Teeto is an adorable 3D platformer and the upcoming debut game from NZ-based studio Eat Pant Games. We played the demo and absolutely loved it; the passion shines through in many ways, from its characters to the beautiful, polished design. We spoke to co-founder Mitch about Teeto, the heartfelt inspirations, and what’s next for this title in 2025.
Hi there Mitch, thanks for taking the time to talk to us today! How are things going? You’ve recently had NZGDA Kiwi Game Starter & the CODE Funding announcement which is great! How has that experience been for you?
I’m doing good! Keeping busy. Lots to do. There are two of us on the team, so every job is quite full on, but it’s so much fun. The Kiwi Game Starter was really cool; it’s something that we ended up applying to at the last minute. To be a finalist with Rollick N’ Roll and Project Mix is really cool because those games are sick, so to be in that crowd is super awesome. The opportunity to be at NZGDC and get a whole bunch of people playing and meeting a whole bunch of people, it was really great, tiring, but good.
There’s nothing that beats watching people play your game, even just from a playtester point of view, figuring out bugs and all that stuff; it’s just so awesome. The response to Teeto has been really good, and then the CODE funding on top of that was awesome. It’s super validating. We’ve had a lot of decent praise over the year of development, but a lot of general criticisms about not necessarily our game, but the genre, 3D platformers, and all that. But stuff like this is super validating that CODE and other people think there’s a market for it, because we do as well.
Can you tell us a bit about yourself and the journey with Eat Pant Games?
Sure. Going right back, I originally went to Victoria University because I wanted to do animation and be an animator. Coming out of university, that’s when I got my first brush with Unity because we did one paper that had it. I was more from an art side but just fell in love with it. It was just so awesome. I was never a super amazing animator anyway. So all my colleagues went off to Weta Workshop, while I wanted to jump into game design. I floated around a couple of startups, and then my partner and I decided to start our own tiny digital agency called Maggle.
For the past seven or eight years, we’ve been working with a bunch of agencies and brands in New Zealand, doing a bunch of cool things like game-adjacent AR, VR, and a lot of marketing things, all out of Unity because that’s my bread and butter. This year we decided, let’s make a game, so we set up our own business, another one called Eat Pant Games, and began working on a game that we love.
Did Teeto development start only this year?
Yeah, we were toying around with ideas late last year, but we only really jumped into development from January. We’ve been working part time whenever we get a moment. We’ve got a nearly three-year-old daughter as well, so that time is definitely very precious! Finding a project that we’re super passionate about just means we’re more willing to throw the hours in. Getting the response and things like CODE and Kiwi Game Starter add fuel to the fire and makes it more validating to keep going.
For a year in development part-time, you have definitely made a lot of progress fast!
Yeah, I think that’s some of the comments I got at the GDC, which is really cool. People were like, “Oh, it’s obviously not your first game.” And I’m like, “Well, kind of.” People were pretty surprised when it’s only been in development for 10 months, part-time. A lot of game developers are perfectionists. I can see it’s nice to take all that praise, but I’m also like, “Oh, man, it could be so much better.” I’m really excited about continuing to work on it, continuing to polish it, and continuing to make it better, but also trying not to fall into the trap of working on this game for 10 years.
Taking from all the experience we’ve had with Maggle over the years, it’s the same type of thing. Just dealing with creative projects, making sure you keep scope in check, but it’s just really great to work on something of your own.
Are you working on Teeto development with your partner?
It’s both of us wearing every hat. I mostly do the coding, whereas Ali does a lot of the narrative design, game design, level design, and art. We share responsibilities based on who has the time and who can do what. If there’s a skill shortage, we’ll just learn. I do a bunch of the music and we record our own sound effects and voiceovers from home. Basically, everything. That’s why things like the CODE funding are great because it opens up opportunities for us to bring in someone specialized, like a 3D modeler. There will definitely be things that will absolutely need to be outsourced, like localization.
Can you explain what Teeto is?
It’s an adorable, wholesome adventure 3D platformer that follows a little blob guy named Teeto and his little bunny companion Nory. The two of them set off on a journey through a big, wide world filled with crazy characters, puzzles, challenges, and a few shadow guys lurking in the corners, ready for a swift punch to the face. The game’s main hook is Teeto’s ability to absorb elements from the environment. If he needs to light his way or mount something, he might absorb fire to become a bright ball of fiery light. If he needs to sneak past an enemy, he could absorb a bush to become a ghillie suit to make him super sneaky. He can absorb trash and stuff in the game too. It’s super silly. Ultimately, it’s a game that doesn’t take itself seriously at all. Kirby or Mario Odyssey, they’re definite inspirations for that type of stuff—having the fine line between mechanically driven and silly stuff that doesn’t necessarily affect gameplay; I love that.
Could you explain the bright art style and that particular direction?
There were two main factors in how we landed on the art style. We wanted something super bright and vibrant because it fits really well with the narrative of the story. It’s a super cute game, and those are the vibes we’re going for, kind of like Nintendo vibes. Also, we’re designing it for the Nintendo Switch, so creating assets and an art style that works on a device that isn’t super powerful was key.
The levels in Teeto are fairly open in terms of where you can go. Do you encourage people to go out and explore rather than follow a particular path?
We’re still trying to find the balance between having an open world and being able to choose your own path to a certain degree. There is a start and an end, but how you get there, alternate routes, and optional content were always important. We’re still figuring out the line between guiding players and letting them have fun. The goal is to make the game enjoyable, even if it takes less time to complete. It’s a challenge with open-world games because they can end up being just the same experience but stretched out. So we’re in the process of figuring that out. It’s about finding a mix between linear platformers like Sackboy or Rayman and more open-world games like Spyro.
The absolute minimum you have to do is get to the end to be able to continue on to the next levels. But because it’s also a collectathon, you’ll need to find stars and collect these little blue orbs, and the only way to do that is to explore. All this is optional, of course; we’ll have people wanting to 100% versus people who may just want to get to the end and proceed to the next level. We are making room for both of those people.
You’ve mentioned in the Steam description that Teeto doesn’t exactly know what he is? Can we expect to find that out over the course of the game?
Yes, so we’ve got a super nice story that mostly Ali’s handled. She’s a genius when it comes to that stuff. It’s a really heart-warming story about finding self-acceptance and figuring out things about yourself. I can’t really reveal too much because we’re still figuring it out but also don’t want to spoil it! But yes, the story will basically follow Teeto figuring out what he is, what Nory the companion is, and both of their places within the world.
What made you want to go in this direction for your first game? Compared to the commercial VR projects in the past, a 3D platformer is quite a shift.
It would probably be going against the general advice of a lot of people, which was: don’t make your dream game first; make a bunch of little games. I was like, No, I really want to make this game; it can work, and we believe there is a market for it. Ultimately, it’s the type of games we love, and it just feels a lot better to do than latching onto the next trend or something like that. I would much rather have a passion project because I feel that’ll come through in the game. Those are the types of games that we grew up with and loved. Teeto is the love letter to those games.
Do you have a rough length in mind for Teeto?
We’re going to aim for between eight and ten hours. Not super long but not incredibly short either. With an extra couple of hours for people who want it, there’ll be replayability like randomised levels, or it’s a good opportunity to introduce speed-running levels, extra challenges, and things like that.
In the demo, during the Shadowlands level, we come to the end, and then it gets switched up quite dramatically. What kind of things can we expect in Teeto when it comes to level design?
We’re aiming to introduce different gameplay elements to keep things interesting throughout Teeto. For example, we have a part that is focused on musical rhythm or puzzles that involve more than jumping around and collecting stars. Of course that collecting aspect is a core part of the game; it’s also important to break this up and explore different gameplay ideas. Games like Astro Bot or It Takes Two do this very well, with each section feeling different while maintaining that same game feel throughout. It does mean a lot more work, but I definitely think it’s worth it.
Can you explain the testing process for Teeto?
We test everything ourselves initially. We’ll design something, jump in and play it a bunch, talk about it, take notes, and share within our Discord. Doing that process over and over until we’ve got something really nice and polished. A few months later, we might come back with fresh eyes and spot stuff that we didn’t see the first time.
We also wanted to get a demo out very early, which is something that most people wouldn’t advise, but I think it’s worked very well for us in terms of having open playtesting. The demo was released in May, and Teeto is wildly different since then; it’s improved so much, and that’s from all the feedback and suggestions from the demo being out early and open to players. All this open playtesting makes the game better, but it’s also important to have the relationship with players, finding out what is fun or frustrating and being able to collate all that stuff.
Ultimately we can only do so much since we’re so close to the game and might not spot everything; we need to absolutely get it in front of as many people as possible. Events like GDC, where we can watch people play and not even get their direct feedback is really important.
Looking at your development shared on social media, compared to when you first started development, Teeto has gotten noticeably quicker. Is that a result of the community testing and feedback?
Yeah, and that’s one of the main things that we got feedback on initially. We could go back and look at a lot of earlier clips, and this blob thing is moving around so slowly. When we did our first initial playtest before the demo was public, a lot of people were saying that there needs to be a run, especially when you start moving around a map as big as the Sunshine Forest; it takes a long time. This goes back to the testing, trying to eliminate all points of frustration. So we added a sprint button, and then people were like, I’m holding down sprint all the time, so then we made it the default speed. Just building and improving on everything, and so all that we’re left with is just hopefully a fun game.
You mentioned you wear a lot of different hats when it comes to development. Do you also handle the social media side for Teeto?
Yes, we do, and sometimes we don’t really know what we’re doing when it comes to the social media! It does take up a lot of time and is almost like a completely separate job. I think social media is very important to help grow a community and get the word out there. The more people that find out about Teeto, the more people play it, and we get feedback, helping us improve constantly. I feel like the days are gone where you can have a publisher and make a good game on a month’s notice and it does well. I feel like you need to build your game up, drum up interest in the game over time, and even then it’s not a guarantee that it’ll do well. You have to do the hard yards and get people involved; there’s just so many games out there now.
The social media side is great fun; I like to post a lot of silly stuff, and those are generally the things that do well. I might work really hard on a cool chase sequence video, and it does ok, but then I’ll post a silly poster saying “Wishlist the game” and it goes wild on social media. It’s funny how it works out.
The reason I brought up social media is because there was a clip of Teeto that recently went viral with a very sweet moment. Can you tell us about that?
So we were working on a bunch of co-op stuff for the Steam Co-Op fest coming in February next year, a lot of co-op-specific levels, and trying to flesh out these mechanics. I asked Ali to come and test these new co-op levels. When she jumped in, that’s when all the music and stuff started, and I planned to do this big thing and propose. But, classic, I got nervous and rushed through everything. I’m fumbling, trying to find the ring, but it was a very sweet moment and ended up being a great wee clip; it did really well on social media. Moments like that while making the game are going to be a staple of our lives forever and just how important Teeto is to us.
There is a lot in Teeto that is built around us and our family. Me proposing to Ali is something we are going to remember forever, and a lot of the characters and inspiration is based off our daughter. For example, the name Teeto is what she used to call her bottle of milk. The bunny companion in the game, Nory, is because a bunny used to be her comfort toy.
You’ve mentioned Steam and Switch for confirmed platforms, can we expect any other platforms for Teeto?
Switch and Steam are definite. PlayStation and Xbox are also goals, but they would depend on publisher support; it just takes a bit of time to get to other platforms. It would be really cool to get to as many platforms as we can. Teeto is a game that’s been designed for controllers. You can play it on a keyboard and mouse, and we’re looking at ways to make that better, but it’s primarily designed for a controller.
Looking at our Steam stats, about 50% play with keyboard and mouse, so we need to keep that in mind and make that as good as possible. The game is ready for using an Xbox or PlayStation controller; it’s more about actually dealing with the hardware and the third-party relationships.
Before working on Teeto, you worked in VR, AR, and commercial projects. How long have you been in that area? Was there a reason you didn’t get straight into game development?
It was kind of something we accidentally fell into. This was about seven or eight years ago when we started playing around with the technology, and compared to developing video games, it was much more attainable to work in that VR/AR commercial area. We didn’t have the expertise at the time to sit down and build a game from start to finish. We started off making AR things where you point your phone at an object and it would come to life, little things like that. In 2016, that technology was becoming a lot more common, and we saw an opportunity to be able to work with brands and agencies to do these cool projects.
We continued doing that until the development of Teeto, because ultimately that’s our day job, but this year was when we decided to tackle the game development side and make a video game in the engine that we’ve been using for the past 8 years.
What are your thoughts on the progression of the New Zealand game development industry?
I’d been game-adjacent for so long that I hadn’t been fully aware of how things had been progressing in the game development industry. Now that we’re getting much more involved, it’s great to see all these other teams and the help that’s available from places like CODE; they’re amazing. Not only just for the funding, which is already super helpful, but also for any of the resources and talking to them, they’re geniuses, and they help you out so much.
The amount of help that I’ve had from CODE pre-funding for anything has just been so invaluable. Setting up seminars, getting introduced to people, and pitching—just all that advice has been very valuable. CODE is a great resource for anyone that at least wants to be marginally involved in the game development industry; it does seem like the best thing to happen to the New Zealand game industry. CODE recently took studios to WePlay Expo and PAX, including a game that I’m developing with Mad Carnival (How Was Your Day?). It’s just really cool to see all that stuff and these opportunities that would be almost impossible for indies if they weren’t given this support.
Even seeing the relationship grow with Australia, the ANZ market is growing really well, and it’s again just really validating and makes things seem more attainable. Anyone wanting to get started, just seeing so many people rise up and make all these really awesome games, it’s really great to see.
What is the next stage for Teeto?
So we are in full production now. Before we were in a demo/playtesting bubble, focusing on updates and polish for a bunch of festivals and that over December, wanting to make sure it’s in its best possible shape. Now we’re working towards February, focusing on adding a bunch of co-op and narrative elements to the game. The next step is to focus on the story and to get that part across to the community. By February/March, we plan to have a really solid vertical slice of all the things to expect in the game for events like GDC. Basically, strapping down and getting all the work done.
With Teeto, it’s focusing on content now; we have mostly figured out the mechanics and everything is feeling good. Now it’s time to build levels, which is the fun part. We’re past the grueling work of setting up systems and making sure everything feels good and bug tested. It’s really fun to put it all together at the end. We’re aiming for a release near the end of next year to 2026, depending on how things go. It’s still early days, and we’re pretty flexible, but with funding, it really helps us prioritize Teeto more.
Thanks for the great talk Mitch, what is the best way for people to keep up with Teeto and Eat Pant Games?
Please follow us on all our social platforms out there. BlueSky is the best place for updates and Discord if you want to be more hands on involved with suggestions and feedback because we would love to hear from everyone. Please also wishlist the game on Steam, play the demo, and tell your friends!
