The Company of Myself

A one paragraph summary of game. Short and basic summary. What kind of game? When was it played? etc.

Also:

• • Sponsored by: GamesFree.com

  • Designer: Eli Piilonen

  • Year Released: 11/27/2009

  • Significant Contributors to Game Development: Luca Marcetic - art, David Carney - music

  • Genre: Platformer

  • Other Games in Series: None

History

In Eli's own words:

" 'Company' is a moody little puzzle game where you play as a hermit and learn a little about his life. Heavily inspired by other puzzle games (Braid especially), but still substantially unique in style, execution, and puzzle design."

Game Design Elements

There is definitely a heavy Braid influence in terms of the core mechanic. Basically, the main mechanic is manipulating "shadow selves" to complete a puzzle. I do believe that there is a section in Braid which involves manipulating "shadow selves" to solve puzzles. "The Company of Myself" performs this same mechanic almost identically to Braid in that the player must go perform an action, then press some button to initiate his shadow self to get it to perform the action that the player just did.

Similarities and differences between Braid and the Company of Myself (in terms of the 'shadow self' mechanic):

- player has to time his actions carefully

- player has to display platforming skill

(Platforming!)

- there are places where shadows can go that the player can't

(The red force field prevents shadows from accessing an area)

- there are places where the player can go that shadows can't

- makes heavy use of levers to control platforms and walls

(There is a lever on the bottom lever that was pulled to clear the path to the green box)

What is unique to Company:

- Shadows can beat levels

- Player and shadow selves can physically interact with each other

(Here the player is standing on top of a shadow to reach a higher plateau)

Aside from the core mechanic of the 'shadow selves', there is a short "nostalgic" section where the player must control two people to solve a puzzle, and must get each person to the end in order to move on to the next level. This is not a particularly unique mechanic, I know I have seen this in other places, but I can't remember where. However, I do not believe that other games worked in the metaphor that "Company" does to tie this mechanic into the narrative context:

Controls

up//left/right = movement

spacebar = initiate "shadow selves"

spacebar (when on a green square) = move on to the next level

spacebar (during nostalgia sequence) = switch characters

R = restart

A = pull lever

Nothing really novel or unique about the controls...

Plot

The narrative context is partly what makes this game interesting, since it works so well with the mechanics.

The player gets to know Jack very well from the text. At the beginning, he talks about how he leads such a lonely life, and through playing the game, Jack goes into detail about how he has to rely on himself to solve his own problems. However, the player soon learns that it wasn't always this way, Jack at one time had a wife named Kathryn. According to Jack, the two were perfect for each other, and helped each other through tough times. That is, until Jack accidentally kills Kathryn.

In the epilogue, we learn that Jack is a psycho freak who murdered his wife and buried her in his back yard, and has now gone insane.

(Part of the nostalgic sequence)

Characters

Jack: Lonely hermit

Kathryn: Jack's wife

Art

Visual

Not much to say visually, although the smoke effect is pretty cool. I'm guessing it is just a sprite animation (like everything else).

One thing to note is how the screen becomes vignetted during the nostalgic sequence to convey a sense of a different time. (see image above)

Sound

There are only two tracks which are looped throughout the entire experience. These songs are very moody and contemplative in nature. The first is used to define the main characters current state of madness, and the other is a kind of "nostalgic" music.

Other than that, there are only a few sound effects: jumping, 'shadowing', and beating the level.

References

Eli Piilonen's website:

http://www.2darray.net/

Links

The game on Kongregate:

http://www.kongregate.com/games/2DArray/the-company-of-myself