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Sponsored Feature: C4M on iPhone bounce-'em-up Bulba The Cat

Purrfect

Sponsored Feature: C4M on iPhone bounce-'em-up Bulba The Cat
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| Bulba the Cat

It's surprising how few cats have made a name for themselves in the world of platform games.

Given their ability to land on their feet and the fact that nine lives is way is above average, you'd think they'd have the genre locked down by now.

Yet somehow the only cats to enter the platforming arena have been SNES C-lister Bubsy and Big the Cat from Sonic Adventure. They were both rubbish.

Thankfully, French developer C4M is here to up the cat quotient as the Bulba the Cat noses its way through the App Store's cat flap.

The game sees you helping the eponymous pink and purple furball reclaim his sushi picnic from a meddling crow. Naturally, there's an ocean full of perilously small islands, moving platforms, and crumbling bridges between our bouncing hero and success.

We caught up with the team behind the game for some insights into what makes Bulba purr.

Stroke to play

As well as being inspired by Bulba, a real life cat, C4M was largely influenced by the work of developer Sunflat:

“You've probably heard of Doodle Jump. It's sold zillions and every body knows it's an improved clone of Sunflat's classic Papijump. Wanting to sell zillions too we picked up another overlooked Sunflat gem: Papijump Land, and improved absolutely everything we could: gameplay, variety, graphics, sound.”

Bulba was a real labour for love for the five man team behind it. Made in the team's spare time between various other C4M projects, it's aimed squarely at providing a colourful, instantly addictive slice of platforming fun.

“Our main goal was to have a laugh collaborating on a great game that we'd like to play ourselves,” says C4M. "If players have as much of a giggle playing Bulba as we had making it, they're in for a great ride!”

To this end, the game's controls are intentionally simple. There's no virtual D-pad or buttons - instead, Bulba's bounces are aimed using only tilt control. The designers on the team felt that deciding their boundaries early was liberating, allowing them to focus on gameplay and design from the off and leaving ample time to nail Bulba's colourful style.

Backing up the game's playschool aesthetic is some masterfully twee music from the team's friend Pierre Arnoux.

“By chance we knew a talented musician, not from the gaming industry. We can tell you two interesting things. He played and mixed all the instruments himself, and it took him twelve attempts before being able to whistle the theme without falling about laughing.”

If you fancy a little bit of hilariously cute electronic folkiness, C4M has been nice enough to provide a link to the theme tune.

No paws for thought

Don't be fooled by the cutesy presentation: things are going to get tricky if you want to see Bulba to the end of his journey.

The team wanted to make a thoroughly challenging platformer, so later levels evolve the simple tilt-to-bounce formula into “totally mental reflex bouncing”. You'll need truly feline reflexes to survive, with barely time to think about landing before the next platform flies by.

The adventure doesn't end there, either. When we asked the guys at C4M if there were any sequels or updates in the pipeline, they replied with an enthusiastic, “Hell yes.”

There are plans to update with new levels on a regular basis, and C4M also hints at “a cat somewhere who fears no water... as long as it's in solid form”. Could this point to a slippy, slidey ice-themed Bulba sequel? Almost certainly yes, but only time will tell.

For now, the real Bulba is enjoying a well earned rest - though the team assures us he's happy with the finished product:

“You know how proud cats are. Bulba was the first to give himself five stars on the App Store. But, and keep this secret, the truth is that our round friend Bulba does not bounce as well as his iPhone avatar!”

Can Bulba rise from the feline mediocrity of Bubsy and Big? Or will he miss out by a whisker?

If you want to see for yourself, Bulba the Cat is available on the App Store now for a modest 59p / 99c / €0.79.

Richard Meads
Richard Meads
New intern Rich has been blessed with far, far too much free time and an overwhelming desire to jump on things. He tried doing the jumping in public, but people got scared. A lifelong addiction to platform games and a degree in creative writing later, he found his way to Pocket Gamer’s doorstep.