An asymmetric co-op horror game about limited communication.

Jam theme & inspiration

• Movement through co-op guidance

• No speaking / alternative communication

• Escape vs chase

As part of a larger team with these established goals, we took inspiration from popular horror media like Aliens and Stranger Things and focused on the image of someone being guided through vents.

Overview

Done for a school jam, a horror game where players take different roles as a Runner or Guide. Runners navigate the maze and evade the monster while turning on generators. Guides watch over the maze and communicate with runners while opening doors and flickering lights. Both players must support each other despite not being able to speak to succeed.

Process

Our process put a lot of emphasis on iteration when it came to player communication. Iterations involved frequent changes in player move-sets and perspectives while adapting around the idea of asymmetric co-op.

We found when players were only able to turn lights on and off they’d flicker them rapidly as both a warning and a way to get the other player’s attention. This was part of the inspiration for the name, but also led to the door opening/closing mechanic. This presented a secondary way for the guide player to help the other player while offering a new way to communicate wordlessly.

Takeaways

One of the biggest takeaways was the importance of playtesting early and often. With the constraint of a non-verbal guide role, early playtesting revealed players flicking lights on and off as a way to get the other player’s attention to either move towards the flickering light or as a warning. Looking at this behavior led to the main theme of the game but also new mechanics that improved the game vastly.

Learned a lot about team coordination and interdisciplinary work in our limited team size to keep all members busy throughout the jam.

Personally I would like to continue to explore non-verbal communication through the game for some potential interesting new gameplay experiences.

Roles + Responsibilities

Game designer, Programmer, Artist.

Programmed and designed Guide interactions, designed and animated monster, ran and documented playtests.

Tools used

Unity, Photoshop,