Crossy Road Castle
Bluey and her family are joining the fun in Crossy Road Castle in a limited time crossover event dropping in Crossy Road Castle on May 21 on Apple Arcade.
Play HereA Deeper Dive into Bluey’s Obstacle Course in Crossy Road Castle
We recently caught up with the team at Hipster Whale, the developers behind Bluey & Crossy Road Castle!
Inspired by the Obstacle Course and packed with fun details, the update brings Bluey and Bingo’s family home into a fun obstacle course that can be played with friends and family in Crossy Road Castle.
First of all, are there many fans of Bluey in the studio?
Absolutely! The team at Hipster Whale is full of parents who love the show. Our art director even worked on Season 3 of Bluey, and one of our marketing team members was a student of the show’s creator, Joe Brumm. It’s a show that is very close to our hearts.
Which moments or episodes of Bluey inspired specific areas or obstacles?
A big anchor for the whole update was the “Obstacle Course” episode. We loved the idea that Bluey and Bingo had basically built this obstacle course out of whatever they could find around the house and backyard! That became the narrative thread for everything in this event.
We pulled in moments from other episodes that felt like they could naturally translate into gameplay. The sprinklers and waterslide came from Slide, which gave us a fun way to introduce slippery, unpredictable hazards. And of course, Keepy Uppy gave us the balloon! We knew we had to include those because it’s so iconic.
Yoga Ball also gave us the idea to have the kids bouncing off them to get across levels. We had many discussions about whether we should have the hat on the yoga ball in the game!
What was it like, blending these two very distinct and iconic worlds together?
Bluey and Crossy Road Castle have a lot in common! Both are grounded in connection, play, and the joy of tackling something together (and occasionally failing in hilarious ways). And we’re both Aussie of course!
In many ways Bluey was a natural fit, the girls love having fun and playing together and that is exactly what Crossy Road Castle is all about. We envisioned siblings of different ages playing this event together, or mum and dad playing with the kids too.
How did you use environmental details to connect back to the show?
Our team watched the whole show many times over to make sure we could include all those little details we knew fans of Bluey would enjoy. You’ll find clutter and props inspired by episodes like Fairies and Dirt, little details that might feel random at first, but will click if you know the show. Some of the details are even dependent on your screen, so players might notice different things depending on the orientation of their device!
We also wanted to make sure things felt a bit improvised, a cushion became a platform, a skipping rope became an obstacle, and so on. That sense of imagination when Bluey and Bingo transform everyday objects was really important to capture! Some of our favourite things to recreate were the girls’ drawings and toys from the show.
How did you take a game known for its voxel style and make it feel true to the show?
That was one of the biggest challenges for our art team. Crossy Road Castle has a very bold, blocky style, while Bluey is much rounder and softer. But thankfully both Bluey and Crossy Castle have a chunky toy-like sense of scale and simplicity, which helped a lot with translating it!
Who’s your favourite character from the show?
Many parents in the studio love Muffin. She brings a bit of chaos to the show, her and Chicken are definitely kindred spirits! But our team also loves Unicorse, we have a whole backstory to a character called Unicuz who’s Unihorse’s evil cousin. That’s one for another time!
Was there anything that didn’t make it into the game?
In Crossy Road Castle we have a huge amount of wacky hats you can unlock. It was really hard to narrow down which hats to include in the Bluey event! There were so many good ones that didn’t make it… Our favourite was probably Muffin’s banana hat, we called it Banana Muffin. It’s in Ludo’s suggestion box for a future episode!
What’s in this game for the grown ups?
A lot! The game is designed so that adults can jump in and enjoy it just as much as kids. There’s a challenge in the gameplay, but also humour in the little details and the chaos of playing together. And just like in Bluey, there’s something nice about sharing those moments with friends or family, like helping each other through a level, laughing when things go wrong, and giving it “just one more go”. We hope your house will echo with many adorable giggles as your family enjoys this update!