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Insecure Bonding
Insecure Bonding was made by three students over two weeks as a part of an Experimental Game Design course. The prompt for this challenge was to make a game based on the theme Trust.
The internal goal was to make a local competitive co-op game, where information is the most important play-piece.
My Roles
Gameplay design, Audio, UI
Tools
Unity, 2D
Year
2023
Insecure Bonding was made by three students, working half time, over two weeks as a part of an Experimental Game Design course.
The prompt for this challenge was to make a game based on the theme Trust.
To further limit ourselves, we wanted to experiment with the limits of what a single monitor allows for in a multiplayer competitive setting. Furthermore, we placed heavy emphasis on using semiotics to communicate the theme and what happens in the game.
Insights
The Rules
Two players control the same character; one knows what will happen when you step onto a tile, one has the ability to move the character. Both players have separate scores, and they can gain or lose points independently. Both lose if one reaches 0, the one with the highest score wins upon reaching the goal. Between each turn, the roles switch.
The Concept
While the rules imply a networked setup with separate monitors, the gameplay was experimenting with transcending the digital aspects of a computer game, with real world actions. The act of looking away, closing your eyes and not peeking is something many can fondly remember fondly from playing as a child - it's a playful dynamic of trust that I wanted to capture.
Furthermore, the nature of the game encourages that trust be built and eventually broken, lest you or both of you lose. This dynamic was something we wanted to capitalize on through adding abilities to "bet" on outcomes, as well as calling bluffs etc.
The Problems
We quickly discovered that communicating the concept of the game was harder than expected through mostly semiotical means, and that the time spent looking away from the game made for a negative experience. A lot of time was spent on trying to solve these issues. Furthermore, I lack experience in producing audio, which resulted in a lot of time being wasted on producing adequate audio feedback.
The Solutions - Cut Content
The solutions to the problems were less than elegant, as it mostly boiled down to cutting content. Instead of adding complexity, it was decided that we focus on refining the communication for the base mechanics. The result was a UI centered around two characters contrasted in shape and color. The color was carried over to the rest of the iconography, to create a visual connection between a player and relevant icons.
