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Will Love Tear Us Apart? is a free-to-play browser-game about relationships on the brink of breaking up. It is inspired by Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart and follows the song in delivering a dark and frustrating perspective on love. Each verse in the song is represented by a level in the game.

WLTUA encourages players to reflect on the darker side of love: mis-communication, emotional impasse and the sadness of separation. Solace may be found in the brief moment of lightness that comes over us when we come to terms with the reality of an irreconcilable relationship.

Check it out

http://willlovetearusapart.com/

Oh.. didn't notice the playable link in on the Facebook page.

Nice art game!
It feels like everything makes sense as a coherent whole working on a metaphorical level.

Oh maaan the labyrinth... one day I will beat it.

I have absolutely no Idea what this game is about or what I am supposed to do. But the graphics are really nice.

Thomas Ryder wrote:I have absolutely no Idea what this game is about or what I am supposed to do. But the graphics are really nice.

+1

I played for 5 minutes but got a bit frustrated that I couldn't get past the "card-thingy", so I quit

Made it to the maze, couldn't get past it unfortunately.
Super atmospheric though, great job - but it could benefit from being a bit less punishing in the maze level.

ohh.. poor noobs..

The card playing session did feel too long.
The Labyrinth is rather punishing. But it can be managed. I know the point.
The last bit is a bit dull. There are no real consequence for stepping of the path. And finding the path is not super exciting.

Still it's one of the better art games I have played as a whole.
I don't play many of them though.

It's a bit sad you a loosing too many players before they get through the game.
Difficulty should be fixed. Play testing should have told you this.

Fundamentally I don't believe it's the optimal way of producing good games. Having to come up with game mechanics that must somehow meet the metaphorical goal.
At least it's a very challenging design to execute. You did a pretty good job that needs some tweaking.
But art is art I guess and you have totally free hands. But it never hurts to give your audience a nice pleasant and entertaining ride. To finally deliver your core message.

btw. big props for all the hand drawn animation and art. super awesome!

Hi there and thanks for the feedback!
@Jonaz - I agree that the game needs tweaking. Of course it's not the optimal way to make good games - I was not trying to make a "good game" by good game design standards. I wanted to make a game that interprets the essence of the song (at least to me). It is an exercise in translation not a pleasant gaming experience. We playtested it with 51 live players and 50 online ones.

If I gave my audience a pleasant ride I would have failed in translating the song. In my view, Love Will Tear Us Apart is anything but pleasant. It's frustrating, heavy and teeters on the tight rope between desperation and redemption. I didn't just want the visuals and sound to convey that - I want the gameplay to be consistent with that vision too. Is it a game that would sell? Of course not. Is it a game that everyone will appreciate and enjoy. Hardly!

I am conscious that it breaks rules of good game design at every turn. Where these breaks were not neccessary to make the point of that level and the whole thing I tried to avoid them. I m sure I ve missed a few - but not being given explicit feedback - not being led by the hand - that is a conscious choice that I made for a specific reason in each of the levels.

Thanks for the art props!

Gordon

intentional agony.. ohhh why you silly art people!

I also agree that you shouldn't be leading players by the hand. Though you are doing it fairly obliviously (to me at least) in the card game. I can see a lot of people didn't catch the clues. But it was the right choice I believe. You can't please everybody and you shouldn't in this type of production.

jolly good show chaps!