Reflections
iiiiDesign | 2009
iPhone Game
About
Mismos was a puzzle platforming game that utilized the iPhone’s detection of orientation to change the rules of the game world. The player’s avatar had a reflection that went everywhere it went in a parallel world. By flipping the phone over, users would control the topmost avatar and attempt to move both avatars to their gates.
Mismos’ interaction was designed to be intuitive and easy-to-pick-up by users unfamiliar with the new technology. Puzzles were designed to get progressively harder for immersive gameplay.
Key Highlight
- Created an intuitive interaction for the primary mechanic of a game built at iiii Design
- A game focused on exploring vs winning. Users were encouraged to try out things instead of punishing them for wrong behavior
- Individually prototyped, the team later came together to further develop this in to a product
Process
Prototypes were created in 2-week intervals and were handled individually from concept to creation. Reflection was a prototype I created that was later used to develop Mismos.
Reflection was based off the children’s book, Round Trip, in which, through clever design in black-and-white illustrations, the pages created 2 different environments that could be seen by flipping the book upside down.
In Reflection, I wanted to experiment with this idea of perspective in a 2-D environment. Users would flip the phone upside down to control a new avatar, changing the landscape and, therefore, the experience of the game.
Sketches of how interaction might work.
SSketches of potential puzzles to be created utilizing this mechanic.
Our studio decided to build upon this prototype, exploring other forms of opposites in interaction: visibility vs invisibility, opposing level design, positioning, etc. Mismos was created to test and play with these interactions.
Reflection prototype playthrough.
Reflections given a "painterly" pass and rebranded and further fleshed out into "Mismos".
A mid-level screenshot with WIP level design