Abstract
In this paper, we expose our experience in designing and developing a simple co-located and cooperative game that uses the Wii Remote for character control. According to a recent study, there is an entire demographic of potential players that favours this type of game and does not currently play due to lack of offerings. We begin by exposing related work ? Gameplay Chalenges; Game Design Patterns; Group Task Theories (from the field of Social Psychology); Analysis of cooperative games; The Wii, it's controller and software for using it on a PC. We continue by exploring the potential for cooperation of each of the Group Task types and formalizing several game mechanics we encountered while doing our game analysis. We then proceed to examine our experience in designing and developing Geometry Friends. From a design perspective, we carefully used some of the Design Patterns and Gameplay Challenges that were supportive of cooperative gameplay. While, from a technological development perspective we used several technological solutions that allowed us to create the game we set out to create. These were ? a game engine (XNA), a physics engine (Farseer) and an API that allowed interfacing with the Wii Remote (WiimoteLib). Several user tests were made during the development of the game so that we could ascertain if the game was fun, cooperative and if the controls were adequate. Overall, the results of the evaluation were positive.