Hugwave

Hugwave is a 2D rhythm game, developed for PC and driven by art and music. The player presses the spacebar with the beats of the music and at the same time interferes with the signal of the picture in order to complete a full painting. In the end, the substance of the painting will look different depending on the players being able to fully synchronise with the music with which the virtual world beats with.

A group of creatures get lost in an infinite and chaotic binary forest made of 0s and 1s. They are hidden behind the trees and look from a distance at each other as well as the player. The screen begins to change with the player’s interventions, casting evermore solid grounds for the creatures to connect. The binary trees become real trees, some animals emerge and the forest becomes more lively. After that, the creatures get braver and they get closer to each other. In the end, the creature walks towards us for a warm hug.

The game was inspired by vaporwave, a popular art and music style on the internet. We also hope to provoke players to think about the communication and relationships between people in the age of the Internet.

Hugwave won Best in Show and Best Audio Design at the Gotland Game Conference 2022!

Team:

  • Xiaoding Zhou – Game Design/Art/UI/Music
  • Angelos Motso – Music/Game Design
  • Goutham Jayaraman – Programming/Game Design
  • Qiaoting Wang – Project Manager/Programming/Game Design

Play Hugwave at itch.io!