This article originally ran in Back Alley Games Issue 17, July 2025

To the average person, a flute is perhaps one of the least intimidating instruments in the orchestra. To marching band survivors flashing back to piccolos trilling at full volume, it’s a bad memory. To players of Miki Straus’s Pan, it’s something else entirely.

A weapon.

In Pan, a charming goat uses a flute to save a forest where bats and other invaders stand ready to be struck down by magic rain and other spells.

The idea of using an instrument as a weapon seems abstract at first glance, but in Pan it feels true, thanks in large part to the use of a PVC flute that acts as the controller for the game.

Alternative controllers, or alt-controls, are not entirely uncommon in arcade settings, nor are instrument controllers.

Rock Band and Guitar Hero are obvious examples, but Straus also cites Donkey Kong Jungle Beat (Nintendo, 2004) as a huge source of inspiration, as its platforming gameplay is solid and its bongo controller feels intuitive and necessary.

“I didn’t want the flute controller to feel like an auxiliary gimmick that’s kinda cool to see, but then the game sucks to play,” Straus said. “It was really important to me that players feel like they’re actually playing an instrument.”

The flute itself is made of a length of pipe, screws, a Makey Makey kit, and the hubris of its creator. The player’s left hand controls movement through the covering and uncovering of holes while their right hand strings together melodies and songs to cast healing and damaging spells.

“Real flute-heads know the negative contact screw on the bottom is just the B Flat thumb key,” Straus said. “You’re supposed to keep your thumb there. PLEASE appreciate that I felt quite clever about it.”

That cleverness comes from experience, as Straus has created a few other alt-control games in the past, including Bloodrage Summer Fight Club, which forced players to hit a punching bag as many times as possible to simulate a boxing match.

“When I build an alt-control game, I think about the physical actions I want players to do first, then I build the game mechanics around that,” he said. “I like to pinpoint what physical motions are satisfying to do, like punching, and try to let that drive the gameplay.”

Pan went through several iterations during its development, with Straus originally envisioning a platformer or an on-rails shooter before deciding that the flute lent itself better to fighting game-style combos.

The choice of a flute was based on Straus’s personal experiences as well, with his past playing the instrument creating a love-hate relationship that he wanted to force upon others.

That desire to put players into his shoes is the basis for Straus’s game making ethos. He said he considers his games to be conversations that begin with questions like “have you ever picked up a flute?” and end with him making people “do stupid actions in public.”

“I feel like making games is asking people to firsthand experience some emotion or action or desire that I experience,” he said.

An emotion-first approach like Straus’s is only bolstered by the timeframe imposed by jams, which he said forces him to be less precious about his work.

After all, he said, “making a poopoo game feels better than making zero game.” Though he clearly doesn’t need to worry about Pan being the former, as it was the runner-up in the Judges Choice category at AllStars this year.

Straus also mentioned that jam games are both a large part of his artistic practice as a solo dev and a great starting point for future polish. He said he plans to work more on Pan to make it a more conventional experience without alt-control elements.

“I think alt-control games are really only fun for like five minutes max before you want to stop holding the stupid thing,” he said. “Because Pan can be mapped to a keyboard too, I’m interested in making it a more fleshed out, longer experience.”

Outside of this project, Straus is excited to continue to be a part of the Chicago scene that includes community centers like Night City and the ICG Discord, which he credits for pushing him to be a better artist.

“I’m so thankful to be surrounded by artists who are so serious and passionate about their own work and growth,” he said. “It helps me to take my own practice just as seriously and passionately.”

Play Pan here: https://windupthing.itch.io/pan