Synchronised Spinning: Co-Op

This may be one to bookmark for later, particularly if you're at work. It's a game that requires two people to play on one keyboard, so unless you've had some severe budget cuts recently, no one's going to believe that you and Frank Pelvis from Dynamic Solutions are working on different projects on the same PC. They'll probably notice the cardboard cut-out styled space aliens zooming across the screen as well. Co-Op, free on PC and Mac, pops you and a friend into ships that are connected by a beam. Since you don't have guns, you'll have to coordinate movements so that the beam slices through the monsters coming after you. Take a look.

Nothing complicated about it, but anything that requires a bit of togetherness is fine by me. It's the gaming equivalent of a horror movie, in that somebody has to snuggle up close to me during the course of it. Except, frightfully, I've just been playing it on my own and trying to teach my hands to operate independently. I'm quite good at it now but it's given me a mild headache and I'm not entirely convinced my left hand is obedient to my will anymore.

There's a very real chance that I'm going to end up lopping the blasted thing off using the only implement within reach (cereal spoon) and performing a zany pursuit of it as it flees, crab-like, no doubt hilariously performing rude gestures in my direction as it goes.

Co-Op was made at the DBC Games Jam, with less than 24 hours spent on the finished version. There are some thoughts over on MoaCube's blog about the joys and trials of working the indie way, including some particularly interesting ruminations on the need for community. The team are currently working on a visual novel inspired by Cinderella, which you can see a trailer for here.

Cinders is available for pre-order on Mac and PC, and my humble opinion wishes to state that it has a lovely visual style.