Paper Boats
A downloadable game for Windows, macOS, and Linux
Paper Boats is a small, experimental game about sharing and contemplating. There's not much to do, no enemies to kill or puzzles to solve. You can just look around, interact with the things around you and take screenshots.
Every once in a while, though, a paper boat will come sailing and stop in front of your dock, carrying a message for you, written by a stranger. Maybe it's a kind word of encouragement, or somebody emptying their worries into the void.
Good thing is that you can also send a message in your own paper boat, and let it sail for a stranger to read.
When you need a small break from reality, you can just hang around on the dock, watch the day go by and read messages from strangers.
The concept for the game is nothing new; you can find another examples of the mechanic in The Things We Lost In The Flood and in Kind Words (lo fi chill beats to write to), which greatly expands and improves upon the concept. Paper Boats is just my own, simple take on the genre and an excuse for me to release something interactive, albeit small.
I hope you enjoy it.
NOTE: In order to be as inclusive as possible, please try to write messages in English. Even if your English isn't that good, people won't judge =]
Looking around in a serene lake environment.
Capturing high-resolution screenshots.
Receiving anonymous messages from strangers.
Sending anonymous messages to strangers.
Mouse to look around.
Left click to interact.
Right click to zoom in.
P to take a screenshot.
You can view your screenshots through the options menu.
DISCLAIMER
I don't possess a way to thoroughly playtest the Mac and Linux builds so I can't promise they'll be working perfectly.
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Development log
- Hour One patchJan 12, 2021
Comments
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Thanks for your comments, I'm really glad you enjoyed the game =] Currently there's no plans to expand on this specific project, but I'm open to revisit the concept of message exchanging in the future again :D
Hi! I loved the game and I really wish there was an Android version. You have a prevision?
Hi! Glad to hear you liked the game =] Currently there are no plans for an android release of this game, mostly because of performance considerations.
I would consider making something else for Android with the same basic "mechanic" of exchanging notes, but there's no plans for that either in the near future 😅
This would be very cool to experience in VR
I meet this game and this platform by a brazilian youtuber called Tropia. I have never ever seen a kind of game like this before and I liked a lot. There is a lot of potential. My suggestion is create a system where you can send letters specifically to a person.
(sorry for my bad English)
Eu adorei a ideia do jogo msm n tendo jogado ainda, pois meu sistema é de 32 bits, n tem como jogar assim msm n?
This is a cute little game, I like the ambience and the boats emitting light on the water are beautiful!
Thanks for playing and for the nice words Kaldrin =] glad you enjoyed it!
You're welcome!
Wow, this is a very reflective idea that you can write a letter and get a different one from someone. Very nice!
But I would also make the camera less sensitive to feel the atmosphere of calm better.
Thank you =]
There is a mouse sensitivity slider in the options menu, I hope this can help a little bit with the camera movement.
oh, I didn't notice it. Thank you!
Very cool! Nice and calming. Would be cool if you could walk around for a little more interaction, maybe the boats could drift onto the shore?
Thanks =] I wanted to keep the scope real small with this one in order to see it through, hence there's no walking or further exploration. My plan is that my next projects will offer more in terms of interaction and movement!
Great game. This is a awesome experience. Really!
Thank you so much for the kind words and the video!
So peaceful... kind thoughts and calm, clean environments are always refreshing!
Thanks for this!
For Mac users:
Played on a Mac with Catalina. If you encounter the "App cannot be opened" problem, as I did, you need to give to the Paper Boats executable the right permission using chmod +x. This can be done from the Terminal:
chmod +x PATH_TO_PAPER_BOATS/PaperBoats_Mac_v_1_1.app/Contents/MacOS/Paper\ Boats
(PATH_TO_PAPER_BOATS is the folder where you put the Paper Boats .app)
Thank you so much for the comments and the help! It's super useful as I don't have the means to test it out on Mac machines.
omg i love this amazing some of the things people say really help me and the atmosphere is great
I'm really happy to hear that =]
Thanks for playing!
thanks for the peaceful experience :) The environment is beautiful and I'll make sure to pop in every now and then to take screenshots and send and receive some messages haha!
I'm really glad you enjoyed it =] happy to hear you'd want to pop in again, that's exactly what I'd hope for this little game!
This game is absolutely amazing!!
Thanks for playing and for the kind words :D
A beautiful way to connect with yourself and the world