Interview with the Developer of Jump the Track
Combining Peggle/Pachinko with a story-based narrative we wish that we would have thought of it ourselves. Thankfully, developer Seed by Seed did think of it and used that idea to create their upcoming title Jump the Track. We loved the trailer and the gameplay mechanics and are super excited to jump into the full game.
Thank you to the team at Seed by Seed for being part of the showcase and for answering my questions.
Can you tell me about the team behind Jump the Track and how you started working on the game?
Seed by Seed is a game development cooperative founded in 2018 by eight friends who share a passion for indie games. We truly love creating games filled with imagination that bring people together, broaden our perspectives, and allow us to connect for a moment.
Being a cooperative, all employees participate in decisions related to the company's management and share a fair portion of the revenue. We value ethical production and respect our players, our team, and our partners.
Our first game, Pile Up! Box by Box is a cooperative 3D platformer for 1 to 4 players, requiring coordination and creative thinking to progress through a colorful cardboard world.
It was released in 2021 on PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Our second game, Baladins, is an online multiplayer (1 to 4) narrative game inspired by RPGs and tabletop games. It was released in 2024 on PC, and the Consoles have been announced.
Jump the Track marks the 3rd game project of the studio. At the time of the pitch, we were really into playing the games Peggle & Peglin. We loved the idea of having a very simple and satisfying gameplay, and we thought it would combine well with other setups. After Pile Up! Box by Box and Baladins, we wanted to have a game theme a bit more “adult”, something that speaks to us and, we hope, will resonate with the people as well. This new story unfolds in our contemporary world, reflecting the everyday issues.
We want to take players on a social journey that is full of energy and humor. We intend to show that serious topics can be addressed while delivering a joyful adventure that offers an enjoyable experience.
Can you tell me about the story in Jump the Track?
You play Sam, a young dreamer struggling in the gig economy, who will get caught up in an adventure of incongruous dimensions. While he keeps trying odd jobs to make ends meet, his life takes a dramatic turn one evening when he accidentally burns his boss's daughter's teddy bear in a washing machine. The boss, Pierre, is one of the most powerful men in town and uses mob methods to achieve his ends.
Sam’s life is in danger. In his quest to replace the teddy bear, he'll embark on an unbelievable journey to save his life.
Tonight, all eyes are on the big raffle, where the grand prize is a stuffed animal identical to the one Sam destroyed. Determined to win the teddy bear and defy fate, Sam embarks on a whimsical quest to collect as many raffle tickets as possible.
Along the way, the city's inhabitants—including the local beauty queen, a kebab chef, and even sentient robots— will help him gather tickets and evade the boss's henchmen who are hot on his tail.
Meanwhile, a revolution breaks out in the city, fueled by the population’s anger towards the elite and oligarchy.
What will be Sam’s destiny? Can he save his life? Will he maintain the bonds of friendship with his loved ones despite difficulties? Will he seek revenge against Pierre, or ally with the revolutionaries
What inspired you to combine a visual novel with Pachinko gameplay?
We were searching for a way to make a narrative game that has a lot of punch and action. But we thought it was important to maintain consistency in the controls (you don’t need to switch from mouse to gamepad during phases) and in the intensity (not switching from a chill reading phase to very intense 3D combat, for example).
The Pachinko-inspired gameplay aligns well with this view: continuity in the controls, low intensity of inputs, and a simple concept that’s highly modelable.
Also, despite its simplicity, this gameplay can be very spectacular and adds to the chaotic dimension of the story.
In what ways can players influence the story in Jump the Track?
The choices you can make in the game represent your character's conflicting emotions. They are determined by the arcade boards played before each choice. In these boards, you’ll have to aim at the “emotions” blocks to unlock them, some being harder than others to reach. Depending on how you perform, some choices will be available or not.
The concept of loss of control is fundamental to the game. In Jump the Track, the narrative is not stopped by failures in the arcade challenges (you can't replay a board); rather, it is influenced by the players’ performances in a continuous progression where you must confront the outcomes you achieve.
This gameplay aligns well with the theme of loss of control, as the mechanics combine skill, knowledge, and luck. It's full of unexpected twists.
How many endings can players expect to uncover in the game?
There are up to 5 different endings in the game at the moment!
What’s your favorite arcade game? Is there an arcade game you always win at?
Aside from playing Peggle and Peglin, we’ve had a period at the studio where people would fight over Puyo Puyo Tetris and Dr. Mario. Though there were numerous hours poured into these games, it would be very wrong to pretend that any of us is a sure winner.
What does “indie” mean to you?
Oh, that’s a term that can cover many aspects of gamedev. A true definition of “indie” would be that the creators do not have strong economic dependence on a bigger structure. We can be an independent studio while creating games that aren't truly indie (i.e., working with a publisher). Seen that way, Jump the Track would be our first truly independent game, with the two previous ones being funded by publishers.
Indies can offer original, new, experimental, and unique creative ideas. Having no one to report to for Jump the Track definitely allowed us to feel freer with including political content in the game, for example.
But let’s be honest, one way or another, the economic constraints of making and funding games always catch up with the creators and end up having an impact on the final design. Any game published is the complex result of the (sometimes twisted) conditions in which the development occurred.
We’ve enjoyed developing Jump the Track. It was fun to make and creatively motivating! But we also definitely put our studio’s survival on the line with this 3rd project.
Jump the Track is available to wishlist on Steam now.