We’re almost there. ibb and obb is nearing completion and we hope to release the game on PSN this May.

Getting to this point has been quite an adventure. Currently there are between four and ten people working on the project, but around seven years ago this all started with my graduation project and I could only dream of where it is right now.

I studied Industrial Design and always thought I would become a product designer. But over the course of my studies my interest for product design faded and at the same time it felt like something new was happening in the game industry.

It was around the time that Katamari Damacy made its first appearance on Playstation. I loved it and to me it signalled a start of more original titles finding their way to a larger audience.
I strongly wanted to be part of this change and decided to focus my graduation project on game design.

Part of the project was to design a game concept myself. I was convinced that the best way to design games is to work with prototypes as much as possible. The moment I had the idea for this double gravity world, I built it.

The first prototype was extremely rough. I had some experience with modding Unreal Tournament, so the first prototype became an Unreal Tournament mod. I inverted the gravity in the bottom half of the screen, made the character flip upside down and fixed the camera to the side so it looked somewhat like a platform game.

That first prototype didn’t look like much, but it already told me two important things:

• The continuous flow of falling up and down feels really nice.
• You can reach unexpected places, which makes it suitable for puzzle design.

From then on I kept iterating. I added a line in the middle with warp holes, put in the second player, enemies, trampolines, diamonds and so on. I made sure to continuously let other people test the game, which immediately tells you whether something works or not. Gameplay always came first. It’s a lot easier to add nice looks to gameplay than the other way around.

At the end of my graduation I had a playable prototype, about the length of one level. Hoping to find some attention for the game I submitted ibb & obb to IndieCade and to my surprise they selected it for their E3 2008 showcase.

This was my chance and I booked a ticket to Los Angeles. Being there at the E3 felt really great and weird at the same time. Weird because I didn’t really know what I was doing. I had no plan and mostly just wanted to find out if the world was interested in ibb and obb.

But already on day one adventure kicked in. I remember showing the game to a gentleman who kept asking questions. How did I get there? What were my plans for the game? Etc.

In response to my question: “And what do you do?”, he handed over a business card saying Sony Computer Entertainment and stated he was looking for new games to bring to Playstation.

I wish I had a picture of my face on that moment. Trying to look cool, but probably looking more like a five year old unwrapping a ninja turtle helicopter.

Back home me and Roland IJzermans founded our studio called Sparpweed. We finalized the plan with Sony, found the financial means and found partners to develop the game with. A little over two years ago all was ready and together with Codeglue we started the production that is now nearly done.

If you want to know more about the development, feel free to ask anything in the comments below.

You can also keep track of the development through Facebook and Twitter.

On top of that, you can get hands-on with some awesome PSN titles like Guacamelee, Ibb and Obb, and Runner 2! And that’s just a taste of what’s to come. We will be adding more of this year’s biggest and most anticipated PS3 and PS Vita games to the lineup over the course of the tour.

If you’re the competitive type, you can test your skills in our daily God of War: Ascension speed run challenge, PlayStation All-Stars tournament, or represent your school in the MLB 13 Move Home Run Derby. And you don’t have to compete to win. There will be plenty of ways to take home some genuine PlayStation goodness – like the God of War: Ascension Legacy Bundle with the Garnet Red PS3, the Classic White PS3 Instant Game Collection Bundle or the PlayStation Vita Instant Game Collection Bundle. To make a long story short, if you play something on the PlayStation Campus Tour, you’ll have the chance to win it. That red PS3 would look awfully good in your dorm room, wouldn’t it?

Finally, everybody who RSVPs on Facebook and shows up will receive a one-month PlayStation Plus trial and their choice of an exclusive, unique discount code that can be redeemed for some serious savings on various PlayStation products.

When we announced the last PlayStation On Campus Tour, many of you voiced that you wanted to see more love for West coast schools – well, ask and you shall receive! This time around we made sure to include some great schools along the Golden Coast in the schedule. Here is a list of the first 11 out of over 40 stops on our tour:

Don’t forget to RSVP to your school on Facebook for detailed info and free PlayStation prizes. If you don’t see your school on the list yet, be sure to check the PlayStation Campus Tour page for updates regularly because we will be adding colleges to the tour frequently. We will also be announcing new stops through @HeyPlayStation on Twitter as they get added.

Tell us which games you’re most excited to play in the comments below, or give us suggestions on what additional schools you think we should go to. Who knows, maybe we’ll drop by! We look forward to seeing all of your game faces on the road.

ibb and obb is a cooperative puzzle-platformer with a gravity twist that will launch on PSN next spring. In the earliest stages of development, the game was called Brothers. Looking back at that now, it means a lot more than I thought it did. My fondest memories of games are those that I played together with my brother or close friends. It has always surprised me how few games are really designed around two-player interaction.

With ibb and obb we’ve tried to do just that. The gameplay revolves around a world with two directions of gravity, but even more so it’s about the interaction between the players. All elements in the game are designed for two, ranging from the way you solve puzzles to handling enemies. For example, when one player takes out an enemy the other tries to be ready on the other side of the split to fetch the reward.

In the game you explore five worlds consisting of three levels each. Visually, the mood starts out very colorful and adventurous, slowly changing into a somewhat darker atmosphere. The same transition can be found in the music, all of which is composed by Kettel. I’ve been a fan of his music for a long time and was super happy when he said he’d gladly join the project. His music has a pleasant melancholic feel to it that really fits the visual mood of the game.

Throughout the game new mechanics are introduced that add to the previous ones. Some change the way you can move around, like the gravity bubbles, while others change what you can see depending on the distance between the players. In the end, puzzles become quite complex, but by then you should have become well practised in double gravity acrobatics.

This is our first production and it’s very exciting to see it getting closer and closer to release. Currently we’re polishing the game and setting up the online multiplayer mode. I look forward to hearing your opinions and keeping you up-to-date on the development. If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

For more frequent updates about the state of the game, you can find ibb and obb on Facebook and Twitter.