YinYangYou is a game of equilibrium — or, more precisely, the deliberate and competitive disruption of universal equilibrium.
The game features the personification — or demonisation — of the element of Yin and the element of Yang, of dark and light; female and male; shadow and illumination. A player, taking on one perspective, endeavors to bring the world — a floating island in space depicting the classical Taoist symbol — out of equipoise and into a state of domination. When complete dominance is achieved, the usurper is victorious. Thus the game cycles.
Team Be
Team Be was a spontaneous formation of students and ex-students flung together by the Next Level Dundee event held in 2009 in Dundee. The core game was completed in an intensive 7 days. All its members were energised to make something unique and enjoyable and their multifarious ideas smoothly coalesced into the game YinYangYou.
The team comprised of a strong pentagon of skills: 2d and 3d art, audio, and two programmers. Daniel Sweeny, Jane Carver, Tom de Majo, Hazel McKendrick and William Blake, respectively.
Technology
The game was designed using Microsoft XNA, which makes it ideal for playing with an Xbox controller pad. The game currently is in PC format but may yet be ported to Xbox by its Xbox Live Marketplace.
NEoN
The game was presented in the NEoN event, as part of the Dundee digital arts festival, in November 2009.
Dundee Winter Light Night
The game later went on to its major viewing at the Dundee Winter Light Night festival, held in the city centre later in November 2009.
YinYangYou was seen in a whole new light when it was projected, six metres across, on the city centre's pavement.
See the video here.
See Hazel's blog below for developmental information and a good video showcase of the game in its various stages.