Levers & Buttons

Lorenz Gonsa (AT), Martin Hatler (AT), Samuel Stallybrass (AT), Vincent Thierry (AT)

Five Hours of Sleep // Lorenz Gonsa (AT), Martin Hatler (AT), Samuel Stallybrass (AT), Vincent Thierry (AT)

u19 winner: Golden Nica

Levers & Buttons is an asymmetric cooperative virtual reality & video game. The focus is on communication between players in a two-dimensional space and players in virtual reality.

You are one of a kind. At least, that is what they tell you. In reality, you are a clone of a certain alien species that is particularly good at cleaning. That is your destiny. Cleaning the spaceship you to which you are assigned with the help of your partner who is sitting in a control room, pulling levers and pressing buttons… However, this time everything’s different! The ship has caught fire, which must be extinguished immediately to save the passengers! That shouldn’t be a problem for such a rehearsed team as you, right? Use your cooperative skills to become heroes among the other clones!

Levers & Buttons is an asymmetrical two-player cooperation puzzle videogame. One of the players controls a character in a two-dimensional space, while the other is operating in virtual reality. Both are stationed on a spaceship which has caught fire – they must keep it from burning down. The player who is acting in virtual reality has to solve puzzles with the help of his partner to extinguish the fire. The focus of the game is on communication between the players as they can only see very little of the other’s perspective. Therefore, they must talk to each other to convey information. Levers & Buttons is a game suited for unexperienced and experienced VR users.

The team Five Hours of Sleep (Lorenz Gonsa, Martin Hatler, Samuel Stallybrass and Vincent Thierry) developed Levers & Buttons as part of their final school project at HTL Spengergasse, Vienna. The team was formed around Vincent and Martin, who have been friends for 13 years and have long dreamt of developing a game together. The realization of their dream began as a school project but it was their passion and their joy in developing that led to the establishment of the game on this scale.

    

credits: Five Hours of Sleep // Lorenz Gonsa (AT), Martin Hatler (AT), Samuel Stallybrass (AT), Vincent Thierry (AT)