text: Development Peggle was originally envisioned by PopCap's studio director, Sukhbir Sidhu, who was inspired by pachinko machines. However, he recognized that pachinko was mostly luck-based, and would not translate well into a video game. After seeing a 2D game engine created by PopCap programmer Brian Rothstein, Sidhu was able to realize his game and worked with Rothstein for the first five months of its development before bringing in additional programmers. Initial designs focused on bringing together elements of pachinko with Breakout. The team initially incorporated a "rapid-fire" mechanic used in pachinko, along with numerous moving targets; however, they found this made the levels either too fast-paced or too demanding of the player. They found over time that a static field of pegs provided a more enjoyable experience for the player; the path of the ball would be more predictable, leading to the gameplay mechanic requiring only a random subset of orange pegs to be cleared. Once the team had established the core mechanics of the game, they brought on character artist Walter Wilson, background artist Marcia Broderick and an additional coder, Eric Tams, to help complete Peggle within its two-year development period. Even with their game established, Sidhu and Rothstein faced internal challenges at PopCap to increase the level of interactivity with the game, but the two defended their vision of the game.
  The design team struggled with a theme for the game, and for a while, the game was based around the mythological god Thor. During this time, the game was called Thunderball and much darker in theme than the final product. Eventually, the game changed themes to be more lighthearted. The team realized that the name no longer fit the game. From there, the designers came up with calling the game "Pego" and then "Pogo". The team later discovered that, since Pogo was already the name of EA's Flash portal, they would not be able to use it.