They describe it as a ”very ambitious project,” that’s powered by the Unity engine. Overall they now have 2.5m NOK to build the game. What’s it like? ”Think Uncharted, meets Zelda…”
SOLD! Wait. Is that kind of awesome even possible? Surely the laws of physics can’t let it happen. They even say there’s a bit of Ratchet & Clank thrown in too. Okay, now it’s unnatural.
”The characters and the world are very important. We are spending a lot of time fleshing them out and creating concept art through our talented art team,” said Rock Pocket Games. The plan is to release the game for console, PC and Mac as an episodic adventure with tie-in mini-games for mobile platforms.
“We share our progress, more information, screen-shots, videos and work-flow on our Oliver & Spike Development Blog with everyone who is interested in following,” continued the studio.
“We are trying to create a unique experience for the players, which is not only linked to one platform or one media,” says Natascha Röösli from Rock Pocket Games. “Think Uncharted, meets Zelda, meets Ratchet and Clank in a mix between adventure and platform game-play with a unique game-play twist.”
“It’s also important to us, that there is a focus on creative problem solving, thinking outside the box and that there are several different options available to drive the story along.”
Well it’s all very nice saying ‘this meets that, and these two dry hump some of him over there’ - but it doesn’t really paint an accurate picture of what to expect in terms of gameplay. Uncharted, Zelda and Ratchet & Clank are hugely celebrated franchises so how does Oliver & Spike: Dimension Jumpers stack up?
”Problem solving and storytelling are lifted to a whole new level as you have to think outside of the box and use your unique dimension jumper abilities to advance through the storyline and solve quests for the many npcs you will encounter. Not only will you have the option to switch to another version (dimension) of the current area you are in, with different physical laws, you also have the power to switch to and explore completely different universes (cluster).”
The dev team are looking to co-op play: ”We know that parents like to play with their kids, IF they have time. That’s the reason we are playing with the idea to have the option to play both, Oliver and Spike, alternatively, by switching between the two yourself or to enlist the help of a friend or family member if you do not want to play alone,” Natascha says.
”We have to see if this is something that will work both technically and game-play wise. Hopefully we will be able to recruit the help of interested testers during further development and get feedback on our ideas.”
For more information on Oliver & Spike: Dimension Jumpers, which is the highest receiver of funds from the Norwegian Film Institute in the video games industry to-date, visit the official blog.
