The Path of Motus

The Path of Motus is a puzzle-platform game designed by Michael Hicks for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows. The game follows a goblin named Motus who is trapped inside a mysterious forest. He plans to escape by building bridges through the forest, but his determination is challenged by bullies that use their own words to destroy him.[1] The game was made using the MonoGame framework. [2]

The Path of Motus
Designer(s)Michael Hicks
Programmer(s)Michael Hicks
Artist(s)Gonçalo Antunes
Writer(s)Michael Hicks
Composer(s)Michael Hicks
Platform(s)
Release2018
Genre(s)Puzzle-platform

Gameplay

The Path of Motus features a variety of gameplay, including puzzles 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.[3] On top of bridge puzzles, an additional puzzle system was designed to express what Motus is feeling at various times in the story.[4]

Plot

Motus is a six-year-old boy who dreams of finding a way through the forest his village 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.[1] However, not all of the bullies are hostile. Motus also meets conflicted bullies that express a sense of confusion at the situation.[5]

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.[6] 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.[7] Hicks soon became interested in using gameplay "as a way to express meaningful ideas" and began development on Sententia to experiment with this approach.[8]

The game was quickly finished after three months, and was released as part of the Indie Games Uprising, an event Hicks helped coordinate.[9] The game was poorly received, but Hicks was undeterred and went on to spend two years refining his design ideas.[8] The result was a game called Pillar for PlayStation 4, a game inspired by human psychology. Pillar was more successful than Sententia, generating over 320,000 downloads[8] and a showcase at the Game Developer's Conference.[10]

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.[8] It was released on July 17, 2018.

References
  1. Estrada, Marcus (20 September 2017). "Explore the Impact of Bullying in The Path of Motus | Hardcore Gamer". Hardcore Gamer.
  2. "A Warning For UWP Xbox One Developers". Community | MonoGame. March 2019. Retrieved 2019-04-10.
  3. Treese, Tyler (21 September 2017). "The Path of Motus Shows That Words Can Hurt". PlayStation LifeStyle.
  4. Deogracias, Elisha (20 September 2017). "Build or break with words in The Path of Motus next year – GAMING TREND". Gaming Trend.
  5. "The Path of Motus Official Announcement Trailer - IGN Video". IGN. 20 September 2017.
  6. Sarkar, Samit (8 August 2012). "Indie Games Uprising 3 coming in September to Xbox Live Indie Games". Polygon.
  7. Schmidt, Brandon. "Indie Games Uprising III interview with MichaelArts | The Indie Mine". The Indie Mine.
  8. "The Path of Motus Announced". TrueAchievements.
  9. Rigney, Ryan. "To Survive Microsoft's Apathy, Xbox Indie Developers Band Together". WIRED.
  10. "These 15 games will be in the Indie Megabooth Showcase at GDC - GDC News". GDC News. 6 February 2015.
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