Editing Plok! (section)

=== 1988–1989: ''Fleapit'' ===
[[File:Frank sidebottom.jpg|thumb|right|[[Chris Sievey]] as Frank Sidebottom in 2006. He was slated to voice the playable character of ''Fleapit'' before its cancellation.]]  
While Ste was designing the shop screen for ''Ironsword,'' John conceived a character with a hangman's hood. Ste sketched the concept in the margin of the layout.<ref name="Vinylalbumnotes"/>{{sfn|Szczepaniak|2020|p=54}}<ref name="Firstsketch"/> The idea of detachable limbs also emerged in this sketch, depicted with an arrow pointing to a pile of the character's parts below it.<ref name="Firstsketch">{{cite web|last=Pickford|first=Ste|date=5 May 2005|url=http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/archive/view.php?post=440|title=Plok sketch #1|website=Zee-3|accessdate=21 February 2021}}</ref> John then envisioned a game where players captured jumping fleas, deciding to make the hangman character the protagonist.<ref name="Vinylalbumnotes"/> The name "Plok" was spontaneously coined when John placed letters from a cassette tape cover on his computer mouse.<ref name="Vinylalbumnotes"/><ref name="Plokzee3">{{cite web|last=Pickford|first=Ste|url=http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/archive/plok.php|title=Plok Archive|website=Zee-3|date=14 October 2004|accessdate=10 January 2021|archive-date=6 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180206131409/http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/archive/plok.php|url-status=dead}}</ref> His full name, "Plok the Exploding Man," highlighted his separable limbs.<ref>{{cite web|last=Pickford|first=Ste|date=14 October 2004|url=http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/archive/view.php?post=452|title=Plok Body Parts|website=Zee-3|accessdate=21 February 2021}}</ref> With John's encouragement, Ste moved to clean sheets of paper to develop further sketches, where he refined Plok's colors, poses, size (32x40), and expressive features, such as his wide-open mouth.<ref>{{cite web|last=Pickford|first=Ste|date=5 May 2005|url=http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/archive/view.php?post=441|title=Plok sketch #2|website=Zee-3|accessdate=21 February 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Pickford|first=Ste|date=5 May 2005|url=http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/archive/view.php?post=442|title=Plok sketch #3|website=Zee-3|accessdate=21 February 2021}}</ref>

After these ideas were formed, Chris Stamper visited Zippo Games to introduce the Razz Board, a [[Arcade video game|coin-op]] hardware system he had designed.<ref name="Vinylalbumnotes"/> The Pickfords were impressed by the hardware's advanced graphics capabilities and saw an opportunity to create a "real arcade game," akin to those they had admired in their youth. While they had previously worked on an Amiga-based coin-op system for ''World Darts,'' they had never developed a "true" arcade title.<ref name="Vinylalbumnotes"/> They struck a deal with Rare to use the Razz Board for their dream project, with ownership of the game property and a significant share of board sales revenue. However, the agreement also required the brothers to self-fund the project.{{Sfn|''GamesTM''|2014|p=8}} The game was titled ''Fleapit''.<ref name="Vinylalbumnotes"/>

Ste vaguely recalled ''Fleapit'' in a 2014 interview, comparing its gameplay to ''[[Excitebots: Trick Racing]]'' (2009), where the player had to catch one of several flying footballs to score a touchdown in the middle of a level. He described the game as only slightly more "primitive" than ''Plok!'', with stages that scrolled horizontally and vertically, featuring more "set pieces or one-off levels." The backgrounds included food items like sausages and doughnuts, along with a space level.<ref name="Miltonsroom">{{cite web|last=Pickford|first=Ste|date=27 November 2018|url=http://www.zee-3.com/plok/blog/view.php?post=946|title=Milton's room|work=Zee-3|accessdate=23 February 2021}}</ref>

As development continued, Rare was primarily profiting from selling NES titles, which led them to focus less on Razz Board games like ''Fleapit.'' In 1989, Rare became the first company outside of Japan to obtain a [[Game Boy]], instructing Zippo Games to develop a game for the handheld console. This shift in focus meant that ''Fleapit'''s development had to be halted.<ref name="Vinylalbumnotes"/> The relationship between Rare and Zippo Games deteriorated after Zippo failed to complete a Game Boy title as directed, and in 1990, Rare bought out Zippo Games, renaming it Rare Manchester,<ref name="Vinylalbumnotes"/> which was subsequently shut down.{{Sfn|Bevan|2013|p=78}} As a result of Zippo Games' closure and dwindling funds, ''Fleapit'' was canceled half-completed in 1990.<ref name="Vinylalbumnotes"/>{{Sfn|''GamesTM''|2014|p=8}} Ste admitted in 2014 that their desire to produce a coin-op led to poor business decisions, including rejecting more financially lucrative console projects.{{Sfn|''GamesTM''|2014|p=8}}

Late in ''Fleapit'''s development, the Pickfords secured comedian [[Chris Sievey]] to voice Plok.<ref>{{Cite tweet |last=Pickford|first=Ste|author-link=Ste and John Pickford |user=stepickford |number=1059364905374138368 |title=When we were doing Plok, before the SNES game it was going to be a coin-op. We got Chris Sievey (Frank Sidebottom) to agree to do the voice of Plok for us. Such a shame it never happened.|accessdate=17 February 2021}}</ref> They contacted him in 1990 through the number listed on one of his songs, "969 1909." The Pickfords met Sievey in his Frank Sidebottom costume at [[The Ritz (Manchester)|The Ritz]] venue, offering to work for free. However, shortly after, ''Fleapit'' was canceled, and Sievey never voiced the character.<ref>{{cite web|last=Pickford|first=Ste|date=22 June 2010|url=http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=499|title=Goodbye Frank Sidebottom|website=Zee-3|accessdate=24 February 2021}}</ref>