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/ Games Porting /
Paleo Pines
“PC-Only” Farm Sim Hits Switch On Time for Multi-Platform Launch
Same-day
release
worldwide
85%
score
on Steam
7
platforms
supported
/ Testimonials /
A game that “embraces players with its warmth and charm”
SpazioGames
70/100
A peaceful and pleasant gaming experience to put the world on hold
TheGamer
70/100
Brings an interesting new (read: peaceful) interpretation to the monster-tamer genre
Gamegrin
75/100
The adventure of exploring an unknown land full to the brim with colourful and adorable dinosaurs
Steam
Adore it
This game is so cute and fun and easy to play! I absolutely adore it.
/ Project overview /
Pingle x Italic Pig
About the game
Paleo Pines is a 3D single-player farm-life sim developed by Italic Pig and published by Modus Games. Combining ranch-building, island exploring, and dinosaur taming, the game stands out in the genre for its cozy aesthetic and prehistoric twist.
Client
Italic Pig
Modus Games
Solution
Porting
Engine
Platforms
Release
PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch
September 26, 2023
Partnership timeline
Month-Month, 2023
About Pingle & Italic Pig partnership
Paleo Pines was planned as PC-only. But…fans who played the PC demo didn’t agree. Italic Pig and Modus Games decided to hit consoles in a same-day release. We supported the Switch port, making sure the build met performance and cert requirements in time for the game’s multi-platform launch.
“They [Pingle] were paramount in taking our PC version and making sure it ticked all the right boxes for submission so we knew that Paleo Pines would indeed be coming to the Switch on September 26th with the rest of our consoles.”
Italic Pig
dev team
/ The Challenge /
A LOT of optimisation to do over a short few months
Paleo Pines wasn’t designed with Nintendo Switch in mind. Its dense foliage, high-poly assets, and lively herds – visuals Italic Pig had spent years perfecting – looked fantastic on PC. But of course, they suffered on handheld.
Italic Pig wanted the Switch version to feel as close to other platforms as possible. And as they put it, “there was a LOT of optimisation to do over a short few months to get it to run smoothly,” especially with a multi-platform release on Sep 23 fast approaching.
Our task was to cut GPU and memory load while keeping the Paleo Pines island’s warmth and charm intact. And above all, to make sure the Switch build ticked all the right boxes for certification.
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/ Phase 1 /
Core optimizations push Switch build to 30 FPS
Paleo Pines couldn’t sustain 30 FPS on Switch, so we focused on memory use and rendering bottlenecks first:
1
Freed 700MB by reworking memory allocation
2
Simplified shaders and post-effects
3
Tuned render targets and platform settings to stabilize FPS
This way, the game could hold a stable FPS without losing its cozy aesthetic.
/ Phase 2 /
Vibrant environments play smoothly on Switch
Even after core optimizations, Paleo Pines’ lush environments were still too demanding for Switch. Dense vegetation and static assets, including highly detailed trees and bushes that players would barely notice, dragged performance down. The original GPU instancer couldn’t handle the load, so we:
1
Built a custom GPU instancing solution
2
Removed redundant foliage and fine-tuned LOD and culling
3
Found and optimized high-poly models (like trees and bushes with 3M+ triangles) and streamlined their textures
4
Used billboard foliage for distant 3D vegetation to ease GPU load
/ Phase 3 /
Stable performance even in dino-heavy scenes
Large herds of animated dinosaurs pushed the Switch GPU beyond its limits, which led to frequent crashes. To fix this, we:
1
Detected redundant spawns and reduced cases of too many dinosaurs spawning in the same areas
2
Increased taming chances. More dinos were tamed sooner, reducing overcrowding
3
Rebalanced spawn logic, adjusting how often and where dinosaurs appeared to keep scenes stable
Result: Scenes remained lively without overloading hardware.
“We were very fortunate to have support from the Pingle team in Ukraine during the initial porting stages for the Switch.”
Italic Pig
dev team
/ The results /
Paleo Pines hits Switch on time, its cozy charm intact
Before
After
PC build ran under 30 FPS on Switch
Cert-ready optimized build
Foliage and 3M+ poly assets overloaded GPU
Custom instancing, LOD, and asset fixes kept environments lush
Dino-heavy scenes crashed GPU
Rebalanced spawns kept herds lively and stable
/ The team /
Cast
- Team peak size: 10 specialists
- Unity Developers
- Tech Artists
- 3D Artists
- Sound Designers
- QA Engineers
- Project Manager
/ Cases /
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