The Company of Myself

"The Company of Myself"
Author:	FreeAsANerd luka
Audio used:	N/A
Origin:	11/22/2009
Size:	3.2 MB
Score (As of 26 September, 2010):	4.46/5.00
Awards:	Daily Feature Weekly Second
Author's comments:
Hey everyone, here's a game for you. It's a moody little puzzle game about a hermit that expands on the mechanic seen in games like Cursor*10 and Chronotron. Bonus points go to Luka Marcetic, who handled the art, and David Carney, who wrote the music. Don't forget: If you mess up, push R to reset the level. P or Escape to pause-Volume controls are in pause menu.
Note	This information only refers to the official release on the Flash Portal.

The Company of Myself is a flash game by FreeAsANerd. It is an artistic take on the puzzle platforming genre.

Story

The Company of Myself is told by an unnamed protagonist. He explains how he lives on his own as a hermit. Once, he had the passions of acting and a girl called Kathryn, but now he can only rely upon himself during day to day struggles. The game's various levels provide lines of dialogue and metaphors for the player. The protagonist is very good at fending for himself, but it is difficult. One day, he had discovered a girl called Kathryn, whom he made a team with. Together, they could solve all of their problems, and they became dependent upon each other. However, he eventually betrayed her, and he went on as a hermit.

At this point, the tone becomes more frantic, as he asks his audience to not leave him. The game then ends with an epilogue movie. Apparently, the hermit's name is Jack, and he's been visited by a psycho analyst for eight years. However, he doesn't remember any of it. During that time, he's been in solitary confinement in a hospital. The reason that he feels like he betrayed Kathryn is because he murdered her and buried her in a green box. The epilogue concludes by stating that Jack will probably never recover from his mental illness or be capable of living a normal life.

Design

The Company of Myself is an entirely linear game. After the intro is a set of twenty levels, which must be played in order. The goal of each level is to reach the green box, the meaning of which is described in the final cutscene. Afterwards, there is an epilogue movie.

Gameplay

The Company of Myself uses fairly standard controls for a 2D platformer. The arrow keys are used to control movement and the A key interacts with the environment. The spacebar is used to spawn at the start of a level, allowing shadows of oneself to move in their predetermined paths. The R key restarts the level entirely, and the Escape and P keys can be used to pause the game and adjust the volume.

Presentation

luka, the artist for The Company of Myself, uses fairly simple graphics for a 2009 Flash game. Platforms look largely identical, and a single background is used. Shadows are shown as black outlines of the playable character. There are no sound effects, but a musical score by David Carney is included.

Reception

The Company of Myself has been a critical hit on Newgrounds. As of September 2010, it has just under half a million views and an average review of 9.7/10, in addition to its Daily Feature and Weekly 2nd Awards. It is also featured in the Flash Portal History collection.

Play it here