Back in January, I took part in the 2017 Global Game Jam, where I helped develop a small video game from scratch in 48 hours with six other guys from my university. The topic of the jam was "Waves", and I was immediately attracted to the idea of making a somewhat physics-based wave simulator and basing some kind of gameplay around it. Luckily, two other groups of participants were entertaining a similar idea, so all seven of us got together, discussed it, and decided to pool our resources and abilities towards a common goal. The end result was flown, a game whose final title was born within the final 2 hours of development and whose final build was completed literally 1 minute before the deadline.

Goal

flown is a physics puzzle game where you have to guide a glowing object towards the goal and avoid obstacles by making waves on the surface. The goal is hidden somewhere within the level, while you can only see parts of the level that the particle has illuminated earlier, so you'll have to explore it first! The particle follows the gradient of the level surface it stands upon and dissipates if it hits an obstacle or loses all momentum.

A screenshot from the first level

Controls

You can only control parts of the level that are lit up. Left click on the surface to make a single ripple. Hold down the left mouse button before releasing to send a bigger ripple. Right click at a point to set a continuous oscillator there, making a standing wave. Hold to make a stronger oscillator. Right click on an existing oscillator to remove it. Press 'backspace' to reset all movement and oscillators in the current level.

Download

You can download our alpha version from the GGJ website linked above.