So, I got this idea stuck in my head a while back – making something, anything really, that featured a leprechaun. Don’t ask me why, maybe I saw something on TV or just felt like doing something a bit whimsical. It wasn’t for any big company, just a little project for myself, you know, to keep my hands busy.
Getting Started: The Leprechaun Idea
First thing, I had to figure out what product. A cereal box? Nah, too much graphic design work I wasn’t feeling up to. A website mascot? Maybe, but felt a bit flat. I kept thinking, what’s fun and involves little characters? A simple mobile game popped into my head. Yeah, something basic, maybe an endless runner or a little puzzle thing. Seemed doable.
Then came the main part: the leprechaun himself. This was fun but also kinda tricky. I started sketching. Lots of sketching.
- Tried the old, grumpy-looking fella first. Didn’t quite like the vibe.
- Then a super cheerful, almost cartoonish one. Felt a bit generic.
- Sketched a mischievous one, with a bit of a twinkle in his eye. That felt better.
I wanted him to look friendly but still like he might play a prank on you. Spent a good few evenings just doodling different hats, buckled shoes, and coat styles. Finally landed on one I liked – bright green coat, slightly oversized hat, and a cheeky grin. Nothing too fancy, just something I could actually draw consistently.
Building the Thing (Well, Trying To)
Okay, mascot design kinda settled. Time for the game part. I decided on a really simple ‘catch the falling gold coins’ type game. Seemed easy enough for a quick project. I dusted off some old skills using a simple game maker tool I’d messed with before. Didn’t want to get bogged down in complex code.
Got the basic mechanics working: stuff falls, you move the leprechaun left and right to catch it. Pretty standard. Then I scanned my final leprechaun sketch and dropped it into the game. Had to resize it, clean it up a bit digitally. Didn’t bother with complex animation, just made him slide side-to-side. Good enough for a personal project.
Added a basic score counter. Made the coins fall a bit faster over time. Threw in a simple background, just some green hills and a rainbow. It was very basic, let me tell you.
Hitting a Wall and Wrapping Up
I played it myself for a bit. Caught a few bugs, like the score not resetting right or the character getting stuck sometimes. Fixed those. Showed it to my wife. She played for like, two minutes, said “hmm, neat,” and went back to her book. That kinda told me everything, haha.
Honestly, my motivation started to dip after that. The initial fun of designing the leprechaun wore off, and the game itself wasn’t exactly groundbreaking. It worked, technically. You could play it. But polishing it, adding more levels, sound effects… it felt like a lot more effort than I was willing to put in for just a little side thing.
So, what happened to the product with the leprechaun mascot? Well, it exists. It’s sitting on my old hard drive somewhere. The game is playable, the leprechaun looks okay. But did I launch it? Nah. It was just a little journey, a way to practice some design and basic game dev stuff. Sometimes you start these things, you learn something, and then you just… move on to the next idea. And that’s okay. It was a fun little exercise, messing around with that cheeky leprechaun for a while.
