Piece Yourself Up

Your large spoon acts as a sword. It has a large area of attack, can deflect projectiles and costs a fraction of your spoon reserves. The maximum number of spoons you can hold is 12 (referencing spoon theory - more below), and every attack costs, so plan your moves carefully to make it count! Your little spoons act as projectiles. They are precise and cost a full spoon from your reserves but deal immense damage. Your robot body is unstable, and your parts will fall off, whether it be from attacks or the passage of time. Use the parts of your fallen enemies to replace your missing limbs and survive the day. Piece Yourself Up was made in response to the inKUbator Game Jam 2024 theme 'Everything Falls Apart', interpreting it through the lens of those with mental and physical health conditions. The player is represented by a robot, which is our interpretation of the feeling of dissociation. Their body is unreliable and needs constant upkeep, a sentiment many people can relate to. Simple daily tasks such as writing essays, checking emails and cooking can become obstacles that must be fought to successfully complete the day. Spoons are used as weapons to represent energy levels, which is a nod to Christine Miserandino’s famous 'Spoon Theory'. The theory proposes if you were given 12 spoons at the start of the day and each task you wanted to complete in the day cost a spoon, how would you spend your day? It highlights the invisible struggle of these conditions - energy. Energy is limited, and energy management becomes a crucial skill that can get overwhelming. This is the experience of many people with chronic mental and physical conditions. For more information, please visit Christine's original heartfelt post 'The Spoon Theory' on her blog. Piece Yourself Up was made by three first year students and a third year student at University, and although it may change in the future, there are no current plans for any major changes to the game as we are putting more time into our other, more complex, projects. We hope you enjoy our game and we can't wait for our future endeavors.