Mechtanglement

Core Gameplay:

Each player must sync their inputs with the other within a small timeframe. There's a small level players must navigate while destroying alien invaders.

How to Play:

Player 1:

Move Forward/Back: W / S

Look Left/Right: A / D

Look Up/Down: Left Shift / Left Alt

Shoot: Q

Punch: E

Player 2:

Move Forward/Back: Up Arrow / Down Arrow

Look Left/Right: Left Arrow / Right Arrow

Look Up/Down: Right Shift / Right Alt

Shoot: P

Punch: O

Reflection:

While the enemy AI is barely functional, I think that it still provides enough tension and motivation to be representative of the core loop we envisioned. 

I think we answered our original question, it's fun to work with a friend to sync your inputs to control something. I'm not sure it's inherently engaging, but adding even a little tension like the vague threat of death we have in the demo seems to be enough to elevate the whole thing.

Fundamentally, I'd like to see it in online coop, rather than just local. But I think the core idea is good as-is.

The next step I would take would be to nuke all the code and most of the assets and redo it from scratch. We did no planning, so the codebase is a mess, the assets are unoptimized, and there are so many interleaved parts debugging is a nightmare. I'd also make the cockpit screen a shader effect rather than multiple cameras outputting to render textures.