Peggle Secrets
103,901
Published 2024-07-11
Note 1: I tried to make the stats calculations more accessible to non-maths people, so I didn't talk about p-values or anything. I thought maybe a distribution plot is the best way to understand it, but maybe not!
Note 2: that Claude clip at 15:24 is super weird! I hadn't realised quite how weird it was until I was editing. The green replaces an orange, and then that orange goes somewhere else! It's possible this is another way to resurrect pegs, but I haven't managed to see it.
Note 3: although the ball doesn't experience any friction, it does still lose energy when sliding up a curved slope, due it technically being a series of inelastic collisions.
Note 4: I noticed during editing at 35:16 that the letters of "Extreme Fever" go transparent if the ball is behind it - I've never noticed that before!
Note 5: For the full clip of the hidden music track, see • Peggle Deluxe PC - Unusual Music Track
There are definitely more questions about Peggle that I haven't answered in this video. If you've found something I've missed, please post it in a comment below!
I focused more on the technical side of the game rather than its development in this video, but if you're interested in the history of PopCap then I'd recommend looking some stuff up - in particular, "The Oral History of PopCap Games" by MinnMax here on YouTube is very interesting.
I took the old interviews from the PopCap website, although you might need to use the WayBack Machine or something to find all the links. I included more of Brian Rothstein in this video but there are interviews with others as well. I also didn't include it, but apparently he left PopCap after having a number of disagreements with the artists over ridiculously specific background elements and deciding that working on Peggle wasn't too good on his mental health! But you can check the discord for his own words on that.
(RIP Bjorn "Fake it till you make it" Unicorn)
All Comments (21)
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"NOOO!!! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO OBEY ME!!! STOP IT!!!" The seven peg master souls: 20:22
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"Just a bunch of characters playing air hockey in an open field trying to sell you a certificate for a game a unicorn made up" Simple, yet beautiful
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The titles on the dialogue boxes remind me of the subject lines on emails, like you're receiving formal correspondence from each of the peggle masters
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53:02 That... Thats the unicorn... I never knew what was that reference, when i was a kid i found it funny like: "lmao thats a unicorn, they were real in the pvz universe" Now i know, he's fking dead, and EA killed him Dear god
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50:03 - The Peggle Institute is actually shown visually in Peggle Nights, on the right of the opening screen and in the level Water Whirled, although that second appearance complicates things with it seemingly implying that the Institute is deep underwater? This was a treat to watch, I had no clue going through Adventure Mode again gave you new dialogue from the masters
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From someone who has been speedrunning this game for about 3 years now: this is awesome! There's huge dedication to documenting and understanding peggle in your own way in this video and it's entertaining and informative throughout. Truly a great collection of peggle lore
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I can't believe splorks blast doesn't add momentum, my whole world view is shattered. W vid
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The ways the game rigs things in your favor are incredibly fascinating to me. I knew about the coin, anyone who has played peggle long enough will notice that the odds are in your favor, but i had never heard of microzen or the spooky zen before. Both of these paint a picture of a very specific game design philosophy of prioritizing "fun" over telling the truth to the player. Techniques like these are not value neutral, i know games like candy crush or fortnite have systems to either manufacture insane combos or fill up lobbies with easy bot players to get you to experience the highs of the game to make it more likely that you'll get addicted to them, but in peggle deluxe, a game that you purchase once and that the devs don't make any money off of you continuing to play it, i think they're really just there to make the experience smoother and more satisfying. What's especially funny about the coin to me is that, to my knowledge, the game never explicitly tells you that there's a 50/50 chance of getting a free ball. It just uses the visual of a spinning coin with the options on either side to VERY strongly imply it using associations. Fantastic video, by the way. Very well put together. I was surprised to see how small your channel is. Excited to see what you make next.
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52:45 Another peggle-pvz connection is that Renfield is confirmed to be the cousin of Pumpkin in its Almanac bio
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a 1 HOUR LONG peggle video??? i'm gonna be eating this for lunch tomorrow
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i know of a certain Monochromatic Fruitman who would probably love this
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i have never played peggle in my entire life, but this video has entranced me like a baby sensory video
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I think the reason you can aim higher with fireball is because you would otherwise have situations where getting fireball may cause you to lose. Since pegs can spawn higher than you can aim (I think), you normally have to bounce the ball off another peg to hit the higher ones. If, however, your ball cannot bounce off of pegs, then you cannot hit those higher pegs with it. It would feel bad for a power-up to mean you can no longer get certain pegs until the power wears off.
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0:59 I'm over here mishearing "if you hover over the quit button, the sky darkens" as "if you hover over the quit button, this guy dies" lmao
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I was fully expecting this to be another peggle mod like peggle dinners, but I absolutely enjoy this kind of content as well
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The phrase "Peggle Discord Server" sent deep and dark reverberations through my soul. I didn't like hearing that phrase.
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An hour long video about Peggle intricacies? The Youtube algorithm has blessed me
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Random facts about really specific games is my favourite kind of videos on Youtube
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I really enjoyed the format of this video! I honestly can’t say I’ve ever watched something like it before, other than your Obra Dinn video. It’s really interesting to see a game so comprehensively analyzed and catalogued without the lens of a critique :D
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super glad this showed up in my recommended. I'm an avid watcher of Grayfruit's peggle content (and there's an awful lot) and there were quite a few things I'd never seen before here! Also, wasn't expecting to get emotional at the ending of this... damn
