Passing On
Passing On was created during “TOTEM Summer School Mobile Mixed Reality Game Jam Hackathon 2012”. Passing On is a lightweight competitive multi-player game using GPS-tracking between players. Three teams are assembled, each team competing with each other to be the first to open and cross ‘a portal to the other side’. Each team is comprised of two parties, the Ghost party and the Paranormal Investigator party. The game has been designed with deliberate limitations in the communication system, where players have to work together to figure out ways around the obstacles to communicate with each other. In doing so, the game aims at prompting a feeling of fellowship between the players, and to foster a sense of agency in their experience.
The concept for Passing On originates from the idea of creating a meaningful and positive game design while keeping a sense of action and competition in the gameplay. While designing a fun experience should arguably be at the core of every design strategy, designing an integrated layer of purpose and meaning is also an important aspect of game design to take into consideration, and this was the goal during development for Passing On. At its core, Passing On is about empathy and the ability to connect and devise a common language between players when regular communication is intentionally hampered by design.
Inspired by games like Journey and Way, the game mechanics were designed around the idea of finding out how to communicate, making it an essential part of the game-play.
Credits
Marta Clavero
