The doing of hand-crafted pixel-art platformer Bionic Bay, out April 17 on PS5

Hello brother detail system junkies! I’m Juhana, the Creative Director of Bionic Bay– my most ambitious task already. Bionic Bay is a precision-puzzle platformer set in an old bio-mechanical world, hand-crafted image by image to create a high-fidelity, ambient surroundings. Bionic Bay started as a chance meeting between me ( Mureena ) and Psychoflow studio, on a Reddit post showcasing their swap mechanic. We immediately began to work, merging their technical skills with my practice in stage design and art direction from past titles such as Badland 1 and 2.
The humble transfer engineer remains a key game engineer, but Bionic Bay has seen outstanding development since we started. We knew earlier on that the biggest obstacle would be to create conditions which provided a problem without becoming annoying. In contrast, this healthy challenge would become hosted within beautifully detailed and hand-crafted pixel-art environments, taking considerable time to create.
We approached these development issues with a basic two-part option. First, I would concentrate on stage design and skill, and Psychoflow may operate on the technical solution to make sure our dynamics looked great and worked nicely.
Perhaps more significant, we agreed that we would all often jump in and enjoy each stage, experiencing it just as a person would. We have carried this on all the way to release, and this has helped us to ensure great balance, and that we understand the player journey through Bionic Bay.
We all love a precision platformer, but we also wanted to make sure that Bionic Bay provides a unique and worthwhile experience, and that comes down to the game’s core mechanics.
This began with the swap feature which first brought Mureena and Psychoflow together – allowing players to switch places with objects within each level. This was soon joined by more tools, with each undergoing regular playthrough testing:
ChronoLag, our time dilation technology which allows players to slow down time for a short period. As well as allowing players to navigate through fast-moving areas, it’s also a great way of getting speed boosts to help you get faster times in our ghost data racing mode.
Power Fist, providing the opportunity to launch objects across the environment. As well as clearing space in the solo story, used in conjunction with ChronoLag has led to some imaginative puzzle solving to speed up your journey
Gravity Manipulation, allowing players to bend the very forces of reality. This can help to clear paths, or help find new paths. It’s important to be careful, however, as this new gravitational direction will also affect loose objects on the level which can lead to… unintended cessation of all life signs.
Of course, players will be introduced to these mechanics as you progress through Bionic Bay’s ancient bio-mechanical world. Some you’ll be able to use together, and players will often need to combine these tools ( as well as quick thinking and precise controls ) in order to overcome the challenges you’ll face.
As well as using these within our narrative single-player adventure, players can also find our dedicated online challenge mode with Bionic Bay Online. Bionic Bay Online allows players to compete for the fastest time on a course, racing against other players ‘ data ghosts – something which should speak to those of us racing on PlayStation in the late 90’s and early 2000’s.
To compete in Bionic Bay Online, players will need to use all of the tools at your disposal, and find creative solutions to take the top spot on the leaderboard. We will also be adding special post-launch content for Bionic Bay, including dedicated time challenge levels to allow you to showcase your skills to the world.
We are ecstatic to announce that Bionic Bay also has a collaboration with one of our biggest fans – PlayStation legend Shuhei Yoshida. We’ll be implementing a special level just for Shu within the online challenge mode following Bionic Bay’s launch on April 17. If you take part and beat Shu’s score, you can even unlock our Shu skin, allowing you to customize the look of your scientist for our online leaderboards.
As well as Shu’s own player skin, we’re also bringing you a Deluxe edition of Bionic Bay – with our Classic Monster skin pack. This includes eight costumes inspired by vintage horror ( a personal favourite genre of mine ), with an alien, a werewolf and more. The Classic Monster pack allows players to unleash a little frightful charm and really sink your fangs into the online leaderboards.
The bio-mechanical world of Bionic Bay opens up on PlayStation 5 this Thursday – April 17, and is available to wishlist now!