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''And Yet It Moves'' is a puzzle-platform game developed by
independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...
developer Broken Rules. The game was released for
Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...
,
Mac OS X macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...
, and
Linux Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...
on April 2, 2009, and for Wii as a
WiiWare WiiWare was a digital media entertainment service operated by Nintendo that allowed the download of games and applications developed for the Wii video game console. These games and applications could only be purchased and downloaded from the W ...
title in August 2010. ''And Yet It Moves'' was originally designed as a
computer science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...
project at the Vienna University of Technology in 2007. When the original
prototype A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototype ...
won or was nominated for awards at various independent game festivals, the team decided to create a full version of the game. ''And Yet It Moves'' focuses on moving the
player character A player character (also known as a playable character or PC) is a fictional Character (arts), character in a video game or tabletop role-playing game whose actions are controlled by a player rather than the rules of the game. The characters tha ...
through a series of hazardous environments. The player possesses the ability to freely rotate the entire game world, transforming walls into floors and vice versa. The game's
level Level or levels may refer to: Engineering *Level (optical instrument), a device used to measure true horizontal or relative heights * Spirit level or bubble level, an instrument designed to indicate whether a surface is horizontal or vertical *C ...
s and puzzles are designed around this concept. The game features paper-
collage Collage (, from the , "to glue" or "to stick together") is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assembly of different forms, thus creating a new whole. (Compare with pasti ...
-styled visuals designed by Jan Hackl and a
beatboxing Beatboxing (also, and sometimes, called beat boxing) is a form of vocal percussion primarily involving the art of mimicking drum machines (usually a Roland TR-808, TR-808), using one's mouth, lips, tongue, and voice.soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...
performed by Christoph Binder. The game received positive reviews, with many critics applauding the gameplay and the visuals. ''And Yet It Moves'' was also released as part of the third Humble Indie Bundle.


Gameplay

''And Yet It Moves'' is a
single-player A single-player video game is a video game where input from only one player is expected throughout the gameplay. Video games in general can feature several game modes, including single-player modes designed to be played by a single player in add ...
puzzle-platform game set in a world stylized to resemble a paper
collage Collage (, from the , "to glue" or "to stick together") is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assembly of different forms, thus creating a new whole. (Compare with pasti ...
, where background elements and characters consist of ripped paper. The nameless
player character A player character (also known as a playable character or PC) is a fictional Character (arts), character in a video game or tabletop role-playing game whose actions are controlled by a player rather than the rules of the game. The characters tha ...
, who appears as a cutout pencil line-drawing on white paper, is directed through a series of
level Level or levels may refer to: Engineering *Level (optical instrument), a device used to measure true horizontal or relative heights * Spirit level or bubble level, an instrument designed to indicate whether a surface is horizontal or vertical *C ...
s by running and jumping across the obstacles and avoiding hazards. The player possesses the ability to "spin" the entire game world in 90 or 180 degree increments at any time. Because the rotation is instantaneous and
gravity In physics, gravity (), also known as gravitation or a gravitational interaction, is a fundamental interaction, a mutual attraction between all massive particles. On Earth, gravity takes a slightly different meaning: the observed force b ...
will always point "downward" relative to the game screen, spinning the world has physical consequences on the player character and on the environment: walls that are too steep to climb become flat, walkable surfaces, and objects may move or react to the change in gravity. All objects retain their
momentum In Newtonian mechanics, momentum (: momenta or momentums; more specifically linear momentum or translational momentum) is the product of the mass and velocity of an object. It is a vector quantity, possessing a magnitude and a direction. ...
relative to their frame of reference. The levels in ''And Yet It Moves'' are designed such that spinning the world at certain moments is required to progress. Because the character will tear into pieces if he falls from too high a distance, the player must often spin the world such that the character can safely surmount or descend from large obstacles. Other hazards such as wild beasts, fire and boulders, or falling into the black void that borders the playing field will tear the character. However, the player has unlimited
lives Lives may refer to: * The plural form of a ''life'' * Lives, Iran, a village in Khuzestan Province, Iran * The number of lives in a video game * ''Parallel Lives'', aka ''Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans'', a series of biographies of famous m ...
and will reappear at the last checkpoint he passed prior to being torn. The main campaign mode offers 17 levels that span three different environments. There are other gameplay features available, such as online leaderboards, various time attack modes, and optional achievements that are awarded for performing specific objectives. In the Wii version, players control the game using the
Wii Remote The Wii Remote, colloquially known as the Wiimote, is the primary game controller for Nintendo's Wii home video game console. An essential capability of the Wii Remote is its motion sensing capability, which allows the user to interact with an ...
held sideways, and the game world is rotated by twisting the controller in various directions. The Nunchuk and Classic Controller are also compatible for alternate control schemes. This version also removes the restriction to only rotate in 90 degree intervals and offers three additional levels compared to the PC versions.


Development

''And Yet It Moves'' is the first video game developed by Broken Rules, an
independent game developer An indie video game or indie game (short for independent video game) is a video game created by individuals or smaller development teams without the financial and technical support of a large game publisher, in contrast to most "AAA" (triple-A ...
based in
Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
. The game began as a bachelor project held by the Department for Design and Assessment of Technology at the Vienna University of Technology. The four
computer science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...
students involved wanted to design a game that gave the player more freedom than possible in normal 2D games; a
side-scrolling A side-scrolling video game (alternatively side-scroller) is a video game viewed from a side-view camera angle where the screen follows the player as they move left or right. The jump from single-screen or flip-screen graphics to scrolling grap ...
platform game A platformer (also called a platform game, and sometimes a jump 'n' run game) is a subgenre of action game in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are characterized by levels wi ...
with the ability to rotate the entire game world was chosen. A
prototype A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototype ...
of the game took half a year to develop using the
Torque In physics and mechanics, torque is the rotational analogue of linear force. It is also referred to as the moment of force (also abbreviated to moment). The symbol for torque is typically \boldsymbol\tau, the lowercase Greek letter ''tau''. Wh ...
game engine A game engine is a software framework primarily designed for the development of video games which generally includes relevant libraries and support programs such as a level editor. The "engine" terminology is akin to the term " software engine" u ...
, and the name ''And Yet It Moves'' was chosen for its ambiguity and "it hints at world rotation," an allusion to
Galileo Galilei Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642), commonly referred to as Galileo Galilei ( , , ) or mononymously as Galileo, was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a poly ...
's famous (but
apocryphal Apocrypha () are biblical or related writings not forming part of the accepted canon of scripture, some of which might be of doubtful authorship or authenticity. In Christianity, the word ''apocryphal'' (ἀπόκρυφος) was first applied to ...
) remark " Eppur si muove". The prototype was showcased at various independent game development festivals and garnered positive feedback; it was nominated in the Student Showcase category of the 2007
Independent Games Festival The Independent Games Festival (IGF) is an annual festival at the Game Developers Conference (GDC), the largest annual gathering of the independent video game industry. Originally founded in 1998 to promote independent video game developers, ...
as well as for the 2007 Europrix Top Talent Award. The interest in the title inspired the students to develop a full game, which took approximately two years. Broken Rules was founded when it was realized that "it was a necessity
n order N, or n, is the fourteenth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages, and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''. History ...
to better deal with all the organizational, financial and juridical hassles that are involved when making business." Broken Rules did not have a dedicated artist, so the designers chose a graphical style they believed was both aesthetically pleasing and easy to create. A pencil-on-paper look was first attempted, but it appeared "empty and boring" until
photograph A photograph (also known as a photo, or more generically referred to as an ''image'' or ''picture'') is an image created by light falling on a photosensitivity, photosensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic image sensor. Th ...
s, collected from public sources such as morgueFile, were added. The style evolved into the game's final ripped paper
collage Collage (, from the , "to glue" or "to stick together") is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assembly of different forms, thus creating a new whole. (Compare with pasti ...
look, intended to appear "rough and analog." Designer Christoph Binder created the game's
background music Background music (British English: piped music) is a mode of musical performance in which the music is not intended to be a primary focus of potential listeners, but its content, character, and volume level are deliberately chosen to affect behav ...
and
sound effect A sound effect (or audio effect) is an artificially created or enhanced sound, or sound process used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media. In m ...
s by
beatboxing Beatboxing (also, and sometimes, called beat boxing) is a form of vocal percussion primarily involving the art of mimicking drum machines (usually a Roland TR-808, TR-808), using one's mouth, lips, tongue, and voice. Felix Bohatsch, the project lead, stated in an interview that adding a
narrative A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether non-fictional (memoir, biography, news report, documentary, travel literature, travelogue, etc.) or fictional (fairy tale, fable, legend, thriller ...
or
backstory A backstory, background story, background, or legend is a set of events invented for a plot, preceding and leading up to that plot. In acting, it is the history of the character before the drama begins, and is created during the actor's prepara ...
was avoided in favor of prioritizing the gameplay. He added however that the
level design In video games, a level (also referred to as a map, mission, stage, course, or round in some older games) is any space available to the player during the course of completion of an objective. Video game levels generally have progressively incre ...
follows a
leitmotif A leitmotif or () is a "short, recurring musical phrase" associated with a particular person, place, or idea. It is closely related to the musical concepts of ''idée fixe'' or ''motto-theme''. The spelling ''leitmotif'' is a partial angliciz ...
that conveys "a journey from being confined to becoming free" as the game progresses, first beginning in dark caves and ending in a wide blank space. In October 2008,
Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...
contacted Broken Rules and asked if a downloadable
WiiWare WiiWare was a digital media entertainment service operated by Nintendo that allowed the download of games and applications developed for the Wii video game console. These games and applications could only be purchased and downloaded from the W ...
version of ''And Yet It Moves'' could be developed for its Wii
console Console may refer to: Computing and video games * System console, a physical device to operate a computer ** Virtual console, a user interface for multiple computer consoles on one device ** Command-line interface, a method of interacting with ...
after seeing a demonstration of the game at the 2008 IndieCade Festival in Los Angeles. Bohatsch stated that "we didn't think long about this decision because we always wanted to bring And Yet It Moves to a console and I have a sweet spot for the Wii." However, the PC game's projected release date was April 2, 2009; it was too late in development to begin co-developing for Wii and launch simultaneously on both platforms. PC version development was completed first and then Wii development started in June. ''And Yet It Moves'' was originally designed to be played with button controls, and the player could only rotate in 90 degree intervals; for the Wii version, Broken Rules determined from playtesting that allowing the player to freely rotate to any degree best suited the
Wii Remote The Wii Remote, colloquially known as the Wiimote, is the primary game controller for Nintendo's Wii home video game console. An essential capability of the Wii Remote is its motion sensing capability, which allows the user to interact with an ...
's motion controls. Four different control schemes were implemented to satisfy a wide number of players, three of which either use motion control or the Wii Remote pointer. While the file size limit imposed on WiiWare games was not an issue, the visuals were
downsampled In digital signal processing, downsampling, compression, and decimation are terms associated with the process of sample rate conversion, ''resampling'' in a multi-rate digital signal processing system. Both ''downsampling'' and ''decimation'' can b ...
to cohere with the Wii hardware. A
standard-definition television Standard-definition television (SDTV; also standard definition or SD) is a television system that uses a resolution that is not considered to be either high or enhanced definition. ''Standard'' refers to offering a similar resolution to the ...
was used in development; Bohatsch felt the visuals looked nicer on the SDTV than on a PC or Mac with higher
display resolution The display resolution or display modes of a digital television, computer monitor, or other display device is the number of distinct pixels in each dimension that can be displayed. It can be an ambiguous term especially as the displayed resoluti ...
, but warned that some
HDTV High-definition television (HDTV) describes a television or video system which provides a substantially higher image resolution than the previous generation of technologies. The term has been used since at least 1933; in more recent times, it ref ...
s might not upsample the Wii resolution properly, recommending that a component cable be used while playing the game. Online leaderboards were omitted from the Wii version as they were not widely used. Three new levels, unlocked when the player completes the main campaign mode, were added. The near final version of the game was submitted to Nintendo's
Quality Assurance Quality assurance (QA) is the term used in both manufacturing and service industries to describe the systematic efforts taken to assure that the product(s) delivered to customer(s) meet with the contractual and other agreed upon performance, design ...
team in May 2010 to inspect and find bugs. ''And Yet It Moves'' was released on the Wii Shop Channel in North America on August 23, 2010 and then in Europe on August 27. Broken Rules currently has no plans to develop a sequel to ''And Yet It Moves'', due to the time spent on the game. Bohatsch commented that he is unopposed to the idea and is amenable to proposals to develop such a game.


Reception

''And Yet It Moves'' received generally favorable reviews. The PC version gained aggregate scores of 71.50% and 75 on
GameRankings GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...
and
Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
, respectively, while the Wii version gained aggregate scores of 85.30% and 83. Critics applauded the game's unique take on the platforming genre and the game's paper collage visual style, but felt the game was too short. Some critics noted the absence of any
narrative A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether non-fictional (memoir, biography, news report, documentary, travel literature, travelogue, etc.) or fictional (fairy tale, fable, legend, thriller ...
or
backstory A backstory, background story, background, or legend is a set of events invented for a plot, preceding and leading up to that plot. In acting, it is the history of the character before the drama begins, and is created during the actor's prepara ...
, but felt that the game ultimately didn't need one, though
GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady, and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
noted it as one of the game's weaknesses. In his review of the PC version,
IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...
's Daemon Hatfield stated that ''And Yet It Moves'' "manages to make this quarter-century old genre D platformerfeel new again." Hatfield praised the gameplay, which was "challenging but avoids being frustrating", but felt there wasn't enough content to warrant the $15 price, despite the additional
game mode In tabletop games and video games, game mechanics define how a game works for players. Game mechanics are the rules or ludemes that govern and guide player actions, as well as the game's response to them. A rule is an instruction on how to play, wh ...
s available. Hatfield scored the game 8.4 out of 10. GameFocus scored the PC version 8.0 out of 10, praising the gameplay, sound, controls, and use of
physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...
. The review also stated that players are unlikely to experience
motion sickness Motion sickness occurs due to a difference between actual and expected motion. Symptoms commonly include nausea, vomiting, cold sweat, headache, dizziness, tiredness, loss of appetite, and increased salivation. Complications may rarely include ...
despite the frequent rotating of the game screen. GameSpot scored the PC version 7.5 out of 10, stating that while the rotation mechanic "wears thin toward the end of the game," "the increasingly exotic level design manages to keep the good times rolling until the end." Justin Haywald of 1UP.com stated that "even when I felt I had to guess which direction I was supposed to go, the levels are set up well enough that the way forward is always easy to figure out". Haywald praised the visuals as well, but stated that "as the scenery grows more cluttered, it also sometimes becomes difficult to find a safe place to land after sending the world spinning". Haywald rated ''And Yet It Moves'' a B+. ''NintendoLife'' rated the Wii version 9 out of 10, stating that the new additions and updated controls made it the "definitive version of the game" despite the omission of online features seen in the PC version.


Sales

Felix Bohatsch of Broken Rules reported in May 2009 that sales of the PC version were "not at a level we were expecting". No
digital rights management Digital rights management (DRM) is the management of legal access to digital content. Various tools or technological protection measures, such as access control technologies, can restrict the use of proprietary hardware and copyrighted works. DRM ...
(DRM) protection was placed on the game because "we ... believe that any game will be cracked, no matter how we try to protect it, so our philosophy is that adding DRM or anything similar only annoys the people who actually pay for it." The bootlegging rate was approximately 95.5%, meaning "for every game oldthere are 22 cracked version being played". Bohatsch speculated that the poor sales were partly caused by the levels demonstrated in the free
game demo A game demo is a trial version of a video game that is limited to a certain time period or a point in progress. A game demo comes in forms such as shareware, demo discs, downloadable software, and tech demos. Distribution In the early 1990s, ...
, which did not focus enough on the game's puzzles. More than 370,000 units of the game were sold as part of the third Humble Indie Bundle.


References


External links

*
Broken Rules website
{{Broken Rules 2009 video games Indie games IOS games Linux games MacOS games Puzzle-platformers Side-scrolling video games Single-player video games Wii games WiiWare games Windows games Video games developed in Austria IndieCade winners Broken Rules games