Every game starts somewhere. For HAND IN HAND, it started with two friends hanging out in Discord, trying to figure out what game to play next.
My buddy Kevin and I have spent countless hours playing cooperative games together. We've put a ridiculous amount of time into games like Exile, the Arma mod, and Valheim. We've always enjoyed games where we can work together, build something, and see what happens along the way.
One evening, we were doing what we've done plenty of times before: browsing Steam, watching YouTube videos, and looking for our next cooperative game.
We wanted something different this time.
We both enjoy building and management games, and the idea of building a city together sounded like a lot of fun. The problem was that we couldn't find a city builder that offered the kind of straightforward cooperative experience we were looking for.
We didn't want to compete against each other. We didn't want separate cities running side by side.
We wanted to build the same city. Together.
That got me thinking about RollerCoaster Tycoon and how the community had managed to bring multiplayer to a game that was originally designed for a single player.
If people could make that work, why couldn't we have something similar for a city builder?
And then the thought occurred to me:
Maybe I could just build one.
At that point, there wasn't some elaborate design document or a huge list of features. There was just one simple idea:
Build a city simulation where at least two people could connect to the same game, share everything, and build a city together in real time.
The initial concept eventually expanded to support up to four players, all cooperating in the same region, sharing the city's finances, infrastructure, and responsibilities.
No separate municipalities. No competing economies. Just a group of friends working together to build something.
That was the original vision for HAND IN HAND.
Of course, having an idea for a cooperative city builder and actually making one are two very different things.
But that's where this whole project began.
And as you'll see in the coming devlogs, the game didn't stay quite that simple.