Plush 'Em Up
A bubble pop shooter for iPhone, with a world of collectible plushies
Revisiting an arcade favourite
I've always been a big fan of arcade games, and I remember playing versions of Bust-A-Move on the original PlayStation. Recently I wanted to revisit that and thought it was a good opportunity to develop my own.
That became Plush 'Em Up, a bubble pop shooter for iPhone.
Finding the creative direction
I quickly developed a prototype with Claude and Codex, which took the form of an early arcade machine with the core gameplay mechanics. A lot of my work is kawaii-inspired, and I wanted that to come through in the game too. After the initial build was scaffolded by agents, I wanted to take a step back and put some real thought into it.
I worked through the UI, the textures, the characters and the level design, along with the sound effects and soundtracks. The music was inspired by artists like Four Tet, Fred again.. and Burial.
As it started to take shape, the moods, stages, characters, art direction and sound became expressions of things that were part of me. I found that really interesting and exciting. There are now five worlds, with 60 levels and 25 plushies to collect.
The small details of playing
This has become one of the projects I'm most proud of. It's ridiculously entertaining: the core gameplay mechanics, how it looks, how it feels, and the subtle haptics giving you feedback as you play. A lot of care and attention has gone into the small design details, the UX and the UI.
It looks and plays great, and it's something I'm excited to continue working on. It's currently with the App Store for review. I'd also like to explore a version for a different device format, with some fun, interactive new game mechanics.
Part of the Rolling Waves work archive.