Viva Piñata is a video game series created and made by Xbox Game Studios and Rare. The first game in the series, Viva Piñata (2006), was first planned as a mobile gardening game before Rare was bought by Microsoft. It came out for the Xbox 360. It was released at the same time as an animated show made by 4Kids. The game had two follow-up console games: Viva Piñata: Party Animals (2007) and Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise (2008). A version for handheld devices, Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise (2008), was also made for the Nintendo DS.

Development

Tim Stamper, who co-founded Rare, thought of a gardening game for the handheld Pocket PC platform around 2002. A small team of three people began working on a simple prototype while Rare was still connected to Nintendo, before Rare was bought by Microsoft. The game's development moved to the original Xbox and later to the Xbox 360 because of the console's better graphics. Rare wanted its animals to look the same, which led the game's concept artist to choose the piñata idea. The idea was exciting to Rare because piñatas were not common in England. The connection between piñatas and candy inside inspired new ways to play the game.

The Viva Piñata team was known for working efficiently and producing games regularly at Rare and Xbox Game Studios. While earlier Rare games had teams of 12 people, Xbox 360 development teams had 50 to 60 members. The Viva Piñata team had about 50 people at its peak. Microsoft also asked its teams to use the company's XNA package to make development faster and avoid repeating work. Microsoft encouraged the Viva Piñata team to keep the game's themes friendly for children because the company wanted the game and its future series to attract more players to the Xbox 360. In 2006, a Microsoft Games executive called the game the most important franchise for the company, but players did not react strongly to it.

When Rare released the original Viva Piñata for the Xbox 360 in 2006, the team felt the game was not fully complete. Developers had removed some ideas to meet deadlines. Gregg Mayles of Rare said the game sold well and met expectations, and Phil Spencer of Xbox said the game was seen as a success within the company. The team used player feedback to create a more complete version of the game. Mayles left the team to work on Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, and Justin Cook became the team's lead designer. The sequel was built using the original game's tools. In both the original and sequel, the team recorded sounds for the piñatas. A new feature called "Piñata Vision" allowed the Xbox camera to detect printed cards and change the game's environment, such as adding piñatas or changing the weather. Around the time the sequel was released, Mayles believed the team might not have enough new ideas for a sequel to Trouble in Paradise, though Cook said he would have liked more time to improve the game's shop interface. Both games were later re-released in 2015 on Rare Replay, but the server that supported the piñata-sharing feature was no longer active.

Between the two series releases, Krome Studios made a version of Viva Piñata called Viva Piñata: Party Animals. In early 2007, a Microsoft Games executive wanted to continue the series on the Nintendo DS. Rare tried to use the camera features from Trouble in Paradise on a game called Pocket Paradise but decided to release the games on time instead.

Games

• Viva Piñata (2006)
• Viva Piñata: Party Animals (2007)
• Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise (2008)
• Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise (2008)

Animated series

Viva Piñata was planned as a bigger brand or project. 4Kids TV agreed to create a Viva Piñata cartoon before the game was released. 4Kids chose the series from several options provided by Microsoft. They also managed the sale of toys and other items related to the series. The cartoon closely connects to the game, using the same 3D character models from the game for its animations. Each episode was checked by Gregg Mayles from Rare to ensure it matched the game's themes. The cartoon also taught viewers how to play with the piñatas in the game. Later, the story from the animated series inspired the plot of Trouble in Paradise.