Bean's Quest is a retro platformer on iPhone and iPad with physics and plenty of classic gameplay elements. The game was developed in Melbourne by an indie game company called Kumobius.
The game is out now with 3 worlds to play through but we're currently working on a large update to the game that will expand the content to 5 worlds in total, 50 stages and a final boss fight.
The following is a video showing off some level designing and gameplay footage from a stage in one of the upcoming worlds! It shows off new frog and fish enemies, as well as a new water physics feature we're making use of:
In terms of the design of this stage we can see a few puzzles revolving around enemies and the use of the beach ball. At the start of the level there are diamonds just out of Bean's reach above him.
Defeating the enemies playing with the beach ball allows the player to get control of the beach ball and move it around the stage. This is required for the player to reach the next section of the stage but it is also how the player can backtrack to the start of the stage and reach the diamonds:
At 2:55 in the video you can see how we acquire the axolotl in the stage and safely exit the area where it is trapped - using the enemy spider as a means of escaping that ledge area.
The final part of the stage requires careful jumping to avoid an obstacle environment of floor and ceiling spikes. Players who simply attempt to move through this section full throttle will most like be caught on either spike arrangement!
And that wraps up our exploration of the game design of this stage. Bean's Quest includes Game Center Achievements for collecting all the diamonds and the axolotl within a stage.
Furthermore we place perfect jump count on each stage that the player can aim to achieve as well. We haven't demonstrated it for this stage but so far we've actually been able to complete it in only 5 jumps! Achieving such a feat requires precision platforming skills that even veterans of the genre will find brutal!
Bean's Quest is available now on the App Store now and the next big update to the game is coming in November. If you're interested, buy through iTunes by
clicking here.