Indie developer Luckshot Games has announced BIG HOPS, a retro 3D platform starring a frog named Hop who’s been kidnapped from his home.

BIG HOPS is in development for Windows PC (via Steam), though a release date wasn’t announced. A playable demo is available on its Steam page and a Kickstarter campaign is running to help fund the rest of the game.

The new yet retro platformer has console ports planned, first for Switch and Switch 2 with Xbox and PlayStation versions coming later.

Here’s a rundown on the game, plus its reveal trailer:

BIG HOPS is a 3D platformer, action-adventure with deep movement, fresh frog-tongue gameplay, where you can grow veggies to build paths forward!

You’ll play as Hop, a young frog who’s been kidnapped from home by a trickster spirit called Diss. He has a mysterious, important mission and needs your help, but you just want to get back to your family… After a bit of searching, a wiry old Raccoon offers to build you a way home if you can find a few Airship Parts. To build your Airship, you’ll need to:

• Infiltrate the Gulley Gang’s Hideout at the edge of a vast Red Desert.
• Become a Bucko and save DrillCO’s Rigs Workers out on the Open Ocean.
• Sneak past Haven cultists by spelunking under a Shattered Mountain.

Each World offers a self contained story. You’ll meet a huge cast of characters, learn the conflicts of each world, and hopefully find some way to help. Will that help be altruistic or is it all selfish to get those sweet, sweet Airship Parts? Why did Diss really kidnap you? What’s the purpose behind the Dark Drips he keeps asking you to collect? And if you collect them all, will Diss really let you go home?

You’ll need to play for yourself to answer all these questions, so consider backing to help us finish BIG HOPS strong! Next let’s talk about gameplay.

Character designs by Steven Sugar (background designer for Steven Universe & Owl House)

Frog Parkour

Movement is king in BIG HOPS and our kit goes deep. You can roll, dive, crouch jump, wall run, free climb, swim, belly slide, walk tightropes, pole swing, grind rails, ride minecarts and more. Everyone knows a great platformer starts with a great player controller and Hops’ stacks up against the best-of-the-best.

You’ll feel inspiration from Mario, Sonic Adventure, Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Hat in Time, and more. And that’s all just Hop’s basic moveset- from there we’ve added a ton of froggy flavor and ways to build your own paths forward.

Tongue Gameplay

The core-mechanic in BIG HOPS is Hop’s versatile frog tongue! It’s cute, goofy, and adds a surprising amount of freshness to this action-puzzle-platformer

Your tongue is how you interact. Use your tongue to pull items to your hands, hookshot up walls, and tongue-swing your way to ridiculous speeds.

Doors, switches, corks, plungers, flowers, flingers, levers, and lick-picking are all quick work thanks to Hop’s tongue. You’ll keep finding novel, goofy tongue interactions even 10+ hours into your playthrough.

Veggie Creativity

Deep movement and tongue-gameplay give BIG HOPS legs and a fresh flavor, but the real magic is using powerful Veggies to build your own paths through levels

You’ll find new types of Veggies as you explore and each has a unique effect when you throw it down in the world. Let’s look at some examples:

• Mushrooms become bounce pads to help clear hard jumps.
• Acorns can grow vines around walls and ceilings to help you climb farther.
• Balloons make temporary platforms and can stack to get serious height.
• Oil Balls create hookshot points you can bounce off without losing speed.
• Apples let you place your own tongue swinging points anywhere.
• Cacti launch tightropes you can use to cross big gaps.

Since you can only hold one item at a time, Hop has a handy Backpack! As you play, you’ll discover new Veggies and unlock more Backpack Slots to store them. You can open the Backpack any time, and using it in a stressful moment will slow down time so you can plan your next moves.

Collectibles

Collectibles are a genre staple and there are lots in BIG HOPS! We’ve worked hard to give them all gameplay uses, so you never feel like you’re just checking off boxes

• Earn Dark Drips to help with Diss’ mysterious mission and unlock secrets.
• Collect Dark Bits to earn gameplay modifying Trinkets for your backpack.
• Buy Veggies + upgrade your Backpack, Wallet, and more at Drilson’s Depot.
• Buy Outfits, Hats, & Dyes to customize Hop’s look at Odette’s Outfitters.
• Find and Identify real Bugs to fill your collection in Bugsy’s Conservatory.
• Uncover Blueprints to build totally normal and not-at-all busted Gadgets.
• Find Mixtapes to play on in-game on your Boombox or Hop-man.

Equipping Trinkets means decorating your Backpack! That’s a weird bug…

Big Adventure

Something we’re proud of is how many different areas there are in BIG HOPS. As you explore the 4 main Worlds (Forest, Desert, Ocean, and Mountain), expect a lot of surprising offshoots like the Boneyard, Bucko Cove, Hydro Plant, and Gulley Gang HQ. All these different places to explore really make it feel like you’re on a grand adventure!

Inspirations

Hi, Chris here! I started BIG HOPS in 2019 (6 years ago!!!) with a single goal of modernizing the 3D platformer genre. The design trend at the time of giving players real freedom and creativity in games like Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Spelunky, and Rimworld was so inspiring. Selfishly and jealously, I wanted to see emergent gameplay in my favorite genre.

Since then, BIG HOPS has become a maximalist game and taken on many more ideas and inspirations. Its mechanics, story, vibes, and humor draw on so many games and TV shows stretching back 40 years. Mario (64, Odyssey, Sunshine, and Galaxy) and Zelda (BOTW, Wind Waker, and Ocarina of Time) have both been huge influences. We also spend a lot of time talking about Sonic Adventure, Spelunky, Kingdom Hearts, Psychonauts, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Spongebob, and Steven Universe. 

I founded Luckshot Games in 2015 to make innovative, high quality games filled to the brim with character and charm. We funded our first game Sausage Sports Club on Kickstarter way back then and released it on Switch and Steam in 2018. We’ve aimed higher with BIG HOPS and the team is bigger than just Luckshot Games, so I want to give everyone a quick shout: