Continuing on our community focused weekly feature “In Our Own Backyard”, where we take a great game from a developer who has contacted us via our forums. This week we are going to be looking at the fantastic looking Oliver & Spike: Dimension Jumpers (Oliver & Spike), which was brought to our attention by Natascha from Rock Pocket Games.

Being developed by Norwegian developer Rock Pocket Games Oliver & Spike is a new adventure and exploration puzzler. The idea to combine the best elements from some of the greatest games, including: Zelda, Ratchet & Clank, Uncharted, etc. To really create something special.

The game follows Oliver and his trusty British Bull Terrier Spike on their quest to uncover the past and save the future. A very typical sounding game premise, however Rock Pocket Games add extra.. Dimensions, literally.

In a similar way to Quantum Conundrum, Oliver & Spike has the able to shift between different dimensions to help progress through the puzzles and platforming elements of the game. You have the ability to select and shift between two alternate dimensions.

The first being the Aqual Dimension. A dimension submerged in water, allowing you to traverse areas otherwise inaccessible by merely jumping.

The second is the Firma Dimension. In Firma the ground will propel you higher when jumping, allowing higher bounces and jumps to make those pesky ledges accessible.

Along with all this awesome platforming adventure a huge part to Oliver & Spike is going to be the intense boss battles. The battles will introduce a great level of interesting puzzle dynamics, making for some diverse and fun encounters.

Rock Pocket Games are also looking at implementing a Team play element, with the second player playing as Spike. This will allow access to side quests and find additional hidden area, however it will not detract at all from the single player experience. The whole game can be played solo but the addition of another player will allow you both to uncover interesting new areas.

After looking through all these awesome gameplay traits it does sound that the game is going to be great fun, along with being a rather inspired gameplay experience  What really hits this game home is the fantastic graphics style, it looks phenomenal. The world seems beautifully crafted, in a fantastic cartoon style that does remind me of Ratchet & Clank or Blink The Time Sweeper.

A lot of time has been put into crafting this great looking, and awesome sounding new title. Oliver & Spike looks and sounds great, it could easily be confuse this with a title from any major publisher. It really does look that polished.

Rock Pocket Games really have a highly ambitious title on their hands with Oliver & Spike, and with additional projects to run parallel. Such as: mini games on the mobile devices, comics and even a potential TV series, they are truly shooting for the stars.

I am sure I have missed something here, there really is too much to talk about with this Oliver & Spike. Although still in development Oliver & Spike already looks fantastic and is headed to Consoles initially, with PC and Mac versions to follow. Follow all the latest development from Rock Pocket Games on their site here. Be sure to check back to The Indie Game Magazine for all the latest indie news as it breaks.

If you would like to be featured on “In Our Own Backyard” then you should head over to the IGM forums here and show off your game. The more information the better along with links (we love links) to your homepage, screenshots and all manner of goodies relevant to your game. Each week we’ll pick our favourite and give it a special place on our homepage. We look forward to hearing from all of you.

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