Meaning Behind Mechanics

The primary objective behind the mechanics in coping_device are to evoke a sense of uncertainty, confusion, and overall anxiety. In order to accomplish this, the majority of the mechanics deal with things that are not possible or natural to the real world. This has led to many challenges, entertaining glitches, and ultimately amazing results.

Resizing the key

One of the earliest mechanics in the game was the idea of being able to resize objects. This resizing effect was first achieved by scaling objects based on the distance the player was from the object; as a result, the player would not notice this scaling as it occurred but would need stop scaling the object and look at it from another angle to see the true effect. As the phone and the phone’s camera became a more central piece of the game and as issues arose with scaling objects in confined spaces where the player cannot walk around, the resize mechanics was re-worked to occur within the phone’s camera application when the player changed the cameras field of view.

Disappearing exit

Another of the earliest puzzles was the idea of object appearing and disappearing depending on if they were being looked at. This mechanics has taken two forms over time. The earliest form was opening pathways to the player when they were looking elsewhere, such that when they returned to a previous space they would be surprised at the difference they had not expected and wonder if they had in fact over looked something in the past. The mechanic then developed into its second form which was much more reliant on the phone. In this second form, objects would only be invisible to the player until they looked at the item through the phone’s camera, or vice versa.

All these mechanics have required multiple iterations to hone, and continue to be iterated on to create the amazing and impactful experience that is coping_device.

-Eli