Back to Bed comes to three Playstation platforms at once – time to chat with the developers and get a little introduction on this fun little puzzle game with a wonderful art style.
Back to Bed by Danish developer Bedtime Digital Games has just come to Playstation as a three-way cross-buy for PS3, PS4 and Vita. It’s a puzzle game where you guide a sleepwalking man through levels by placing obstacles in his path, forcing him to turn right and (hopefully) eventually end up at his bed again. The first playthrough is fairly casual in nature and can be completed in about two hours, but reaching the end unlocks “nightmare mode”, which might take twice as long and forces you to find different solutions.
The dream-like state of your sleepwalker is beautifully echoed in the level and art design, channeling Escher and Dali. Though the puzzle elements might not be terribly original, it’s the environments that make this a joy to play. Be sure to check it out if you appreciate puzzle games and a tremendous amount of visual creativity. To mark the PSN release, we got in touch with Bedtime Digital Games to ask them a few questions about their game as well, and here’s the report:
There have been several “Sleepwalking games” over the past 25 years – (how) did those inspire you and what does Back to Bed do differently?
Actually we didn’t look into any sleepwalking games during Back to Bed’s development. Later on we were made aware there was an old Amiga game called
Sleepwalker but that just a fun little coincidence. We were more inspired by the old Disney cartoons where Goofy or Donald Duck sleepwalk around town or on construction sites and are constantly in danger, just barely escaping it every time.
Back to Bed was originally released about a year ago. Which insights did you gain from that period that are now making it into the PSN version?
We discovered that the best control method for the game would be to use a controller, making consoles the perfect fit for the game. Fortunately enough, LOOT Interactive realized this, and convinced us that the game belongs on the big screen. They helped us with their great expertise and experience to get the game to the PlayStation suite.
What were the biggest challenges in getting the game ready for the PSN platform, and for a handheld system in particular?
In order to support cross buy, LOOT Interactive decided to put Back to Bed out to all three consoles (PlayStation4, PlayStation3, and PlayStation Vita.) Making sure everything is working cleanly and bug free and then multiplying that effort by every platform can be difficult (including putting out different versions for each region). The Vita alone is pretty powerful, but obviously has some areas lacking to say, PlayStation4 – trying to mitigate the differences can be challenging, but not too bad when you’re using an engine like Unity.
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