Litchfield became home to Paul Perkins about a decade ago. The Kentucky native saw it as a good place to raise a family.
Nothing has changed his perception of Litchfield during the past 10 years.
In fact, he enjoys the town's people, buildings, history and events so much that he’s using his burgeoning skills as a video game creator to immortalize Litchfield in digital form.
“I had the idea for this for a while, but really started working on it within the past month,” Perkins, 32, said during an interview in late November. “From making a game design document and getting my thoughts together, and then, of course, right now I’m in the process of making all the artwork for this.”
That artwork will include two-dimensional, digital versions of landmarks, such as Central Park and its bandstand, and historic buildings like the G.A.R. Hall and Opera House. Oh, and he envisions events like Watercade, the county fair, Parade of Bands and more being part of the game play, as well.
To ensure his game includes the best, or most memorable, of Litchfield, Perkins put out a call on social media in November and again earlier this month, asking Litchfield residents to share with him the landmark buildings and events that make the town special to them.
“I got a lot of positive feedback,” Perkins said. “I think I got over 200 likes on that post, and more than a dozen people shared it. It was kind of my way of gauging and feeling out and getting people’s opinion.”
Perkins, wearing a T-shirt depicting the classic 1980s arcade game “Donkey Kong,” talked enthusiastically about his game, the working title of which is “Town Life RPG, Litchfield MN.” A role-playing game — the “RPG” in the title — it begins with the player moving into an old farmhouse on the edge of town, and then sets about exploring the town and meeting its residents.
It isn’t the high-tech, three-dimensional, cinematic production of today’s top RPG games. Think one less dimension, more basic, pixelated. Like the 1990s Nintendo classic “Super Mario Bros.”
While today’s teenage gamers might turn their nose up at the game, Perkins sees it as fitting the “classic” niche, in addition to helping him improve his skills as a video game creator.
“This is something that helps me, as an independent game developer, grow,” he said. “The more different kinds of games that you create and the more that you do, the better your skills.”
Perkins said he got started in video game development as a sort of evolution from his longtime love of playing video games.
“As far as video games go, it’s always been a passion of mine,” he said. “I’ve been playing video games since I was old enough to know how to use a controller.
“So, I’ve been a huge video game nerd, you could say, for a long time,” Perkins said. “Making video games is something that I’ve picked up over the last five or six years. I’ve self-taught myself everything I know about it.”
Perkins grew up in Pine Knot, Kentucky, population 1,680, in the south-central part of the state. After graduating from high school in 2008, he attended Universal Technical Institute in Morrisville, North Carolina, to study automotive tech, a field that he says tied into his interest in video games.
“Automotive is something I liked. I like working with my hands,” he said. “So, I knew that (auto repair) was going to be something that would be quick and easy for me to get through school.”
The training got him a job working with the Lexus plant in Lexington, Kentucky, where he worked until moving to Minnesota.
“That’s been my career,” Perkins said. “I still very much like doing that.”
He met his future wife — Hannah Orsatti, a Litchfield resident — through the online dating website eHarmony. They “courted” virtually for a few months, using technology such as email and Skype to stay in touch. Perkins soon decided to move to Minnesota, and shortly after they were engaged, and then married on Aug. 28, 2010.
They have four children ranging in age from 2 to 9, with a fifth child on the way. A busy household, to be sure.
Add in Perkins’ job as a service technician at an auto dealership in Willmar, and finding time to be a video game developer might seem a challenge. And, well, it is, Perkins admitted. But video games — both playing and creating them — is still just a hobby, one that he finds time to do in the evening, usually after his children go to bed.
“I don’t do it full-time, and I haven’t made a whole lot of money doing it,” Perkins said. “So, yeah, it’s the learning experience. It’s for my own enjoyment.”
It is enough of a pursuit where Perkins has established a name for his video game cottage industry — 4:8 Games, a name derived from Philippians 4:8, a Bible verse that he said encapsulates his goal of creating wholesome entertainment through video games. Through 4:8 Games, he has worked with a music composer and writer, and another game developer on projects.
But while developing a video game that grabs the attention of a large audience is intriguing, that isn’t really the goal, Perkins said. At least right now.
“I guess if any of the games did take off, and people liked it, I mean, obviously, that wouldn’t be a bad thing,” he said. “It’s just, you know, my vision for my game studio or vision overall of 4:8 Games is to make wholesome games, games that bring the family together."
At the Perkins home, they plan “video game night” like other families might plan “movie night.”
“I guess I could say I’ve been blessed with a wife who’s kind of nerdy, too,” Perkins said with a chuckle. “She enjoys video games as much as I do. She’s always reminded me of that — be glad I’m as big a nerd of video games as you."
Through that support, Perkins has already developed a few games.
The first game, “Paper Doodle Craft,” has the player maneuver a doodle-sketched rocket through an endless maze of similarly doodled obstacles. “Pixel Blocks” is a digital version of playing with blocks, in which Perkins said he used “real world physics” to replicate how blocks might be stacked and how they might tumble down. And “Junk Food Invaders,” completed most recently, emulates the classic “Galaga,” with the player shooting missiles at falling junk food.
All of the games, available on Google Play and the Apple App Store, were inspired by Perkins’ enjoyment of classic video games, as well as his wish to create games his children might like to play. They are basic in their design, Perkins said, yet his children have given them a thumbs-up. And they have even been downloaded from the app stores.
“The first one I did (Paper Doodle Craft), I took inspiration from the fact that (doodling) was something I did when I was in school,” he said. “I’d sit and doodle instead of listening to my studies, like I should have been. I’d make my whole notebook like a racecourse made out of pencil, and then I could trace my little spacecraft/hovercraft through the course and stuff like that.
“That was fairly simple to make,” he said, using a program for developers called Game Salad, which teaches programming while making a game. “The artwork was very simple. It’s pixel art.”
As if playing with his virtual building blocks, Perkins is stacking and expanding his skills as a developer with “Town Life RPG: Litchfield MN.”
And learning about his adopted home along the way.
Exploration is the name of the game in “Town Life RPG: Litchfield MN,” Perkins said, with no real points system or conclusion.
“You’re just moving in the town,” Perkins explained. “Some of this I take inspiration from my own experience moving up to Litchfield.”
The game player’s character moves about the virtual Litchfield, meeting and interacting with other non-playable characters, or NPCs, from the town. In addition, players collect things to build a life in the town.
“Some of that’s not fleshed out 100%, but for sure, it will be exploring, being able to explore everything in town,” Perkins said. “And being able to kind of just get to know what the feel of the town is, with things like Watercade that the player can visit, like Pie in the Park.”
He plans to replicate in chunky, pixelated form Litchfield’s downtown, its businesses and residential areas. The character will have the option of strolling the town on foot or using a car to maneuver the streets.
He said he sees endless possibilities in what could be an endless game. And with today’s technology of app stores, updates to the game will be more feasible than the old days of cartridge- or disc-based games.
Based on feedback he’s received on social media, he hopes the game could be a popular app store download to mobile phones for some area residents.
Regardless of its audience potential, Perkins said, it has been a worthwhile project.
“I’ve found it to be a lot of fun just doing it,” he said. “Making Central Park, thinking about creating the town, that’s been fun.”
