''The Path of Motus'' is a

puzzle-platform game A platform game (often simplified as platformer and sometimes called a jump 'n' run game) is a sub-genre of action video games in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are charac ...

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...

, and Microsoft Windows. The game follows a

goblin A goblin is a small, grotesque, monstrous creature that appears in the folklore of multiple European cultures. First attested in stories from the Middle Ages, they are ascribed conflicting abilities, temperaments, and appearances depending on ...

named Motus who is trapped inside a mysterious forest. He plans to escape by building

bridges A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually someth ...

through the forest, but his determination is challenged by bullies that use their own words to destroy him. The game was made using the MonoGame framework.

Gameplay

''The Path of Motus'' features a variety of gameplay, including

puzzles A puzzle is a game, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together ( or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to arrive at the correct or fun solution of the puzzle ...

and action platforming. Motus' main goal is to connect groups of nodes together to design bridges. In between this he meets bullies that attack him with deadly words. Motus must tactfully use his own words to deal with the bullies. On top of bridge puzzles, an additional puzzle system was designed to express what Motus is feeling at various times in the story.

Plot

Motus is a six-year-old boy who dreams of finding a way through the forest his

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...

is trapped in. Using art supplies passed down to him from his father, he begins designing bridges through the forest. He soon meets bullies that try to stop him from completing his quest. However, not all of the bullies are hostile. Motus also meets conflicted bullies that express a sense of

confusion In medicine, confusion is the quality or state of being bewildered or unclear. The term "acute mental confusion"

at the situation.

Development

The origin for ''The Path of Motus'' started in 2012, when Hicks and Antunes released an early version of the game called ''Sententia'' for

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generati ...

. Hicks expressed frustration towards video games before ''Sententia's'' development, and questioned why games he played weren't as emotionally engaging as other forms of media he consumed. Hicks soon became interested in using

gameplay Gameplay is the specific way in which players interact with a game, and in particular with video games. Gameplay is the pattern defined through the game rules, connection between player and the game, challenges and overcoming them, plot and pl ...

"as a way to express meaningful ideas" and began

development Development or developing may refer to: Arts *Development hell, when a project is stuck in development *Filmmaking, development phase, including finance and budgeting *Development (music), the process thematic material is reshaped * Photograph ...

on ''Sententia'' to experiment with this approach. The game was quickly finished after three months, and was released as part of the Indie Games Uprising, an event Hicks helped coordinate. The game was poorly received, but Hicks was undeterred and went on to spend two years refining his design ideas. The result was a game called ''

Pillar A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. ...

'' for PlayStation 4, a game inspired by

human psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between ...

. ''Pillar'' was more successful than ''Sententia'', generating over 320,000 downloads and a showcase at the

Game Developer's Conference The Game Developers Conference (GDC) is an annual conference for video game developers. The event includes an expo, networking events, and awards shows like the Game Developers Choice Awards and Independent Games Festival, and a variety of tut ...

. ''Pillar's'' release gave Hicks and Antunes confidence to return to ''Sententia''. The team took the core idea from the original, but approached the execution in a similar way to ''Pillar''. Due to the final product being so different, they renamed the game to ''The Path of Motus''. It was released on July 17, 2018.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Path of Motus Indie games PlayStation 4 games Art games Single-player video games Video games developed in the United States Windows games Xbox One games PlayStation Network games Side-scrolling video games Microsoft games Puzzle-platformers 2018_video_games