u/Amitskii

I've been working on a solo game called Tidebound.
It's a hand-painted watercolor 2D platformer built around the idea that the protagonist's internal state changes the world around her.
Rather than treating the environment as a static backdrop, I'm designing the game so that things like:

• color
• movement
• gravity
• music
• particles
• platforms
• and eventually traversal rules

can change as the protagonist moves through the world.
I'm aiming for a painterly, atmospheric experience with very little visual UI and a continuous world rather than traditional stage transitions.
I'm building it solo and I'm currently figuring out the visual direction and environment pipeline. These are five of the first environments I've created.
I'm particularly interested in whether the visual language communicates the idea of a world that can fundamentally change around the player.

Tidebound ... The world changes with you.

I've been diagnosed with Bipolar 2, and I've been trying to turn my experience with bipolar disorder into a world people can actually walk through and feel...
I've been thinking about this for about a year. One of the hardest things I've found is explaining what bipolar disorder actually feels like. Saying "I'm depressed" or "I'm hypomanic" doesn't really communicate my experience... People often look confused when I try to explain it

Sometimes it feels like the world itself has changed. The same room can feel different. Colors feel different. Time feels different. Relationships feel different. Even the amount of energy required to simply exist can feel completely different...

I've always wanted to make games and art, and eventually I thought- What if I stopped trying to explain this with words?
What if I made a world that changed instead?
That's where this game (Tidebound) came from.

It's a 2D watercolor platformer where the protagonist's state affects the world around her. The colors change. Movement changes. Music changes. Platforms behave differently. Things the player created earlier can return later as faded memories. Eventually, different states begin to coexist
I've been working toward this idea for a long time, and these are some of the first environments I've created. I'm still very far from having a finished game. I'm not even sure yet if I'll be able to build everything I imagine. Sometimes I get incredibly driven and create a lot... other times I don't touch the project for months.

But seeing these images felt strangely emotional. For once, something that mostly existed in my head exists somewhere outside of it. I don't want to claim this is what bipolar disorder looks like for everyone. It's my attempt to make my experience tangible.

If you live with bipolar disorder, does any part of this resonate with you? Is there anything you'd want me to explore in the game?

I've been diagnosed with Bipolar 2, and I've been trying to turn my experience with bipolar disorder into a world people can actually walk through and feel...
I've been thinking about this for about a year. One of the hardest things I've found is explaining what bipolar disorder actually feels like. Saying "I'm depressed" or "I'm hypomanic" doesn't really communicate my experience... People often look confused when I try to explain it

Sometimes it feels like the world itself has changed. The same room can feel different. Colors feel different. Time feels different. Relationships feel different. Even the amount of energy required to simply exist can feel completely different...

I've always wanted to make games and art, and eventually I thought- What if I stopped trying to explain this with words?
What if I made a world that changed instead?
That's where this game (Tidebound) came from.

It's a 2D watercolor platformer where the protagonist's state affects the world around her. The colors change. Movement changes. Music changes. Platforms behave differently. Things the player created earlier can return later as faded memories. Eventually, different states begin to coexist
I've been working toward this idea for a long time, and these are some of the first environments I've created. I'm still very far from having a finished game. I'm not even sure yet if I'll be able to build everything I imagine. Sometimes I get incredibly driven and create a lot... other times I don't touch the project for months.

But seeing these images felt strangely emotional. For once, something that mostly existed in my head exists somewhere outside of it. I don't want to claim this is what bipolar disorder looks like for everyone. It's my attempt to make my experience tangible.

If you live with bipolar disorder, does any part of this resonate with you? Is there anything you'd want me to explore in the game?