Part Three: Outsiders

What you see here is the initial idea for non-resident Piņatas. Currently, any Piņata who doesn't count your garden as their home can be seen in monochrome form, but still distinguishable by shape and size.

In the original plan, non-resident Piņatas would retain their colors and markings while being indistinguishable by shape, only morphing into full form in the garden. All Piņata subsections, e.g. birds, quadrupeds, small things, slimy things etc. would have their own non-resident shape. On this slide you can see it next to their final form. The Mallowolf and Macaraccoon were almost just jellybeans on stilts; the Parrybo and Crowla retain some distinctive bird features. The cut duo of rattlesnake and cane toad both look like baby salamanders, while the Whilrm and Taffly appear to have grown ears. Pleasingly, the Whirlm has gained an eye. Although he still looks sinister.

One of the main reasons this feature never made it to the final game was because it would require yet another model for every Piņata. Given the overheads we had already, trying to free up the space would have been very stressful.

Let's turn our attention to those in the garden who attempt to help you. The three Helpers in the centre were more casualties of the chopping block: despite making it a good way through the development cycle, in the end their services were no longer required and P45s were handed out.

Their job was to deal with species-specific queries. The chap to the upper left knew all there was to know about lizards; the girl with Flutterscotch wings could tell you about insects; and the one all dressed up with nowhere to go in the centre was your resource for birds. They represent what the Journal used to be. You'd talk to any of them just as you'd talk to Seedos or Leafos, but this was nowhere near as convenient as direct access to the book so for usability reasons they were let go.

The other two Helpers survived, but in very different ways. The Stork Helper on the right is how Storkos once looked, wearing an actual stork hat rather than her now-preferred egg headwear. The Postman is what you get when... well, perhaps it's best to not to know. We have a suspicion something became detached when this was cooked up. He/she was supposed to float through your garden, attaching balloons to packages you wished to send. Needless to say it didn't really work, but it is one of the real gems of the discarded ideas.