This is a nice cap for what has been a wonderful run with Propinquity thus far. The game has been shown and played in Paris, Montreal, San Francisco, and Boston and now its on its way to Brussels and then Indiecade in LA where we have earned a place as an official selection for the Indiecade Night Games. This is a big deal for us and we are well chuffed.
Propinquity is a two player proximity sensor-based dancing-fighting game that is played in an small arena projected on the floor. Players square off, and with music setting the pace over a series of short rounds, they try to accumulate points by getting close to their opponent’s sensor patches without touching them. It is fast-paced, open-ended gestural interaction that is tiring to play and beautiful to watch.
Its been a wonderful experiment overall. Not only in terms of the cross-disciplinary collaboration and teamwork that TAG can muster but also in terms of introducing a novel mechanic that we think has great potential. The interaction space of proximity is terrifically ambiguous and difficult to isolate and control.
That makes the interaction space into an interestingly knotty problem for players and designers alike and curiously enough trying to mess with these proximity zones can be curious, engaging and fun. Propinquity is our case in point.
My heartfelt thanks to all our collaborators on this project but especially Lynn Hughes and Jane Tingley from whom I have learned a great deal about both the vagaries of design and why it is so rewarding. Also thanks to Jane and Marius Kintel for being our front crew at Indiecade. Have fun you two and bring us home an award!
Check out Propinquity in this awesome Joystiq video at 4:24 ~~
http://www.viddler.com/v/df0ea0df?secret=107016203