Jay Gavarra, Game Designer
You take the role of the man who lives on the other side of the cliff. With no other way to reach the woman on the other side, he is, for a long time, content with just staring at the house where she lives. But one day a strange letter appears on his doorstep, a letter with nothing on it but a doodle of the two houses on each side of the cliff. A short instruction is written at the bottom: "Find the words, and the bridge will follow."
The concept title screen gives you a hint at your current progress. More letters/words will appear whenever you completely chart a new landmass.
The idea revolves around pure exploration in a 2D platforming world, inspired by the explorers of the New World and, strangely enough, my obsession with completing maps in games like Castlevania. In The Bridge, your goal is to map all the land in the game world. This would sound simple enough, but here's the catch: the words themselves are the platforms. To read the message you received and reach the girl on the other side, you must chart the entire world one letter at a time.
The House, the Letters, and the Map
I'm thinking the challenge of charting the entirety of the world is enough. The usual platforming goals like finding the exit or collecting a number of items can be eschewed for the simplicity of just exploring your surroundings. And since each letter/character is a landmass or a platform, the goal is 'refined' to just completing each letter. The in-game map shows how much of a letter or a word is revealed, marking those that are completed and reminding you of uncharted ones. It's now up to you how you chart every corner of the platform/letter by any means necessary.
Left: Some letters are so enormous, they seem like a small island with a life of its own. Right: Sample sketch of the charted area of the letter. Chart the entire 'island' to get the letter and build the bridge.
After a good amount of exploration, you can return to your home and draw the explored areas on the letter --all completed letters will form a part of the bridge. This is also the only save point in the game; everything starts and ends here. If you are far from home, you can teleport back home to save yourself from backtracking.
But here's another twist: each time you return changes your location randomly in the map-open the door and you will discover another uncharted area, compelling you to explore further.
They Meet At Last
When you complete the game, mapped the letters, and discover its secrets, the words will complete bridge from your house to hers. As you tread through the words one last time, the cliff that once held you and the woman apart for so long slowly fades away. The game ends with a simple greeting and a sigh of relief; the cliff is now defeated and a new life begins.
