PLEASE START US OFF BY INTRODUCING YOURSELF:
We’re a team of 3 that came together during a game jam.
Pet Pumpkin: I’m the engine driver and coder, I look after the Unity project and try to write code that works!
Trumpetguy: Hi, I'm Trumpetguy, the music composer for Handshakes.
Damaskino: I do the in-game art and also handle the game’s Twitter and Bluesky accounts.
TELL US ABOUT HANDSHAKES
Handshakes is a cosy puzzle game about shaking hands. The player controls two hands attached to long stretchy arms which need to reach each other by getting past obstacles like locked doors and boxes. It’s cosy in the sense that it’s colourful and friendly and the puzzles aren’t too difficult. The puzzles are so designed that they somewhat guide players by limiting the available options.
Damaskino: We were participating in the Lost Relic Game Jam, which had the theme of “connection”. During brainstorming, we eventually settled on having handshaking as a mechanic and having the hands move around on a grid.
Pet: Yeah just through some pretty normal game jam brainstorming, writing to each other in our jam discord. The game did evolve as it was developed. For example, I had in mind that there would be gravity, this was eventually stripped out.
HOW HAS THE DEVELOPMENT JOURNEY BEEN
Damaskino: We were very lucky to have speedrunners @Bloupeuh
and @Sennen speedrun our game at AGDQ 2022 which resulted in a lot of eyes getting on our games. I think the game being a free web build on itch that you could just jump right in from your browser also helped a lot.
WHICH GAME ENGINE DID YOU CHOOSE AND WHY?
Pet: We chose Unity simply because it’s the engine I’m most familiar with. The initial development journey was fairly smooth, the game was made over a week long game jam. Following the jam we expanded the game with more levels, controller support and steam integration for the steam release.
WHAT'S BEEN YOUR BIGGEST DEVELOPMENT HURDLE SO FAR?
Pet: As the project has gotten larger, balancing the various moving parts has proven a real challenge. I’ve found I’ll often implement something that makes sense at the time, then later down the track it needs to be reworked to incorporate some new feature. Apart from that, finding time and motivation during the ups and downs of life has also proved to be a challenge.
Damaskino: +1 on that last one, during development of our follow-up I’ve moved to Japan and changed jobs, finding the time and energy to keep working on it has often been a real challenge.
ADVICE FOR FELLOW DEVS?
Pet: There’s a common piece of advice, which is to make smaller projects. I think this is great advice but I also think it’s important to follow what drives you. If you’re really driven to make a massive RPG, go for it. You may never release it but you will still learn a lot. We learn from all development endeavors, not just shipped games. That said, if you want to get good at shipping games, then shipping smaller projects is great advice.
Damaskino: If there are any in your area, find some gamedev communities to join and events to attend. You’ll likely find like-minded people who have more experience or are at the same point in their gamedev journey as you. You’ll likely be able to help each other out and it’s just a lot of fun to geek out about games with others. Prioritize your health, mental and physical.
Trumpetguy: If you wanna make a good song, you'd need to know the vibe that you're going for. Do you wanna make an emotional song or something happy and energetic? If you know the vibe, try to first make a fitting baseline, chord progression or melody. Once you've got the ground work, add more melodies and variation. And finally, experiment . Always try something new to make it more original.
ANY FINAL THOUGHTS?
Damaskino: Just feeling blessed with how things have gone so far and to be able to work with this team. Looking forward to doubling down on the sequel!
Pet: Shake more hands :)
-The Handshakes Team
❤️
