And Yet It Moves

This article is about the puzzle game. For the Italian phrase meaning "And yet it moves", see Eppur si muove.

And Yet It Moves
Developer(s)	Broken Rules
Publisher(s)	Broken Rules
Distributor(s)	List Steam Greenhouse GamersGate Impulse Deliver2Mac Direct2Drive Mac Game Store
Designer(s)	Christoph Binder Felix Bohatsch Jan Hackl Peter Vorlaufer
Programmer(s)	Peter Vorlaufer
Artist(s)	Jan Hackl
Composer(s)	Christoph Binder
Engine	Torque
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, WiiWare
Release date(s)	April 2, 2009 WiiWare NA August 23, 2010 PAL August 27, 2010
Genre(s)	Platform/Puzzle
Mode(s)	Single-player
Rating(s)	ESRB: Everyone PEGI: 7
Media/distribution	Download
System requirements Windows Vista or Windows XP / Mac OS X 10.4 or higher / GNU/Linux (Version depends on the distribution). CPU: Dual Core 1.6 GHz or higher, Single Core 2.0 Ghz or higher Memory: 512 MB for Windows XP, 1000 MB for Vista and Mac Graphics: Intel gma950 or higher; any non-integrated card with 128 MB and OpenGL 1.2 support 60 MB free HD space

And Yet It Moves is a single-player puzzle platform game developed by independent developer Broken Rules. The game was first released as a PC game on April 2, 2009, and then as a title on WiiWare in August 2010. The game focuses on moving the player character through a series of hazardous environments. Notably, the player has the ability to rotate the entire game world, transforming walls into walkable floors and vice versa. The game's levels and puzzles are designed around this concept.

And Yet It Moves was originally designed as a computer science project at the Vienna University of Technology in 2007. When the original prototype won or was nominated for awards at various independent game festivals, Broken Rules decided to create a full version of the game. Both the PC and WiiWare versions of the game received positive reviews, with many critics applauding the gameplay mechanics introduced and the unique visuals styled as a paper collage. And Yet It Moves was also released as part of the third Humble Indie Bundle.

Gameplay

And Yet It Moves is set in a world stylized to resemble a paper collage, where background elements and characters consist of ripped paper, including the nameless player character, who appears as a rough pencil line-drawing on white paper. The game is divided into 17 levels that span three different environments.

And Yet It Moves is set in a world reminiscent of a paper collage. The game focuses on rotating the world around the player character in order to surmount walls too steep to climb or maneuvering around complex objects.

As with most platform games, the player's character can move left or right and can jump; however the central concept of the game is that the player can spin the entire environment either 90 or 180 degrees around their character as they move; gravity will always point "downward" and the character retains his momentum relative to his frame of reference. For example, the player can step off a cliff and then spin the world 90 degrees, turning what was the cliff wall into a flat, walkable surface. In addition, loose or suspended objects will be affected by the sudden shift in gravity, causing them to move. The game puzzles are all designed around these concepts. For example, in one level the player uses boulders to break through a barrier by spinning the environment repeatedly, angling the boulders as they "fall" such that they will eventually collide with the barrier with enough force. The character can tear into pieces from various hazards, such as falling from too high a distance onto a flat surface, being crushed by objects, or falling off into the black void that borders the playing field. While the player has unlimited lives, the character will reappear at the last checkpoint he passed prior to being torn.

Other gameplay features are available, such as online leaderboards, various time attack modes, and optional achievements that are awarded for performing specific objectives.

In the WiiWare version, players control the game using the Wii Remote 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 Windows and Mac versions.

Development

And Yet It Moves was developed by Broken Rules, an independent game developer based in Vienna. 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 students involved wanted to design a game that gave the player more freedom than possible in normal 2D games, so a side-scrolling platform game with the ability to rotate the entire game world was chosen. A prototype of the game took half a year to develop, and the name And Yet It Moves was chosen for its ambiguity and because "it hints at world rotation," an allusion to Galileo Galilei's famous (but apocryphal) remark "Eppur si muove." The prototype was showcased at various independent game development festivals and garnered positive feedback; it was a winner in the Student Showcase category of the 2007 Independent Games Festival and a nominee 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. The team founded Broken Rules when it was realized that "it was a necessity [in order] to better deal with all the organizational, financial and juridical hassles that are involved when making business."

Because no one on the team was a dedicated artist, Broken Rules decided to create a graphical style that was aesthetically pleasing yet surmountable. A pencil-on-paper look was first attempted, but it appeared "empty and boring" until photographs, collected from public sources such as morgueFile, were added. The style eventually evolved into the game's final ripped paper collage look, intended to appear "rough and analog." This style was applied to the soundtrack: the game's music and sound effects were created simply by beatboxing, performed by designer Christoph Binder. Felix Bohatsch, the project lead, stated in an interview that adding a narrative or backstory was avoided in favor of focusing energy on developing the gameplay. He added however that the level design follows a leitmotif 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, after seeing a demonstration of the game at the 2008 IndieCade Festival in Los Angeles, Nintendo contacted Broken Rules and asked if a WiiWare version of And Yet It Moves could be developed. 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, because it was too late in development to incorporate WiiWare and launch on both platforms simultaneously on April 2, 2009, development on the WiiWare version started in June. Because And Yet It Moves was designed with digital controls in mind, many tests were conducted in implementing the Wii Remote's motion control capabilities such that the new controls felt natural and weren't intrusive or felt "tacked on." Broken Rules found that removing the restriction to rotate in 90 degree intervals and allowing the player to freely rotate to any degree best suited the analog motion controls. Four different control schemes in total 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 needed to be downsampled to cohere with the Wii hardware. A standard-definition television was used in development; Bohatsch felt the visuals looked nicer on the SDTV than on a PC or Mac with higher display resolution, but warned that some HDTVs might not upsample the Wii resolution properly, recommending that a component cable be used while playing the game. Because the online leaderboards available in the PC version were not frequently used by players, the feature was dropped in the WiiWare version. In addition, three new levels are added to the game after the player completes the main campaign mode. The near final version of the game was submitted to Nintendo's Quality Assurance team in May 2010 to inspect and find bugs. The game was released on WiiWare in North America on August 23 and 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 isn't opposed to the idea of a sequel, and mentioned that "anyone approaching us with a good and interesting proposal to develop the idea further is very welcome to contact us."

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores
Aggregator	Score
GameRankings	PC: 73.14% (7 reviews) Wii: 85.30% (20 reviews)
Metacritic	PC: 75 / 100 (10 reviews) Wii: 83 / 100 (28 reviews)
Review scores
Publication	Score
1UP.com	Wii: B+
Eurogamer	Wii: 9 / 10
GameSpot	PC: 7.5 / 10
IGN	PC: 8.4/10 Wii: 8.0 / 10
Destructoid	Wii: 8.5 / 10
GameFocus	PC: 8.0 / 10
NGamer	Wii: 90

And Yet It Moves received generally favorable reviews. The PC version gained aggregate scores of 73.14% and 75 on GameRankings and Metacritic, respectively, while the WiiWare version gained aggregate scores of 85.30% and 83. Many critics applauded the game's unique take on the platforming genre and the game's paper collage visual style, but generally felt the game was too short. Some critics noted the absence of any narrative or backstory, but felt that the game ultimately didn't need one, with the exception of GameSpot, who noted it as one of the game's weaknesses.

In his review of the PC version, IGN's Daemon Hatfield stated that And Yet It Moves "manages to make this quarter-century old genre [2D platformer] feel 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 modes 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. The review also positively felt that players are unlikely to experience motion sickness despite the frequent rotating of the game screen.

Matthew Razark of Destructoid rated the WiiWare version 8.5 out of 10. Razark praised the Wii Remote motion controls used to spin the game world as "better [controls] than the PC could ever offer," and regarded the visuals "breathtaking" and a stylistic "masterpiece." Razark also regarded level designs as "the most creative and innovative around," stating that it was hard for the player to get lost despite the constant world spinning. Justin Haywald of 1UP.com agreed with this statement, stating 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+. Popzara's Nathan Evans raved that the WiiWare version was "a superlative example of an independently-developed game done right, as it introduces a wholly unique gameplay concept, exploits it to the fullest, and has the decency to wrap things up before overextending its welcome."

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 DRM protection was placed on the game because "we [Broken Rules] ... 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 [sold] there are 22 cracked version [sic] being played." Bohatsch speculated that the poor sales were partly caused by the levels demonstrated in the free game demo, which did not focus enough on the game's puzzles.

External links

• Official website
• Broken Rules website
• And Yet It Moves on Steam