Turbo Pudding

PitterplopMeet the cast

Gilby’s friends, old and new

· The Turbo Pudding team · 5 min read

Rolling Log Run in Mossy Hollow, in a sunny green forest: Gilby, a small orange axolotl with frilly yellow gills, a blue drop on his forehead and a green leaf scarf, rides standing on top of a round log with ring-cut ends, while a grumpy brown boar with a pink snout, a small tusk and frowning brows shoves the log along with its nose, a little purple storm cloud with a yellow zigzag over its head; tall trunks, a leafy canopy and soft clouds fill the background, four big blue dewdrops hang in the air, and a tiny blue flower grows in the grass

Pitterplop is a game about friends. One gray morning a cloud of grumbles rolls over the meadow, everyone it touches turns cross and crabby, and Gilby’s friends are nowhere to be found. It’s Monday, so here are the friends Gilby goes looking for, plus a few new ones from Mossy Hollow.

The picture at the top is Rolling Log Run, the third level of Mossy Hollow. Gilby rides a log through the woods, and the one shoving it along with a pink snout is a grumpy boar with a little storm cloud over its head. That boar has a name. We’ll get to it.

Gilby

Gilby is a small orange axolotl who lives by a pond that whispers. All he has is water. He fills his cheeks at puddles and spits, and when he lands on a grumpy critter, it falls asleep. Chain a few bounces together, and the critters start singing a lullaby. His plans are short and brave. Told that a friend is somewhere high above him, he just says: “Then I’ll climb up and bring her down.”

Tansy

Tansy is a bunny with long ears, pink on the inside, and a crown of pink, yellow and white flowers. She likes a plan, and her plans come in steps. Setting off into Mossy Hollow, she lays it out: “Step one: find Sorrel. Step two: don’t get lost.” Gilby asks what step three is. Tansy: “Panic. Later.”

In the meadow, Tansy spends a while stuck in a basket in Burdock’s Burrow, and even from there she keeps calling out tips. In the hollow, she reads the woods. She knows a red paper scrap the moment she sees it: “That’s from Sorrel’s lantern! She came this way.” At Rolling Log Run, she hears the trouble before anyone sees it: “Logs don’t roll by themselves. Somebody’s pushing them.” Gilby: “Somebody big?” Tansy: “Somebody snorty. Listen.”

At the far left of the row below is Nana Moss, a tiny turtle with a striped green shell and a sprout on top, who teaches Gilby to spit puddle water. Politely.

The cast of Pitterplop standing in a row on a soft cream-to-pale-green background, drawn in the game’s own style: from the left, Nana Moss, a tiny green turtle with a striped shell and a sprout on top, smiling with closed eyes; Tansy, a white bunny with long pink-lined ears and a crown of pink, yellow and white flowers; Gilby, the small orange axolotl with frilly yellow gills, a blue drop on his forehead and a green leaf scarf, laughing; Sorrel, an orange fox cub with a cream chest and a white-tipped tail; Snortle, a round brown boar with a pink snout and a small tusk; and Dusty, a moth with big round cream wings and peach spots, floating at the right; above them float Pitter, a blue-white cloud puppy, and Patter, a lilac one, both smiling
Searched “cute animal platformer characters.” Found a whole meadow.

Sorrel

Sorrel is a fox cub, orange with a cream chest and a white tip on her tail. She’s the reason for the whole trip into Mossy Hollow. The story says Sorrel “had gone berry-picking with her paper lantern. She had not come home.” The first clue is a scrap of red paper caught in the silver threads of Silkthread Glade. It smells of berries. Where it leads, we’ll leave for you to find.

Snortle

Snortle is the boar from the cover: brown, with a lighter back, a dark tuft on top, a pink snout and one small tusk. In Rolling Log Run, the grumbles have Snortle shoving logs downhill with that snout. The answer is in the game’s own tip: three hops on a boar’s back, and it nods off into “a big soft wall that stops any log.”

After a good nap, Snortle turns out to be a big softie who talks about Snortle in the third person. “Mmf… Snortle had a dream. A cross one, all thunder.” Then: “Daisies! Who put daisies everywhere? I love it.” Snortle offers to walk Gilby down to the hollow “where the mushrooms glow,” and adds: “No shoving. Promise.” Snortle has limits, though: “Snortle doesn’t do up. Snortle does down. And naps.”

Dusty

Snortle trots ahead into Glowcap Hollow, where, as the story says, “it was as dark as the inside of a pocket.” The light comes from glowcaps. Bounce on one, and it lights up. Hold jump, and you bounce higher. For the caps that stay shut tight, Snortle has advice: “A splash of water on the nose. Works on Snortle too.”

Light is exactly what moths are after. In our code, every moth in the hollow drifts toward whichever glowcap is lit. Dusty is a moth too, with cream wings with peach spots, a fuzzy cream collar and two feelers, and nobody in the woods loves lights more: “Ooh… lights… so many lovely lights…” Dusty also saw a red one go by, “the prettiest light I ever followed. A paper lantern, and a fox cub carrying it.”

Glowcap Hollow at night, in deep blue and teal: Gilby, the small orange axolotl, bounces up from a glowing pale-teal glowcap with little sparkles over it, set in a row of black thorns and tiny pink berries; just above him to the left hovers a grumpy moth with round cream wings, a tan face and frowning brows; tall pale glowcaps with spotted teal caps stand at the left and right edges, dark tree trunks rise into a leafy canopy, fireflies glow, a moon peeks through at the top right and a single dewdrop hangs at the top
Typed “glowing mushroom platformer.” The moth found it first.

Pitter and Patter

Dusty points Gilby up the Old Oak, “after two little hail clouds,” and admits: “I’d have followed, but oh, the wind up there!” Those two are Pitter and Patter. In our code they’re cloud puppies, with floppy ears and a cloud of a tail that wags. Pitter is blue-white, Patter is lilac, and while Gilby climbs, they hang at the top of the screen and pelt the tree with hail.

The game warns you first. A frosty ring shows where each stone will land. Keep moving, or wait it out under a cap or a branch. Snortle sends Gilby off with the same advice and a lot of faith: “Mind the squirrels. And if it starts to hail, get under a cap. Snortle believes in you!”

Old Oak Climb at dusk, under a purple sky with pink clouds: Gilby, the small orange axolotl with a nervous blue drop on his forehead, stands on a long dark branch right next to a spotted teal mushroom cap; above him float Pitter, a blue-white cloud puppy with smug half-closed eyes, on the left, and Patter, a lilac cloud puppy with a big open smile, on the right; two round hailstones streak down between them, blue dewdrops hang in the air, a pale frosty ring marks a landing spot on a grassy ledge at the far left, and another leafy branch crosses the top of the picture
Search history: “cozy platformer,” then “why is it hailing.”

The first two levels of Pitterplop are free to play in your browser at pitterplop.com. Mossy Hollow, with Snortle, Dusty and the hail twins, comes with the full game, $4.99, paid once. More about the game is on the Pitterplop page.

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