Kika & Bob
Client: Submarine
Development: &Ranj
Software: Adobe Flash
Role: Game design, Level design
Target audience: Age group 7-11
Released: 2008
Kika & Bob was a funny and fast-paced children’s animated TV-series shown on Dutch national television complemented with interactive online games. The first season had 26 episodes. Each episode had its own online interactive story accompanied by a game.
At the start of the series the smart seven-year old Kika and brave fireman Bob are blown to the other side of the world by a typhoon during an attempt to rescue Kika’s kitten, Tiger, who is stuck on the top of a church tower.
During each episode Kika & Bob visit different countries while they try to travel back home, overcoming many obstacles, crossing strange lands and meeting even stranger people and animals. Just like in the TV series, Kika & Bob visit places all around the world and the player has to make sure Kika & Bob survive the hazards and dangers they encounter on their journey.
At the end of every episode the viewers are left with a shot of Kika’s cat, Tiger, who is still stuck on the church tower. The young viewers at home are responsible for his well-being while Kika and Bob are trying to make their way back home. They can help him catch birds so that he doesn’t starve.
My role
During this project I worked on the game design for a number of the games. Coming up with creative ways to recycle game mechanics from other games and to connect the gameplay to the country of that episode.
Next to this I was also responsible for designing, building and testing the various levels.
The games
On their journey back home Kika & Bob visit different countries. Each country was represented online by a unique game. These web games were connected with the series in a way that whenever a new episode of the series aired, a new web game would be unlocked.
New York
This is a typical side-scrolling game, where the player had to guide both Kika and Bob through a maze of obstacles and opponents.
This is one of multiple side-scrolling games that were produced for the series, all based on the same ‘engine’ created in Flash.
China
In this Simon Says-like game a chicken would first show a sequence of moves which the players had to remember. Then it would be Kika’s turn to repeat this sequence flawlessly. The movements of the chicken and Kika were based on traditional Tai-Chi poses.
Just like Simon Says while playing the game the sequence of moves would become increasingly longer making it more and more difficult to remember and recreate long and very quick button combinations.
Japan
The Japan game had a similar timing mechanic as the China game. Japan is of course known for karaoke, but when the usually confident Bob had to sing a song he got all nervous!
The players were there to help him keep the rhythm and not forget the lyrics. When players timed their button press right Bob would sing the song “My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean” and the crowd would cheer him on. But if the player would press the button wrongly Bob would start to stutter or, worse, start to make incoherent noises. This would entice the crowd to start booing and eventually even start throwing tomatoes.
Submarine
In this game the players could hardly move their character themselves. Instead the character could only move through the level when the submarine rocked to one side or the other. Players had to time when to jump over obstacles or take the stairs to other decks, while slipping and sliding around.
The goal in each level was to clean up all the patches of toxic waste, all while avoiding hazardous items hanging and sliding around in the submarine.
Kika & Bob trailer (EN)
Kika & Bob trailer (NL)
