Navigating the Stars

Join me for an exclusive interview with Wolka from Whimsical Wolff Games! We discuss the development of her game Kohlrabi Starship.

INDIE GAMES

Jeff K

6/15/20248 min read

Hey everyone, I’m back from my vacation and super excited to share this interview with Wolka from Whimsical Wolff Games. We dive into the development of Kohlrabi Starship, a cozy farming game set in space. Wolka recently won the “Very Big Indie Pitch” award at GDC 2024, which is a huge testament to the game’s unique charm and innovation. Join us to discover the passion behind this stellar project and hear about the creative journey and future plans for Kohlrabi Starship! Check out more about it here.

What inspired you to transition from Big Tech to indie game development?

“I had always wanted to develop my own games, but I also love computer science research, so I always held off on it. After Covid, there was a period where all the Big Tech stocks fell dramatically, and there were massive layoffs everywhere. I wasn’t laid off, but the shift in atmosphere really affected me. I started thinking about big questions, like how I want my career to look long-term. I felt self-employment, creative work, and game development just fit me way more than the corporate job I had, even if it meant a large pay cut. So I took the plunge. So far, I do not regret it.”

2. How did you come up with the concept for Kohlrabi Starship?

“For my first game, I wanted to go for a genre that I love playing myself — it would make it easier to get it right. I always loved Harvest Moon and Stardew Valley! But I also wanted to give it my own twist, so I added space exploration into it and then just let my imagination take it from there.”

3. Can you share a memorable moment or funny story from your development journey that might not be widely known?

“Attending GDC is definitely the most memorable moment in my journey so far. I loved sharing an Airbnb with other studios and exchanging experiences. But we were always exhausted from standing all day. So we had a theme song; instead of “my loneliness is killing me,” we sang “my lower back is killing me.” We had a great time.”

4. Can you walk us through your development process and the tools you use?

“For every new feature I want to add to the game, I first create all the artwork in Procreate. I then use Photoshop to create the spritesheets and clean up the art. My engine of choice is Godot, though I initially started the project with Unity and switched later. I use C# and VS Code for all the scripts, and once the feature works reasonably well, everything goes to GitHub. Some other tools I use are DaVinci Resolve and OBS Studio for video editing and Audacity for some sound design.”

5. What has been the most challenging aspect of developing Kohlrabi Starship so far?

“Realizing that everything takes longer than planned. This is not a surprise, I knew this from the very beginning. It is very common in any tech project. But it is still challenging; I always wish I was sooo much faster. I have to remind myself of the big picture and how far I have come.”

6. How did your background in Big Tech influence your approach to game development?

“I think it helps in two ways. First of all, the coding feels comparatively easy. There are no complicated equations and differentiable simulations to wrangle, just straightforward coding. And second, research projects usually also take a long time, so I feel confident I can handle a larger game dev project too. But my overall approach to game dev is much more influenced by how I did art in the past.”

7. What are some of the biggest lessons you’ve learned from documenting your development process in your devlogs?

“As I said before, one of the biggest challenges is the feeling of not being fast or productive enough. The devlogs really help with that. I can look back and see how far I have come.”

8. What has been one of the most frustrating bugs you’ve encountered during the development of Kohlrabi Starship, and how did you go about finding and fixing it?

“All engines have bugs, and those are the hardest to find if they occur. I like Godot for this reason, because I can at least have a look at the source code. With Godot I had a bug where the whole editor would crash when running the game. I had to run the editor through the console and also tracked it down by removing lines of code I had added since my last git commit. Turns out, I had to switch the order of two lines of code that didn’t have anything to do with each other, a bit crazy. Once I have time, I’ll dive deeper into what happened there, but for now, I just left a big DO NOT TOUCH comment in my code and am happy it runs.”

9. In one of your devlogs, you mentioned using mip maps for different screen sizes and facing some rendering issues. Could you explain what mip maps are and how you addressed these rendering problems?

“Basically, mipmaps are scaled-down versions of a texture. You take the initial texture and repeatedly halve its size. It helps with rendering to choose the mipmap that is close or matching your resolution. For example, imagine someone on TV with a striped suit. Back in the day, that would create really annoying artifacts, and it’s one of the problems mipmaps can fix. Engines like Unity and Godot help with automated mipmap generation. But the topic goes way deeper and could be a lecture in itself, so I recommend either watching my second devlog or googling mipmaps; there are some really interesting and cool resources out there.”

10. What is your creative process like when designing the various planets and ecosystems in Kohlrabi Starship? Do you draw inspiration from any particular sources or experiences?

“I basically go from big to small. I first decide on the overall climate and mood of a planet, then brainstorm all the cool things that would fit with it. For example, an ice planet might have some northern lights. I like watching nature documentaries and I also take inspiration from my own travels. Then I do some research on what plants and animals would fit the climate. A lot of people also suggested plants on one of my devlogs, and I keep those in mind too. Basically, I collect lots of ideas, then choose what feels right for the mood I want to create.”

11. Can you talk about some of the key design decisions you made for Kohlrabi Starship and how they contribute to the overall player experience?

“It is hard to come up with just one; I think a game is a thousand small design decisions that all come together. But one example would be the “time travel” feature, where the player can use space tech to speed up time and watch the ecosystem grow around them. I think it’s really satisfying to watch, but it also changes the dynamics of the gameplay. The player can pass a lot of days at once, and the duration of a day might be different on each planet anyway. So the common sleeping-in-bed-at-the-end-of-each-day mechanic becomes somewhat meaningless, which also affects how and when the game will be saved. This small feature really changes the gameplay of Kohlrabi Starship from the usual farming gameplay.”

12. What inspired you to create a cozy farming game set in space? Were there any particular influences or experiences that shaped this unique concept?

“My grandfather and uncle have a farm where I spent a lot of summers, so that might have fueled my love for farming games. And since I am, or was, a research scientist, I love space and science too. So what could be more perfect than to combine the two!”

13. What advice would you give to someone looking to transition from a traditional job to indie game development?

“First, have a solid plan! How long can you live from savings, are there other funding opportunities? Make a list of all the features you want in your dream game and then estimate how long it will take. Then double it and add in time for marketing (creating a Steam page, website, etc.). Does it fit within your timeframe?

Second, connect with other game devs as early as possible, online or better even in person. Are there co-working spaces for game devs? Testing nights? Talks? Mentors? Connecting with others had a giant impact on Kohlrabi Starship. I would have missed a lot of opportunities otherwise. There is only so much YouTube videos can teach you.”

14. How do you stay motivated and manage stress during the development process?

“I try to be kind to myself and listen to what I need. For me, I learned that my motivation stays high if I am generally happy. So I actively schedule fun things and downtime, and things I know are good for me. If I know I have to power through (like for preparing GDC), I schedule off time afterward.”

15. How do your cats, Loki, Milo, and Chiki, inspire or motivate you during your development process?

“Loki is the voice actor behind all the cats in Kohlrabi Starship. He did a very good job! And of course, cuteness overload times 3 is the greatest motivation boost for a cozy game.”

16. How has the feedback from the community shaped the development of the game?

“Hearing all the positive feedback so far really helps me in keeping the motivation high! I have to admit I can be very stubborn when it comes to my own vision and ideas, and I usually don’t let myself be influenced too much. But the time travel feature is a very specific example where feedback has influenced the game quite a bit. It is not shown in the devlogs yet, but at GDC and playtesting nights, people really loved the feature. Originally, I only included it to quickly allow testers to see how the ecosystem mechanics work on longer time scales. But now it is a central part of the gameplay.”

17. Are there any memorable interactions or suggestions from fans that have influenced the game?

“The character name HoloGran was actually suggested by someone on Discord after I posted the art, and it was immediately loved by everyone and is now official.”

18. What are your plans for the future of Kohlrabi Starship after its released?

That’s still so far out! It would be great to port it onto the Switch, but it’s too early to make promises. I also would love to expand the game studio to a few more people for the next title.