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Winner of the Sammy Peer Choice Award 2016

Don’t Throw Me Away is a platforming game about flow and cooperation. The game emphasizes cooperation by balancing game mastery and difficulty to create a unique play experience. Two players will take control of simple geometric avatars that are linked together. Together, players journey through a minimalist and abstract world that will test their individual skill and teamwork. Each level of the game world will have a series of floating nodes that the players must string together. Activating all the nodes in a level allows players to progress through the game. In order to restore reach these nodes, players must utilize the dynamics of being tethered to one another. This bond will provide a framework for the movement system of the game. Players must tug, throw or swing each other to traverse the level. The level design of the game will reinforce the movement system by focusing on the bond the two players share and their discovery of the abstract world. Don’t Throw Me Away aims to explore methods of generating flow in a cooperative space. 

Game Features

Cooperative Jumping Puzzles:

Players will have to use their cooperative mechanics to overcome challenging physics based jumping puzzles to progress through the game. Players will have access to a multiple of movement systems such as jumping, tugging, swinging and throwing to traverse each level.

 

A Variety of Engaging Levels:

Watch levels bloom with color as players revitalize a grey landscape. Each level features the wonderful hues and musical tones of the four seasons. 

 

Cooperative Flow:

Enjoy the game with a friend as you reinforce the connection that binds you together. Generate sensations of relaxation and flow as you gain the understanding of each other's abilities.

Responsibilities

UCSC CMPM 17X Game Design Studio Don't Throw Me Away Pitch Presentation

I presented my original game pitch in December of 2015. Fortunately, it won enough appraisal to advance the game's development. I have been leading the game's development team ever since. 

Some of my responsibilities on this project include:

  • Design game mechanics and player interactions
  • Design game engine systems and architecture 
  • Implement entity management systems
  • Design and implement resource management systems
  • Integrate game content in level editing tools
  • Collaborate with artists and sound designers to create a unified play experience 
  • Delegate technical tasks among a diverse team
  • Lead the game's marketing campaign

The Team

We began our journey as senriors at the University of California, Santa Cruz. After an intense greenlighting process, developers split up into project teams to begin work on their respective games. Our team is composed of seven outstanding individuals who have a passion for game design. Composed of five programmers / designers, one artist and one sound designer, We aim to deliver the best experience possible.

  • Loren Colcol - Artist

  • Dante Ruiz - Lead Programmer

  • Nik Robinson - Sound Designer

  • Antony Robbins - Programmer

  • Leif Myer - Lead Designer, Programmer

  • Aaron Marquis - Programmer, User Test Coordinator

  • Alec Fortine - Level Designer, Programmer

Connect With Us

You can follow the team's development progress with Don't Throw Me Away on Twitter, Facebook and Youtube. You can also find more information on our team website: http://dontthrowmeaway.com/,