Nate Purkeypile (sick name, by the way) is no stranger to making games. Before going solo and independently releasing The Axis Unseen last year, he worked on some of Bethesda’s biggest titles like Skyrim, Fallout, and Starfield. Yesterday, he revealed his upcoming project, Deedlee Doo! Carkour! – a game about a clay car blasting through a clay world to reach the top of the “Meowtain” suspended in space. Yeah, sounds about right!
On its surface, Deedlee Doo! Carkour! almost looks like one of those ridiculous custom levels from Rocket League. You boost around, propelling a car with explosions across one cohesive, surreal level with various checkpoints along the way. Though, as Nate Purkeypile explains on the game’s Steam page, its creation has a deeper story to tell:
“All of the art in this game was made out of various bits of clay sculpted in real life. My kids even sculpted some of the art in the game. It looks very stupid. I went to art college. My teachers would be proud,” the Deedlee Doo! Carkour! Steam description reads.
‘Deedlee Doo! Carkour!’ looks like a fun ride for the whole family
Deedlee Doo! Carkour! is, quite literally, a family-involved project. In fact, the entirety of the game uses real-life sculpted clay models, some of which were made by his five and eight-year-old kids. When you lose, you’ll hear them laugh and snicker at your newbie carkour skills. And when you win, they’ll cheer you on! It’s kinda the most wholesome example of a dad dev involving their kids in their art that I’ve seen. And, technically, I think that makes Nate’s kids the youngest game devs ever?
This is a game full of unbridled silliness. Deedlee Doo! Carkour! doesn’t have a normal soundtrack, nor sound effects. In fact, everything from the music down to each bump of the rocket-propelled car is made entirely from (presumably) Nate’s mouth. Sounds like a pretty cost-effective way to add audio to a game, but it also fits perfectly with Deedlee Doo!‘s youthful charm. Almost like it’s more than just another climb-to-the-top-style endurance test, but instead, a snippet of Nate’s experience as a father. I imagine, while sitting down with his kids and holding Hot Wheels over their heads, he asked, “Hey, what if we made this into a real game?”
Deedlee Doo! Carkour! releases May 12, 2025 on Steam.
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