How we designed Hexfall co-op

At the heart of Hexfall is a single idea: two players look at the same board but see different things. Here we explain how we reached that idea — and how we almost cut it.

Why the first prototype failed

In our first attempt both players saw everything. The result: one player found the solution while the other just watched. It wasn’t co-op; it was “one plays, one spectates”.

Good co-op should make both players indispensable.— From the design notebook

Splitting the information

The fix was to distribute information asymmetrically: one player sees the glyphs but not the path; the other sees the path but not the glyphs. Now no step can be taken without talking.

• Glyph player: sees symbols and rules
• Path player: sees passable tiles
• Both: see the shared goal but can’t solve it alone

Our favourite moment in playtests was when players invented their own “language”: instead of “the star top-left”, it became “the bright one in your corner”. That’s the moment we’re designing for.

Hexfall is in closed beta now. If you’d like to join, check the #hexfall-beta channel on Discord.