Relay garden: investigating movement with REA, then adding original art

[TheDesignFounder]

I put together Relay garden, a small browser game where you collect six
energy cells, avoid the drones, and return to the dock before your battery runs
out.

relay-garden-gameplay-github-1080p.mp4

Play the game ·
Read how it was made ·
Get the source

We started with one question: does moving diagonally make the player faster?

REA helped us find the movement code in a small JavaScript reference we wrote.
Reading the function showed that full diagonal and straight input cover the same
distance, away from the edges of the game world. We then checked a separate
implementation against the reference across 2,000 test inputs, and the
results matched.

We created the courtyard and matching game objects using Dreamlayer. You can switch
between Artwork and Geometry while playing: the look changes, but your
position, progress and game rules stay the same.

We wrote the reference for this example, so we knew its code before using REA.
The walkthrough includes the steps to repeat the investigation and explains
where REA's analysis was incomplete.

I'd be interested to hear what other small game mechanics would make useful REA
examples.