Platforms:
PC, Switch
Tools Of The Trade:
Unity
Duped is a 2D action and puzzle platformer developed to explore themes of loneliness and identity, especially in the context of modern technologies.
You play as a lonely cube who is alone in a cold, dark cave, and must solve puzzles to get out. A special ability you have is to make copies of yourself, using this to progress through the cave network. Unfortunately, you must make sacrifices in order to find youself.
Duped was originally designed and developed in 2017, using Unity. Since then, the game continues to engage players. In 2019, we ported Duped to Nintendo Switch, to be enjoyed by a new group of puzzle lovers. As our first game as a game studio, design, development and porting work was done entirely by Noble Steed Games. We’re proud to have demoed Duped at PAX 2017!
Dev Notes:
Reuben: I love science fiction, so exploring that in a very easy to approach package was definitely at the forefront of my mind when making this game.
I remember having a lot of conversations with Daum (one of the original Studios cofounders) about cloning, and the ethical and moral implications of this technology, which almost certainly factored into the way this game was built. As you navigate through the world of Duped, you’d be forced to make copies of yourself to progress, sacrificing some to get ahead.
In terms of character design, the main character, a square, was kept simple. I added the blinking eye, helping to give it a little more personality, especially when it reacted to elements around it.
"Over 40 levels of physics-based puzzles that will happily pick your brains."
Gameranx
"A little cube in a really interesting plant filled world."
Jupiter Hadley
