Bubble Jungle provides 15 hours of 3D multiplayer platforming fun on iOS and Android

Bubble Jungle is a brand new 3D platformer available right now on iOS and Android which provides a massive 15 hours worth of leapy fun inspired by Super Mario.

Inspiration has also been drawn from Bubble Bobble though. You play as the chameleon Chuck who has to battle his way to the end of a bunch of levels in a variety of zany worlds, trapping enemies in bubbles and popping them to eat fruit along the way.

The best part is that the game is completely multiplayer, and playable by up to four people at once in cross-platform. That's quite the achievement on mobile.

To learn more about the ambitious Bubble Jungle, we reached out to Alessandro Maniscalco, Co Founder at developer Cranky MonkeyStudio, to learn more about how the multitude of influences have affected development, the challenges faced during development, and the plans for its future.

What do you think Bubble Jungle offers that you can’t get from any other title on the App Store?

"Bubble Jungle is the first fully 3D Platformer that's been released on the App Store, and it includes a whopping 15 hours of gameplay inspired by Super Mario and Bubble Bobble.

"Most mobile games are designed to be brief experiences, but our goal was to bring a full, console-style game to mobile.

"You can also play the entire game with up to three other players. That can be in a private room with friends or public with players from around the world."

Can you explain the bubble mechanics in the game and how they work?

"You play as the chameleon Chuck who has to find the restroom in each level. Along the way you'll encounter enemies and, to defeat them, you'll have to trap them in bubbles and pop them, at which point they'll drop fruit for you to eat.

"It starts off nice and simple, but later on you'll find enemies painted in different colors that can only be destroyed by bubbles of a certain colour.

"While it's positive to eat fruits, there are items which provide a negative effect. For example, if you eat a mushroom your view will be obscured temporarily.

"These items provide a lot of fun in multiplayer though, as the negative effect also affects all other players!"

Is the game suitable for everyone - and if so, why?

"Bubble Jungle has been developed with everyone in mind - but particularly for fans of platformers.

"While we want it to be as close to a console experience as possible, we understand what mobile gamers want as well. With that in mind, you can close and save the game whenever and pick up where you left off at any point. That way you can play for one minute or an hour - however much you want."

Were you inspired by any other titles when conceiving and developing the game?

"We're all gamers and huge fans of old school consoles like the Commodore 64, which a lot of our 2D platform inspirations were released on like Bubble Bobble and Rainbow Island.

"We also took inspiration from the 3D Mario games like Super Mario Sunshine, Mario Kart, and Mario Galaxy.
"These inspirations are clear to see in the level design. We've got some inspired by the 8bit era, western and Japanese games, Sci-Fi, and even candies."

What challenges did you face during development, and how did you overcome them?

"Bubble Jungle was developed over the course of two years by a small team of three indie developers who previously worked on CGI - so developing in 3D was quite natural to us.

"The problems derived from developing for a mobile platform, which actually has a fair few limitations - like trying to limit lag in multiplayer. That took us months to get right, and it was incredibly difficult due to the number of different devices out there.

"Another challenge was the visual design. We used more than 2000 textures for around one million polygons in each level. We optimised every part of the level to make bubble jungle smooth on both the latest and older devices."

Which part of the game are you personally the most proud of and why?

"Definitely the level design. We had a bunch of ideas for levels during development like a Caribbean Island, 8bit era, Wild West, and even a Japanese culture theme where you jump over hot Ramen.

"That's not the only crazy idea we had either. There's a cake world full of candies, animated forks, and kitchen items and a world of toys with crazy monsters.

"The sound engineering is also stunning with beautiful soundtrack that cover every world, and you can dress up Chuck in a variety of different sunglasses and hair styles. It's very funny and unique."

Do you have anything planned in terms of future updates for the game, and if so, can you give us any details of what these might include?

"We're actually working on a bunch of new cosmetic items for our fans to dress Chuck in - we know you love those.

"Bubble Jungle doesn't really need more levels though, because it already provides a massive 15 hours of content.

"That being said, we are starting to think about Bubble Jungle 2. We can't comment on when it may be released though."

Have you any plans to bring the game to any other platforms - and if so will those versions of the game be any different?

"Bubble Jungle is already out on OS X and Android, and the awesome multiplayer has been implemented on all platforms so you can play on OS X, iOS, and Android at once - it's quite unbelievable.

"We also have a working Windows version running but we are still developing the universal binary so it will work together on Windows and Xbox.

"We also plan to develop a PlayStation version but some special modifications are needed."

If that all sounds tempting, you can get Bubble Jungle right now on the App Store and Google Play.