Since the 2018 PlayLink video came out a lot of people have been asking online about those colorful little creatures wearing funny hats and jumping around crazy platforms. Well, now is the time speak to the word, answer all those questions and unveil the mystery…

What is Melbits World?

Melbits World is the winning game of the 2017 PlayStation Talents awards from Spain and the first commercial release of our studio, Melbot.

We are a young independent studio funded in 2017 by my partner David Montero and myself, we form a group of talented ninjas with different backgrounds. Previously some of us have contributed to titles like Invizimals and Aragami or the Fez and Spelunky PS4 ports.

Our approach to gaming is really transdisciplinar and we are equally involved with toys as we are with videogames.

Why Playlink? What about the gameplay?

As a studio we are amazed with the social and gameplay possibilities of Playlink and the idea of having people playing together in the same room.

With Melbits we wanted give a twist to the Playlink range, making an arcade-inspired game with kawaii aesthetics that caters to the youngest PlayStation players but also thinking in those gamer parents that need a fun game to play with their children. What we did not expect is that adults loved it as much as kids!

In Melbits World players use their phones to control the different traps and obstacles that Melbits have to overcome when they walk by themselves. Interactions are very immediate and simple, there’s almost no instructions and is part of the learning process to spare some Melbits to be able to solve the puzzles.

What it’s really cool about it is that the different players have to be really focused and coordinated if they want to make it, it’s like some sort of a three-legged race.

When you run Melbits World for the first time you will find the four Melbits that were “living” inside your PS4, those are the Melbits that your team has to get thru the different levels.

You have to save at least two Melbits on each level to be able to unlock the immediate next level, and the more Melbits™ the team of players is able to save the more Melbits that they will get.

An important part of the game is to increase the amount of Melbits “living” in the PS4. There are different kinds, some of them are fast and light and some big and slow… and they have different personalities also.

Levels get more complex as players keep advancing in the game and also the number of obstacles and viruses keeps adding up. It looks easier than it actually is!. In this first release players will find 36 different levels spread in four different worlds and we are planning on releasing more worlds and other cool expansions further down the line.

A count down timer adds an extra layer of difficulty and a bonification for the quickest and more resolutive teams, at the end of the day Melbits World is a teamwork game, at the end of the day is a great group problem solving exercise.

Another cool thing are the different presents that fall into the environment, when players get a given Melbit to pick up a present and that Melbit gets saved, players get a new accessory to customize their Melbits collection.

The yellow sparkling cubes floating around the track are called “seeds”, all players will have to use their ingenuity to be able to get all of them, Melbits World is not only about saving Melbits, it’s also about collecting the “seeds” and that’s a big part of the puzzle, when you collect all the seeds you earn more points and you unlock the rest of the worlds faster.

So, what are Melbits? And why are they among us?

Melbits are these adorable kawaii characters that somehow embody all the Internet’s good vibes, their mission is to make everything digital work, in short, they are the opposite of the viruses.

Viruses represent the all the bad stuff on the internet and make everything that’s digital to break and malfunction. The more Melbits exist, the better the Internet will work, that’s why gathering as many Melbits as you can in your collection is also a part of the game. For now, this is all I can tell about Melbits… more to come.

We really love the idea of transmitting this spirit of pure and simple fun from the classic video games to the new generations and Melbits World is our attempt of doing that. We believe that this first Melbits release for PlayLink with is the perfect game to bring together different generations and styles of gamers whether they are family or colleagues or expert or casual gamers and have them all having a good time playing together.

You will find Melbits World on PlayStation Store among the family games for PlayLink later this year.