Shift Happens

What is Shift Happens?

Shift Happens, formerly known as Mercury Shift 3D, is a two player coop focused platformer. We have been building the game for about two years now and at the moment we are developing a vertical slice to publicly test and show off. The video represents the status of March 2015. With this project, we want to implement all the feedback and the data we gathered after the release of the first game, Mercury Shift.

The mechanics

The core mechanic is the so called “Shift”. This short GIF shows the basics of the mechanic. howtheshiftworksThe characters are able to shift their mass between them, which allows a wide variety of gameplay elements and emergent gameplay.

Did you say Coop-Platformer with physics-based puzzles?

Yes. Although this may be a now over-used setting, we believe the game has a lot to offer. We are still playing it on a daily basis and it is still fun. If we can be entertained and surprised by it, so can you. It may not be the reinvention of the wheel, but the gameplay is solid and the visuals look appealing.

So it’s Coop only, right?

Yes and no. We originally designed the game with only two players in mind. They should communicate in front of the screen and work together on solutions of the game levels. After having our game reviewed by some publishers they found it to be unmarketable if it had not a singleplayer-functionality. Although we were not too happy to hear this, they were right. So there is a singleplayer-mode for the game. There is a whole set of singleplayer levels that are completely different to the Multiplayer.

Where do you see the game in a year?

On Steam, on the consoles. We do not want to make this and keep it for ourselves. The game shall bring people together, as we’ve seen it can do. Although we have a singleplayer, we really believe in its strengths when it comes to couch-coop. And if you do not have a big couch: Online Multiplayer is coming. We will get this game out in the public, no matter how. It would be perfect to find a partner for publishing and marketing, but if all fails we’re going to do it ourselves.

Why?

This game has been our baby for the past two years. There have always been some other assignments and jobs, but this is where we came to do all the creative and cool stuff we always had in mind. The mechanics are now battle-hardened and visuals finally appealing. The hard labor on this game begins to pay off, as we’re finally seeing the horizon on the project. Shift Happens is currently in development. We’re pretty confident there will be a playable beta publicly available soon. At the moment, you have to visit us for a playtest in our office. tl;dr Shift Happens is the game we always wanted to make and it’s fun for two people. We’re still entertained when playing it, so that should be a good sign.

We are happy to announce our Greenlight campaign on Steam was successful we are about to get Shift Happens out within 2015. You can still find Shift Happens on Greenlight and add comments there.

Find the Shift Happens Game presskit here: presskit.klonk-games.com/sheet.php?p=shift_happens

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