The Puking Turtle was created by my good friend (and co-creator of Fruitless Pursuits), Luke Milton. It was made for the original Pixel Lincoln card game years ago. I was looking for some crazy enemies and because MINE WERE AWFUL, I reached out to some friends. Luke came up with the Puking Turtle and it all went downhill from there... in a very, very good way.
When it came time for the deckbulding game, the Puking Turtle was one of the main enemies that I wanted in there, but he needed a special ability.
With each game being very randomized, the flying ability needed to work in all scenarios. I wanted to make it like a super jump, of sorts. Since Pixel Lincoln had to reach up really high to reach flying enemies, I wanted to reward him for the super jump. So that is where the Fly ability came from. After a player defeats an enemy with flying, he/she is rewarded with a free jump that must be used immediately.
Combining this with last week's card, the Beardarang, you can come up with some great combinations. While the Puking Turtle is very weak, if you throw the Beardarang from across the board, you will basically get a free jump. Then you can use your jump cards for their coin value to make other purchases, or even more jumps if you need them. So you can get big, big turns by using your Beardarangs and the Puking Turtles together.
As far as the character goes... ever since Luke created it, it has been the flagship model of the Pixel Lincoln enemies. It's right up there with the light gross out humor that isn't too gross or offensive. It's a turtle puking, not a person puking. Huge difference! But it's right up there with the tone of silliness, quirkiness, and the vibe of everything that I loved when I was younger and at my video game playing prime. 8-Bit games when I was a kid had very silly themes, and the toys that accompanied them like M.U.S.C.L.E and Madballs shaped my childhood.
So that is where the character came from. Originally created by Luke Milton, and then expanded into the base model for everything from then on out. The Puking Turtle made it onto the cover of the game, the back of every standard card, the "seal" on the back of our Bicycle Card deck, and much more to come. This isn't the last you'll see of the Puking Turtle.
Definitely one of my favorites.
Next week: Pixel Lincoln's famous Boxing Glove
