Gameplay Mechanic a Month: Moving In Sync

Month 2 - February 2013

Mechanic Description:

Two players must navigate a world using their own set of controls. However, players can only take action in the game if their player icons are close together. That is, players need to cooperate to decide which direction to go next so they can move in sync.

Playable in the following game:

Together in Love

Platform:

Windows, Mac, Linux, Web

Genre:

Exploration

Game Description:

A game about love where two hearts beat as one. Work closely together with a partner to build a song. This is a simple two player game where both of you must move together to collect birds in the sky. You cannot collect birds if you are not close to the other player and the song of dischord will play. Each bird represents a different musical instrument and as you collect more of an particular instrument, its music contributes more to the overall song. Once you have collected everything, the game will finish and the finale will play.

Screenshots:

Start Screen Simple instructions on the starting page.	Finding Each Other The player icons are half hearts and begin far away from each other.
Moving In Sync When you find your other half, you combine to make one heart that you both move around the screen.	Falling Apart If you move too far away from your partner, your heart will break back into two separate halves.

Gameplay Instructions:

1. Find the version that suits you below and install if necessary.
2. Find a friend or lover to play the game with.
3. Start the game following the on-screen instructions.
4. Each player should use their controls to get their icon close to the other person.
5. When you are close together, you can collect birds together. If you move away from each other, you won't be able to do anything until you join together.
6. As you collect birds, the strands of the song for each instrument will increase in volume.
7. Once you have collected all the birds, the finale track will get trigered to play.
8. Enjoy!

Downloads:

The game is available on a number of different platforms:

• Windows
• Mac
• Linux
• Web: this version is playable without a download.
• Original Game Jam Version: This was the version submitted for the Global Game Jam and is not as polished as the other version. Windows version only.

Other Comments and Considerations:

I completed this game as part of the 2013 Global Game Jam where the theme was the sound of a heart beating. My team mate was Corrie Gripenstraw. Music was composed and performed by Alexis Ravenswood and additional coding support was by Alex Peake. Game design inspired by Flower by thatgamecompany.

Analysis:

An analysis of the gameplay mechanic written by me in March 2015.

Context:
This game is probably what got me really started on making games to give me hugs. It was January, although 2012 hadn’t been a bad year, I wanted 2013 to be better. I felt a bit down and a bit lonely. I really just wanted a hug. So I decided to make a game about that. I liked doing that so much, I ended up making this my core theme in games I make.

What Went Right:        

           
• It was a very small scoped game, so was feasible for a game jam.
           
• Since it was short, people playing post-jam were quickly able to get a feel for the game and have some laughs.
           
• People very quickly worked out a system with their partner to use the controls.
       

What Went Wrong:        

           
• Trying to link up a soundtrack that dynamically changed based on completion progress was too difficult to implement with a musician who didn’t know games and a game developer who didn’t know music (ie me).
           
• The indication that you were moving apart from the other player worked. What didn’t work was that player’s didn’t know who was “going the wrong way” until they split apart fully.
           
• The mechanic doesn’t really go anywhere. Once people figured out how to move, there wasn’t that much more that could be done with it. You could have more dynamic objects, but the mechanic would get old pretty quickly unless there was a lot more going on.
           
• People could play this on their own with a keyboard and two hands. Would have been better to make this almost impossible to play solo.
       

Hug Rating:
3 hugs

Verdict:
A cute and simple game jam game, but it doesn’t have much more potential to use the mechanic widely or excessively.