevalent mechanic. Tinykin could use a fast travel system. It’s odd to see an open game like this released in 2022 without a fast travel system. Another option would have the developers increase the main character’s foot speed.
2 Soap Tricks
There is no fast travel system but there is a way to increase speed while exploring. After the initial tutorial, players will be rewarded with a bar of soap that acts like a skateboard. This is the other mechanic that doesn’t control as tightly as it could like the platforming. Still, it beats walking around all over the place. It would be great if the controls were tweaked as well, but more so than that, tricks should be added to the game.
Performing classic skateboard tricks does not have to count for anything in the game either. Just being able to be creative while moving can be enough of a stimulant to keep players engaged. A recent great hybrid between an extreme sports game and an action game is Rollerdrome which Tinykin could learn from.
1 Add A Map
Tinykin is divided into a handful of large, open environments. They are almost like mini open-world adventures ranging from a sprawling living room city to a plant-infested greenhouse. The variety adds a nice spice to the exploring aspects. The downside to these open environments is that it can be easy to get lost in them. Also, the aforementioned lack of fast travel means backtracking is an issue. Again, that should be added in, but so should a map.
This would allow players to keep track of their progress easier. There is an item section in the menu that will check off things once they are acquired for a quest but it is not the same thing as having a fully detailed map. A fast travel system and a map would be two huge improvements for Tinykin if combined.
Tinykin was released on August 30, 2022, and is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.