After You

An asynchronous cooperative Android puzzle game. Catch something your friend threw yesterday.

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After You

Catch something your friend threw yesterday.

After You is an asynchronous cooperative Android puzzle game. Made for people who live apart but love close together in heart.

Inspiration

I have a lot of friends in different timezones and I wanted to be able to show that I care about them without being glued to my phone, so I made After You. It has a really unique mechanic equivalent to messaging but for video games. Both players don't have to be online to play the game, but the replays are together.

Playing the Conservatory with a friend Playing the Conservatory level with a friend

What it does

It is an Android game that is played by two people at different times. You send your turn and then close the app. Your friend can send theirs hours, or days later. Then you can watch the replay with both runs coexisting together.

A replay is a mini recording of actions and checkpoints, not a video. The puzzle simulation is performed on the phone. The server will take care of the handoff between players, so they don't need to keep the game open together.

Home Screen With All 50 Collectibles Home Screen With All 50 Collectibles

How I built it

  • I used Godot and GDScript for the game, and Kotlin for the native Android integrations.
  • RevenueCat manages the Full Journey purchase and restore via Google Play Billing.
  • The backend is built with TypeScript, Cloudflare Workers and Durable Objects.
  • Optional turn notifications use Firebase Cloud Messaging.

The code is on GitHub.

Full Journey Purchase Screen | Fulfilled Using RevenueCat Full Journey Purchase Screen | Fulfilled Using RevenueCat

What I learned

I learned what goes into making an engaging game. My later levels were so much better than my previous ones that I archived the older ones and put them under "Earlier Islands" I also underestimated the importance of navigation and small quality of life things. The Friends page, room sharing, loading the replay, progress bars and photo frames were all changed. These were minor things, but they added up to making the game easier to use and feel more polished.

Challenges

The biggest challenge I faced was obviously the emergency surgery. I couldn't predict that at all. Even without the surgery, I was already finding it really difficult to get an intuitive understanding for how to develop the levels to be engaging. I only figured it out through trial and error, but add that on top and it was something else.

The UI went through so many changes. I had to delete and remake these screenshots so many times. I really like the latest revamp of the friends and hosting menus, they seem very well polished to me now. The navigation was changed so much too. I tested the app with my friends and almost every time I found out that something could have been done or shown in a simpler way.

You don't really notice what's wrong or not obvious in your app when you've been looking at it for so long. That's why you test with friends! And if it's a game, it's fun too!

New Polished UI New Polished UI

Next steps

I want to add more complex levels, maybe even add more than just two players. I want to see what parts of the game people enjoy the most and what parts of the game people have problems with and target those accordingly.

My friends also suggested a more chaotic mode to rival the peaceful nature of After You. I've also been thinking about adding free and paid user skins as well as hints on levels.

A server browser (so you can meet new friends) and chat are on my mind too.

Word of Advice

I strongly recommend making your own unique ideas. It just feels more rewarding even if it's harder. As far as I know, no game has the mechanic that After You has and that makes it feel so much more personal to me.

It reminds me of this quote:

“To go wrong in one's own way is better than to go right in someone else's.” ― Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment

Thank you, and I hope After You brings you closer with your friends!

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