When Tamarin first began development way back in 2013, it was with a love and longing for a new and original mascot-based 3D platformer to emerge. Many people, including myself, have fond memories of this kind of game because it opened our eyes to the joys of full-3D video games.
However, Tamarin was never simply about gaming nostalgia or playing it safe. It meant a new game-genre mixture and extracting some of the essence of fun 3D platforming and action gameplay.
Character Controls First
At the start of development we spent a long time getting the controls just right. We asked ourselves: “How can we achieve the goal that when you pick-up your controller, it feels instantly comfortable and fun?”
- As an agile tamarin there is a wide range of moves to try: You can roll, climb, backflip, summersault, attack, swim, slide down and handstand on poles, leap forwards and catch little creatures.
- The moves flow into one another, so you can feel acrobatic and playful monkeying your way around the full-3D environments.
- The entire moveset of the tamarin is available from the start, allowing you to discover it on your own.
- Optimized specifically for PlayStation 4, with a target frame rate of 60 frames per second, Tamarin delivers a smooth gameplay experience, putting you in control with minimal lag between your fingers’ input and what’s happening on-screen.
The Energy of Motion
Feeling kinetic energy, speed and motion is at the heart of action games. If you’re like us, you’ll have no choice but to dance to David Wise’s catchy tunes. Ants and beetles have dances choreographed to his music, and we made animation systems that make it all sync perfectly, flashing lights on and off, feet stomping, heads turning, to the beat.
Living Collectibles
We wanted to ‘evolve the collectathon’ and breathe life into the objects you interact with, turning them into dynamic characters with their own motives and behaviors.
- As a tamarin, you can collect birds. They will flee from ant enemies, but when they see you, they will fly towards you for safety.
- Fireflies are insects with electric powers. But unlike the birds, some of them don’t like to be caught. It’s up to you to hunt them down, sneak, chase or leap through the air to catch them!
All these elements combined made Tamarin the way it is. Built from passion towards nature, modernized with tight controls, an interconnected world, living collectables and its own action twist. It keeps the player engaged and focused on exploration, platforming and doing everything in their power to save the Tamarin family from those splattery bugs. We’re very happy that everyone can finally play Tamarin on PlayStation 4!
