Turbo Pudding

KettlecrestFrom the sketchbook

A kettle lid, a nightcap and a log with a slot

· The Turbo Pudding team · 5 min read

The Jetty at dawn: Ottilie, a brown otter with a cream face, a red scarf and a copper kettle lid worn as a hat, sits in her round orange copper kettle with its spout pointing forward and a black iron handle folded back behind her, and Fennel, a brown capybara with a tangerine and a leaf on his head, sits in half a cream, green and orange pumpkin with a ladle; both boats are tied with ropes to black bollards on a wooden pier with lantern poles, a red boathouse, pine trees and colorful bunting behind them, over calm teal water

Kettlecrest has nine heroes, and every one of them rides the river in something that was never meant to float. It’s Sunday, so here’s a page from our sketchbook: how the river folk and their boats are put together, and what we had to fix along the way.

The picture at the top is the Jetty at dawn, where you pick your hero, with Ottilie in her copper kettle and Fennel in half a pumpkin.

One big shape at 30 meters

In a race, you often see the other boats from far away, so every hero is built to read at 30 meters, and the rule is one big shape of their own. Ottilie wears a kettle lid as a hat. Fennel balances a tangerine with a leaf on his head. Juno has diving goggles pushed up on her forehead, and Brogan wears a flat cap. Nib, the tiniest, holds up two huge claws in orange water wings, because he never learned to swim. Sorrel, a newt who makes maps, keeps a rolled map standing up in the boat. Verbena has her plumes, Burl a beanie with a pompom and Hollis a flopping nightcap.

Each hero also gets a color of their own, nine hues that never repeat. Those colors fly as bunting over the Jetty. Each hero and their boat is one model, built in code from simple shapes.

Sketches that didn’t read

Ottilie’s head was the first fix. Our first otter had a round head, and from behind the boat, it read as a bear. Now it’s flat and wide. The kettle had a small handle at the back, and from the chase camera, that handle looked like a black stick, and the kettle looked like a plain tub. Now a camp kettle’s handle, an iron hoop with a wooden grip, folds back over the rim at the stern, and the spout points forward.

Burl’s boat took a few tries. A log with a closed top read as a blob, and an open trough sank out of sight. The log that made it is hollow, with a slot cut along the top, round bark sides and pale wood inside. Both ends show their rings and the same notch, and a twig sprouts from it.

Burl, a brown beaver in a mustard beanie with a white pompom, paddles a hollow log with a wooden oar down Pinewood Rapids; the log has a V-shaped slot cut along the top, pale wood inside and a leafy twig sprouting from the side; behind him on the left, Brogan, a gray-purple hippo in a flat cap, rows a black and white bathtub with a brass tap, and green hills with pine trees and a steep bank rise on both sides of the misty river
Searched “boat racing game with animals.” Got a beaver in a log.

Fennel’s half pumpkin has one color rule: cream and green stripes with orange flecks, and never the copper of Ottilie’s kettle.

Everyday things that float

Most of the paddles aren’t paddles at all. Ottilie rows with a wooden spoon and Fennel with a ladle. Brogan, a hippo blacksmith, paddles with a shovel and sits in a cast-iron bathtub, black outside and white enamel inside, with a brass tap at the front. Nib floats in a straw hat turned upside down, with a red band. Sorrel sits in a giant walnut shell and steers with a ruler.

Verbena, a heron and an actress, sits in an open violin case, burgundy outside with a blue lining and the lid up behind her. Of course, she paddles with the violin bow.

Verbena, a gray heron with a long yellow beak, two black plumes on her head and a pink boa around her long neck, paddles an open violin case on Chalkstep Terraces; the case is dark burgundy outside with a deep blue lining, a little gold latch at the front and the lid standing up behind her; farther back, Ottilie the otter rows her round copper kettle, a few more boats follow in the distance, and tall green trees and pale stone terraces line the sandy bank
Typed “cozy racing game.” The heron brought a violin case.

Our note for Juno: no spiky crest, no sweatband. She’s a show-off diver, not a sprinter, so she has one soft tuft lying back and those goggles. Her boat is an upturned umbrella in two colors, with the handle sticking up at the back, and her paddle is a tennis racket.

Juno, a round blue kingfisher chick with an orange belly, a long black beak, a soft blue and teal tuft and diving goggles on a gold strap pushed up on her forehead, paddles an upturned umbrella down the river through Millrace Town; the umbrella’s curved brown handle sticks up behind her and small dark tips poke out around its rim; on the right, a row of tall houses in peach, cream, sage and pink with red and dark roofs and lit windows stands above a stone quay with street lamps, and a few boats follow far behind under a pink evening sky
Search: “water racing game for kids.” She brought goggles.

Hollis carried the river’s night mail for forty years and races in a dresser drawer with a brass knob, a night-mail lantern on a pole at the stern and letters tucked at the bow. The paddle is a broom.

Everyone paddles their own way

No two heroes paddle alike. Nib strokes the fastest of all, with Juno close behind. Brogan strokes the slowest, with the longest reach, and leans into every pull. Burl switches sides on every stroke. Sorrel switches only to turn. Verbena keeps her head proudly up, and Hollis dozes between strokes: the head sinks slowly, then jerks back up.

Hollis, a white stork with an orange beak, half-closed sleepy eyes and a navy nightcap with a white pompom flopping to one side, paddles a pale wooden dresser drawer with a round brass knob at the front down the wide blue river of Bell Mouth; on the left, Brogan the hippo rows his bathtub with a shovel, a pack of boats splashes along behind, and a sandy bank with tall grass and a flat-topped tree runs along the right under a hazy sky, with a pale lighthouse far in the distance
People also ask: can you race in a dresser drawer?

When a boat tips over, the hero flails. After climbing back in, they stay soaked for five seconds: darker, shiny and dripping. Verbena faints the moment she’s back in her case.

Faces and a few notes each

Every hero also has a drawn face, small enough for the race ribbon and bigger on the Jetty. The faces come in four moods: normal, happy, soaked with sad brows and drops, and wet but laughing.

And everyone has a tune of three or four notes. Ottilie gets a bright tin whistle, Fennel a low clarinet and Juno a quick piccolo trill. Brogan gets a grumpy tuba, Nib a little ukulele and Sorrel a marimba that counts its steps. Verbena gets a fiddle sigh, Burl an accordion hop and Hollis a sleepy bassoon going down. You hear yours when you pick a hero on the Jetty, on a clean drop and when you overtake.

The first two reaches, Glacier Gate and Pinewood Rapids, are free to play in your browser at kettlecrest.com. The full game, all six reaches to the sea, is $4.99, paid once. More about the game is on the Kettlecrest page.

More about Kettlecrest

KettlecrestScreenshot Saturday

Kettlecrest: postcards from the Long River

One hero from each reach of the river: a crayfish in a straw hat on Kettle Lake, a heron in a violin case, a beaver at the sluice gates and more.