Brief study of an experimental game
One Hand Clapping
One Hand Clapping is an experimental, 2D platformer game developed by Bad Dream Games. Why is it experimental? It brings a new mechanic into the gaming industry. The human voice is a powerful thing. We use it to share our thoughts, emotions, create music and rhythm through poetry and song, we use it to change people's minds and perception.
And now, Bad Dream Games gives people something new to do with it, turning it into a gaming tool, leading your avatar across a 2D, colorful world, allowing you to experience the unique journey One Hand Clapping has to offer.
People tend to think they need to be good singers when they first hear about the game, but they're wrong. The tones to sing, or hum as it turns out, don't have to be strong or perfect, they just have to be at the pitch the game asks you to hit. Upon loading up the game for the first time, you the player is asked to sing a low note and a high note, gathering data on their range so that everything they're doing should be within their abilities. Once they get used to this new mechanic, the player is in control of a cute, purple creature.
The voice is used to solve puzzles put in front of the player, helping the purple creature move across the landscape. They’ll sing a low note and the on-screen marker is low, sing a high note and it’ll move towards the top of the screen. Sing in steps and they'll ‘sing’ a set of stairs to climb. Where there are areas that the little guy can’t simply jump up or across, players are able to sing a platform into existence that they can walk on. There are also flowers that will only bloom if they sing the right note, opening up to provide a jumping platform, while bigger devices appear that they have to sing a certain phrase, a bit like a musical 'Simon Says'.
It's a strange, but fun, indie game. I, personally, found myself chuckling and being amazed every time I had to do something new, and there's a sense of discovery that you usually wouldn't expect from an old, and maybe even overused, genre like the 2D platformer. I can see the dedication and hard work the developer team put into this game, and not just because this unique mechanic used, but also the immersive experience and story they created.
2 page pitch of own experimental game
Mind's Line initial ideas and pitch
Initial ideas
Game pitch
Mind's Line GDDs
1st version
2nd version
3rd version
Mind's Line Teaser Trailer
Mind's Line is the experimental game me, Scott Ollard, Goncalo Miranda and Andrew Carvalho-O'dell.
I was in charge od the level design for the first map, which is shown in the trailer, and in charge of blueprints in Unreal Engine 4.26.
Assesment 1: Mind's Line
My group settled on a version of the Highrise Backrooms, the general idea would be used, though there would be a lot of changes.
Advancing through a surreal office was still what we aimed to create, but a new environment was chosen for the games later stage: a hospital.
Why a hospital? Because now the game would aim to have a narrative a reason for the player character to enter this surreal office setting and a reason to try and get out of it, but like all game projects, plans changed along the way.
