How A Lost Wedding Ring Led To Pirate Puzzle Adventure Game Bilkins’ Folly

Bilkins’ Folly is an old-school pirate adventure that was released today for the PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4 Switch, and PC. Bilkins’ Folly has been on my radar for a while now, both because of how much I enjoy anything pirate-related and also because it looks so good. I was drawn to it by its throwback gameplay style, nautical songs, and modern remakes of the old adventure games. Now it is finally available!

Email was the way I communicated with Webbysoft about Bilkins’ Folly, a game that is being released in a few days. I spoke to Webbysoft, a developer based in Australia, via email about Bilkins’ Folly before the release. 

You can read our full interview below – enjoy!

Bilkins Folly Interview by Webbysoft

Play InformerWesley LeBlanc: Do you work alone or with a team at Webbysoft? 

Luke Webster is Webbysoft: It’s mostly just me [Luke Webster], although Jamal Green – the composer for Bilkins’ Folly – has been on board since very early on. A grant I received from Screen Australia, a government-funded agency, allowed me to hire a cutscene animator and sound designer late in the development process.

What is the origin of Bilkins Folly? 

Webster: Some years ago, my wife lost her wedding ring somewhere while gardening. The next day I bought a metal detector to try and find the ring. My front yard was a mess, so I spent the first half of my day digging it up. She will dig along with you if she even sees you holding a shovel. It occurred to me at one point that it would make a great video game. As I thought over the next few days about the concept, I came up with the idea.

The ring is nowhere to be found.

It seems like there are obvious influences, such as Monkey Island. However, is it possible that other movies, games, TV shows or books inspired Bilkins’ Folly too? 

Webster: Zelda is probably the biggest inspiration for me, specifically Link’s Awakening. When I was trying to find all of the seashells, I thought how frustrating it was to have to constantly stop to fight the enemy that would attack. If I made a puzzle-hunting game without enemies, that’s what I would do. Bilkins’ Folly has always been a Zelda-clone to me. If I had given the player a weapon, it would be obvious.

Another big one was The Outer Wilds – one of my favorite games ever! The puzzles in this game were great. There are no enemies this time to distract you, and I really enjoy that.

There’s also a television show which has had an influence on games. The show is called Curse of Oak Island and documents the progress of a small team in Nova Scotia who are tracking down a mysterious treasure that’s supposedly hidden on the island. Gary Drayton is the metal detectorist and finds junk on an island every day. As a tribute to Gary, in Bilkins I named my dog Drayton.

Bilkins’ Folly was it always a game of pirates? When did it become a Pirate Game? 

Webster: Early on, I planned to set it in a modern setting and give the player an actual metal detector. It didn’t take long before the story developed into something further back in time, though, and I needed to bring in another way for the player to locate certain types of buried objects – hence Drayton was born.

When I decided to go with something more historically based, I originally thought about setting the story in colonial Tasmania. This was because I recently visited old prisons here, and it seemed like it could work. When I first started to create the story I realized how little I knew about what the world looked like in that setting. Most of my research on treasure hunts from the 1700s was focused on the Atlantic. Around that time, I realized a Caribbean-themed pirate game would likely be more successful.

Who knows? Perhaps there will one day be a Tasmanian Colonial DLC.

What made you decide to turn Bilkins’ Folly into an adventure? 

Webster: I wanted to make a game that was relaxing to play – by that, I mean no fail-states, no timers, and no enemies that would end the game prematurely. When you remove enemies from video games, I find it difficult to determine what genre they belong to.

What if it’s not an adventure? This might come down to your definition of the genre. This is probably a result of Zelda, but without the swords. Zelda being an action adventure, removing the action would leave you only with an adventure. Bilkins occupies a strange genre. The game isn’t a point-and click adventure, as some may assume. Maybe a better name for it would be “narrative driven puzzle game.” Honesty, I’m not sure. It’s been a struggle for me to try and define the genre since I started, but I don’t have a clue how I can fit it.

How is it to develop an adventure game like? There are now more adventure games available than ever. However, the genre remains niche in comparison to other genres like shooters and action RPGs. Is it a challenge or scary to create a niche genre? Or is it a liberating experience in some way? 

Webster: It’s a challenge. The story is the most difficult part of making this game. You can learn more about this by clicking here. to be engaging to the player, as it’s such a pivotal motive for continuing. The majority of the story is told by dialogue. This in itself can be a challenge. It can be intimidating to write a lot in multiple voices if you are not used to it. It seems that my teaching experience has served me well in this case, since I used to tell many stories. Some of these were true! I use stories to keep my students interested.

What are the must-haves when developing an adventure game? In Bilkins’ Folly, what areas did you try to improve? In my recent preview, I compared it to an adventure game from the olden days with a touch of modernity. It’s curious to know if this was the original intention.

Webster: As mentioned, story is probably the biggest must-have, followed by engaging puzzles. The old adventure games with point-and click style that required you to use random items to solve puzzles are not my favorite. It can be frustrating when a solution to a puzzle doesn’t have logical logic.

Bilkins’ Folly presents the player with a lot of puzzles that are maps. To solve them, you have to dig the correct place. It allowed me to link a game loop to a specific process. [player gets a map -> player decodes/deciphers clues on map, often using environmental points as references -> player digs in the spot where they believe the solution is]. There’s no random “combine item X with item Y” to solve any puzzles. Even if the player struggles with the solution to a puzzle, once they find the answer, I want them to be able to say, “Oh yeah, that makes total sense” afterward.

What is the most difficult part of creating an adventure game design?

WebsterWrite a story with a compelling dialogue. 

Which part of designing adventure games is your favourite? 

Webster: Character design is a lot of fun! Although I said that writing dialogue was one of the most difficult aspects, this is also a very rewarding process. It’s a great feeling when you’re able to say “That’s all!” and know that it is working.’, it’s such a great feeling.

The musical processes in games fascinate me, even if it’s just my personal curiosity. My fascination with the music of pirates is also a constant. If that makes any sense, I think you can tell a song is a pirate one by just hearing it. How did you approach the score for Bilkins’ Folly? 

Webster: I agree. Jamal made a wonderful soundtrack. Early on, we spent quite a bit of time looking at different tracks to evoke that piratey feel. The Monkey Island soundtrack is one example, but other tracks, such as the title track of Black SailsThe show was amazing, and I’m not kidding. [Editor’s Note: Black Sails really does rip] and even looked at how Breath of the Wild (there’s Zelda again!) Music is often presented as an hints to something out of reach.

Also, we discussed what instruments to use and how they set the mood. The modern instruments (like a bass, for instance) are played so that they evoke the laidback piratey feeling that one would expect in a video game. Jamal has been releasing music for the past two years. I enjoy listening to it while exploring different islands.

Bilkins Folly is a beautiful piece of art. Could you explain a little about this and the process by which it was developed? 

Webster: I actually came up with the art style before the game. After completing work on my previous game – Wildfire – which I did the pixel art for, I wanted to develop my own style. After completing the work on my previous game – Wildfire – for which I did the pixel art, I wanted to develop my own style. A boy with his dog was one of the pictures I created. This was a platformer in a very flat style. You can still see some of the early inspirations for Bilkins Folly in this image.

As I was building the prototype, I tried out a variety of art styles from an 8-bit style to a more illustrated one. Then, at some point I saw an image I had previously drawn, and everything clicked. It was the perfect art style. The image was easily transformed into top-down.

Bilkins’ Folly has a funny language that reminds me of Simlish. How did you come up with this kind of language? 

Webster: Partly, that’s an indie dev thing. I was going to have each character voiced separately, but the sheer amount of dialog in the game, and my lack of money, made that impossible.

To fill in the blanks, I started by using placeholder audio files that were gibberish. It was literally eight samples. I used them for every character and changed the pitch in order to achieve higher or lower sounds. The 8 sampled samples were so repetitive that after a few years, it didn’t bother me to keep them but increase the number of samples. After bringing in some voice actors, we ended up with about 300 different samples with various voice types. It’s amazing how well the voice fits with the game.

What is your hope for the players’ take-away from Bilkins Folly 

Webster: I want them to be engaged with the story. After the players have completed the game, I am really excited to hear from them. The final scene was a labor of love for me, as it felt like a perfect way to tie all of the themes in the game together. The game will be a different experience for players after they beat it. We’ll see…

Bilkins’ Folly has been released on PlayStation 5 and Switch. 

Check out the trailers for Bilkins’ Folly on console and release date. Then, you can read about our Bilkins’ Folly thoughts after we played it.