MonsterVine had the chance to speak with Fabraz founder and Bubsy 4D developer Fabain Rastorfer about the upcoming platformer ahead of its release. Rastorfer spoke about acknowledging the Bubsy series’ reputation in the game, making a game based on an established IP, and more. Bubsy 4D is set to release for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC on May 22.
“The infamous, wise-cracking bobcat has returned to 3D in a new platforming adventure,” reads the game’s official synopsis. “Bubsy is back with new challenges, new moves, and even more purrsonality. Run, jump, glide, and roll across alien planets, battle robotic sheep, and collect tons and tons of yarn. What could possibly go wrong?”
What made Bubsy a good fit as a series for Fabraz to take on?
Fabain Rastorfer: We’ve somewhat specialized in the 3D Platformer genre ever since Demon Turf and Atari was particularly taken by our Demon Tides prototype at the time! When we originally made the pitch we also very quickly identified what made the series special and weren’t short of ideas of what to do with it. In other words: The stars aligned just right!
The demo for Bubsy 4D showcased the smooth mobility Fabraz is known for while still retaining a lot of Bubsy flavor in its abilities and movements. How did you go about balancing those styles?
It’s definitely another Expressive Platformer, where the number of combinatorial actions allow the player to express themselves through the movement, but it was important to us that Bubsy 4D brings a bunch of new things to the table too.
Anyone who’s played Demon Tides will feel at home at first but also quickly notice all the differences. The biggest twist is the hairball which is our physics-driven “go fast” mode. Once that clicks, your gameplay possibilities unlock in brand new and fun ways! It’s really quite novel.
Credit: Atari
Bubsy’s reputation is pretty infamous. How did you settle on how meta and comical to get with that in the game’s dialogue?
We wanted to acknowledge it, but not rely on or revel in it. Characters will occasionally riff on Bubsy being washed up in-game, and we have meta jokes like including tank controls, but overall our goal was to make a game that’s proud of itself. We’re all here to just have some good ol’ fun!
What’s something you’ve learned from developing a Bubsy game? Were there any challenges or lessons that you think will contribute to your next game?
It was relatively smooth sailing, honestly! Most of what we initially planned to do made the cut and we’re happy with how the game turned out! It did, however, ignite a hunger to potentially work on some more IPs in the future! There’s a lot we’d have fun tackling…
What do you hope people take away from Bubsy 4D when they play it for themselves?
Hopefully that it’s just a fun, expressive platformer with a newly revived bobcat you now want to see more from!
