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Out of Water

A split-screen platformer for two. A turtle, a seagull, and five stolen gems. In development for PC.

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A two-player split-screen platformer collectathon. One player is Koopa, a turtle. The other is Kiko, a seagull. Neither can finish the journey alone.

On the island of Chelonia, a Japanese spider crab has stolen the five gemstones from the Elder Turtle’s statue, and the ground has started to shake. Koopa and Kiko set off to get them back, rescuing kidnapped baby turtles as they go and spending far too many sand dollars on hats.

Play it with someone on the sofa, a controller each and half the screen each. When the story needs you both in the same place, the two halves join back up.

Playing alone works too. The animal you’re not using waits where you left it, and you can swap between them whenever you like.

Two very different animals

Koopa and Kiko don’t share a single move. Each of them can reach places the other can’t, and the island is built around that.

Koopa

The turtle. Brave, loyal, cautious and thoughtful: the level-headed one.

Everything he does is about weight.

  • Roll picks up speed downhill, ploughs through crabs and skips across the water.
  • Slam brings him down hard, and bounces him high off a bounce pad.
  • Bubble traps an enemy, and Spin homes in on the bubble to pop it.
  • Torpedo sends him fast through deep water, where Kiko can’t follow.
  • Carry and throw for anything too heavy for a seagull.

Kiko

The seagull. Playful, cheeky, curious to a fault, and never done teasing Koopa.

Everything he does is about speed and height.

  • Air dash, chained together, drives straight through enemies.
  • Glide carries him a long way, until his wings tire.
  • Dive drops him out of the sky and into a roll.
  • Backflip is his double jump.
  • Tornado sweeps crabs off their feet and spins up windmills.

Better together

Some moves take both of you.

  • Hitch a ride

    Kiko lands on Koopa’s shell and rides along.

  • Duo glide

    Kiko carries Koopa through the air, and Kiko steers.

  • Spin launch

    Koopa spins and flings Kiko up into the sky.

  • Duo slam

    Both of you, coming down on the same spot at once.

Colour coded

Switches, doors and puzzles tell you who they’re for, so the difference between the two of them is built into the levels themselves.

  • Koopa only
  • Kiko only
  • Either of you

And yes, Koopa’s bubble and Kiko’s tornado both work on each other.

A lagoon at the foot of three waterfalls, with rafts, a wooden pier and a ring of sand dollars floating on the water, ringed by sand and cliffs.
The hub lagoon, where you try out every move before setting off. In engine, and still being built.

An army of crabs

The spider crab didn’t take those gems on its own. Its army dresses up as pirates in whatever it can scavenge, and some of it has cannons.

  • The grunt crab: red, round and wide-eyed.

    GruntThe bulk of the army.

  • The shield crab, crouched behind wooden planks painted with an angry face.

    Shield crabHides behind a face it painted itself.

  • The cannon crab, with a cannon strapped to its back and a coconut for a cannonball.

    Cannon crabFires coconuts.

  • The ghost crab, red with a teal bandana.

    Ghost crabBandana on, ready for trouble.

Koopa wearing a sombrero and Kiko wearing a black top hat, standing in the grass by some crates.

Hats

Hootsworth the owl runs the hat stall and takes payment in sand dollars. Some hats only fit a turtle. He will tell you that a hat does not merely sit upon the head. It completes the soul.

Elder Trials

Short challenge courses with gold, silver and bronze times to beat. Four are built so far, and some are made for one animal: in the Tornado Trial you both play Kiko and scatter twelve crabs, and in the Torpedo Trial you both play Koopa and smash through the boards underwater.

Things to collect

Sand dollars to spend, pearls to find, and old artefacts for the completionists.

Where it’s at

Out of Water is in development. There’s no release date yet, and the Steam page is on its way.

Genre
3D platformer collectathon
Players
1 or 2, local split screen
Platform
PC (Steam)
Engine
Unity 6
Status
In development
Release
Not announced
Developer
Shiverbug Studios Ltd, Middlesbrough

Hear it first

One email when there’s real news: the Steam page, a demo, a date. Nothing weekly.

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Watch it being made

Work in progress and first looks go up on our Discord before anywhere else. Lurking is fine.

Join the Discord

Publishers and press

We have a pitch deck for Out of Water and we’re happy to send it. Write to contact@shiverbugstudios.com with a line about who you are. Screenshots, logos and the fact sheet are in the press kit.