Peak Devs Initially Borrowed from Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s Climbing, but “Everything Changed” a Week Into Development: “At This Point, the Game Kind of Made Itself

[wasabi]

Peak’s origin story is pure jam magic. During a game jam, the devs at Aggro Crab and Landfall started by drawing inspiration from Breath of the Wild’s climbing mechanics. By day two, the team was prototyping climbing anything like in Zelda, while simultaneously finalizing other designs like the scout character.

Then, by day three, the idea “clicked.” They added mechanics like hunger, injuries, and weighted items affecting stamina, which elegantly solved multiple design problems at once. By day seven, the game essentially “made itself”: all that mattered was the wall, the stamina bar, and the multiplayer physics, forming the core of what became Peak.

Nick Kaman calls it “a beautiful time,” capturing that rare creative energy where ideas flowed freely and the game practically built itself. The chaotic, fun, friendslop spirit of Peak grew directly from this intense, focused burst of creativity.

It’s a great example of how constraints and rapid prototyping can lead to something unexpectedly brilliant.