It is quite normal for anyone to end up feeling lonely, especially in a city like London where loneliness is a huge cause of anxiety of depression. After moving to London for my Master’s in Games Design, I came across quite a few people who have been having this problem. The issue emanates from the lack of having friends or family, a boyfriend or a girlfriend. Just that one person who you can talk to if needed. That person who you could spend some time with. Of course there is social media, where you could spend hours consuming tons of content but that only seems to add to the problem.
I set on a mission to design a game which would connect 2 people in a way they would be able to spend time with each other. Almost every simulation game does that. Throw in an option to team up with other people and you’re almost there. The amount of clicks involved makes the gameplay complex though. My idea was to strip down all the elements of a traditional simulation game and keep the mechanics of the game super single.
Keeping to this, I designed a game which could let someone spend upto 48 hours with another person while playing a game which only ever involves a single click on the screen every once in a while. All a player ever sees is a clock and the other player’s time. The objective is to get to 24 hours first. How they do it is by clicking on the screen, which starts their clock and pauses their opponent’s. When the opponent does the same, it starts their clock and pauses yours. Doing this, whoever gets to 24 hours first on their clock – wins the game.
The game was initially designed for mobile phones, allowing people to check in on the game whenever they want and then close it and keep their phones back in their pockets. I ended up designing an installation version as well though to cater to physical spaces like exhibitions etc. The installation uses an Arduino which powers a Neopixel strip which is controlled by two buttons on either ends. The buttons can be used to control the two sides of the strip, whose LEDs act as the seconds, minutes and hours indicators. The installation employs the same mechanic as the mobile version of only ever pressing a button to control the clocks.