Lost Twins 2 News

We’re thrilled to announce that the brand-new co-op demo is officially live on Steam! 🥳

This update brings an exciting new way to experience the world — not just solo, but side-by-side with a friend. This demo is designed to showcase the power of collaboration, puzzle-solving, and shared discovery.

🤝 Full Co-Op Gameplay
Join forces with a friend and tackle levels together. Each player has unique abilities — and you'll need to combine them to progress. Communication and teamwork are key!



🧠 Co-Op Puzzles
Experience brand-new puzzles that are designed specifically for two players. These challenges go beyond what’s possible in single-player and open up creative problem-solving in fun, unexpected ways.




🌄 Expanded World Preview
Explore additional handcrafted environments in this demo — from lush forests to mysterious toy ruins — each brimming with interactive elements and secrets to uncover together.



Grab a friend and get ready to embark on a cooperative journey like no other.

Best regards,
Playdew Team

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1752540/Lost_Twins_II/

🎮 Couch Co-Op is Here – We Need Your Feedback! 🛋️👾



Our game now features Single Player AND Couch Co-Op! With this exciting new addition, we’d love to hear what you think. Your feedback will help us fine-tune the experience for both solo and co-op players!

💬 Feedback Form
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSezHQDbuj-EujYgcFc8etaTv2gtM3PSxFQ_OjII2X7xyaS01Q/viewform?usp=header

🐞 Bug Report: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdcPdJPHQfxUS9fmb74VqkXefaHe2d3QZAArL86wRv63-k7YQ/viewform?usp=header

We have also made a discussion thread for sharing feedback.
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1752540/discussions/0/591764421283493598/

Your input is super valuable—thanks for helping us make the game even better! 🙌

Hi guys!

Welcome to another devlog. Today, we’re diving into the creative process behind the UI animations of our game. Our goal was to make the UI feel organic, engaging, and visually unique, aligning with the game’s hand-drawn aesthetic. To achieve this, we designed UI animations that give players the sensation that each button and UI element is being "sketched" into existence.

The Vision: Wisp-Inspired Animation for UI Elements
Our concept for the UI animations was simple yet effective: create smooth, fluid animations where each UI element appears as if it’s drawn by a wisp (which is the main element of our game), gradually revealing itself in an elegant, hand-sketched manner. The goal was to avoid overwhelming players with excessive motion but instead offer a subtle and pleasant visual experience that enhances the UI without cluttering it.

The Tools: Spine for Animation
To bring this vision to life, we used Spine—a powerful 2D animation tool that’s perfect for creating smooth, dynamic animations for games. Using Spine, we created each UI button animation by utilizing a combination of bones and path setups to create the fluid motion of the wisp drawing the UI element.

Here’s a breakdown of how we achieved the desired effect:

1. Wisp Motion Path Setup
Each button’s animation starts with the wisp moving along a defined path. We carefully designed these motion paths to be smooth, curving gently to reflect the natural flow of the "drawing" process. The wisp follows these paths, simulating the motion of a hand sketching the button into existence. This gave the appearance that the button was slowly coming to life from thin air, adding an ethereal, dynamic touch to the UI.

2. Bones for UI element Reveal
Once the wisp finishes its motion, the UI element itself starts to form. The final element is revealed by manipulating bones in Spine, allowing us to scale the button from 0% to 100% in size. The bones system lets us control each individual part of the UI element so they can appear in perfect harmony. The scaling transition adds an extra layer of smoothness, and the gradual reveal feels very natural and organic.

3. Smooth Transitions and Timing
To maintain fluidity and smoothness in our animations, we paid close attention to the timing and easing of each motion. Rather than abrupt starts and stops, we used easing functions to ensure the wisp’s movement and button scaling felt gradual, enhancing the hand-drawn aesthetic without feeling jarring. The elements don’t pop into existence; they unfold with a sense of grace, fitting perfectly into the game’s overall visual style.

4. Final Touches with Image Sequences
After finalizing the animations in Spine, we exported the UI animations as image sequences. This allowed us to have control over each frame of the animation, ensuring that the wisp and the UI elements were rendered precisely as envisioned. The image sequences are efficient for integration into the game, while also preserving the quality and smoothness of the hand-drawn aesthetic during runtime.

One of the key challenges we faced was ensuring that the animations didn’t overwhelm the player. We didn’t want the UI to feel like it was constantly moving or distracting. Instead, the animations serve as an immersive introduction to each UI element, allowing the player to enjoy the process without it taking focus away from gameplay. The wisp's motion is subtle, and the elements grow into place in a way that feels seamless and non-invasive.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

In the end, our goal was to make the UI not only functional but a part of the visual storytelling. By using wisp-inspired animations, Spine's bone-based animation system, and image sequence exports, we created UI elements that feel alive and connected to subtle nature of the game. These animations enhance the user experience, making the game world feel more immersive and visually cohesive.

Stay tuned for more updates as we continue to refine the visuals and animations for our game!

Best regards,
Playdew Team

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1752540/Lost_Twins_II/

Hey Adventurers!
We're back with another exciting devlog! This time, we’re diving deep into the dynamic audio implementation for an interactive element—the Collapsible Gate. Get ready to explore how sound enhances immersion and gameplay!

How the Collapsible Gate Works
The Collapsible Gate is designed as a dynamic obstacle that blocks the player's path until they interact with a button. When the gate is closed, only debris remains on the ground, representing the collapsed structure. Once the gate is opened, the debris reverses its motion, seemingly reconstructing itself into an energy force field that maintains the active state of the gate. Players must press the button to collapse the gate, clearing their way forward.

The Audio Challenge
To create a compelling and immersive experience, we needed to craft an audio system that responded dynamically to the player’s interaction. The challenge was to seamlessly integrate two key sound elements:

1. Debris movement (falling and reversing to its original state)
   
2. Force field activation and deactivation
   

Our talented sound engineer meticulously designed sound effects for the debris and force field, ensuring a realistic and impactful auditory experience. However, we aimed for more than just great sound—we wanted real-time responsiveness, making audio a living part of the gameplay.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Making the Audio Dynamic
To achieve this, we developed a value-based system through programming logic that dynamically adjusts sound effects depending on how the player interacts with the button. The button press state determines which sounds play and when.

1. Quick Button Tap (Minimal Interaction):
If the player briefly steps on the button (e.g., just passing over it), the press value moves from 0 to around 0.3.
In this case, we only play the force field deactivating sound, followed by a subtle force field reactivation as the button resets to its default state.
The debris collapse sound does not play, since the gate does not fully deactivate.


2. Full Button Press (Gate Fully Collapses):
If the player stands on the button or places an object on it, the press value reaches 1.0.
The force field fully deactivates, and after a calculated delay, the debris collapse sound plays, syncing perfectly with the animation of debris hitting the ground.
This approach ensures that the audio matches the visual representation of the collapsing gate, creating a seamless experience.


3. Quick Re-entry (Button Press Interrupted):
If the player steps off the button and quickly steps back on, the press value moves from 1.0 to around 0.7.
Instead of replaying the full collapse sequence, the system plays only the force field activation followed by deactivation sound, skipping the debris reverse.
This prevents audio clutter and maintains a natural flow, avoiding unnecessary repetition of sounds.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Why This Approach Works
By implementing a value-based dependency system, we ensure that the Collapsible Gate's audio adapts fluidly to player interaction. This provides us with several advantages:

• Increased flexibility – If we adjust the speed of the gate’s activation or deactivation during development, the audio system adapts automatically without requiring changes from the sound engineer.
  
• More natural audio transitions – Sound effects are no longer rigidly tied to fixed animations but instead respond to real-time player actions.
  
• Optimized performance – By eliminating redundant audio triggers, we reduce unnecessary processing overhead, ensuring smooth performance.

Thank you for your continued support! We’re excited to keep pushing the boundaries of immersive gameplay. Stay tuned for more updates, and don’t forget to follow us on social media!
See you in the next Devlog!

Best Regards,
The Playdew Team

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1752540/Lost_Twins_II/

Hey everyone, and welcome to this week’s devlog! Today, we’re diving into the process of creating swimming animations for Ben. Since our previous animations were focused on ground movement and jumping, adding underwater mechanics brought forward animations for swimming for the characters.

For our water levels, we needed to create swimming animations that felt smooth and natural. Since this was our first time animating underwater movement, we started by gathering references of real swimming motions to ensure accuracy.

Ben and Abi were rigged in Spine 2D using bones and IK controls, allowing for flexible movement. We created four main swimming animations:

• Swim Idle – The character treads water in place.
  
• Swim on Water Surface – A movement animation for floating and swimming at the top of the water.
  
• Swim Underwater – A deeper swimming motion for submerged movement.
  
• Pushing a Box in Water – A unique animation for interacting with objects underwater.
  

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Each animation was designed in loops, using different frame sizes to maintain fluidity while keeping the maximum frame size under 100.

One of the biggest challenges was ensuring a seamless transition when the character jumped into the water. Initially, we noticed a slight jerk when switching from a running pose to a swimming pose. We resolved this by using Unity’s animation mixing feature to create a smoother blend between the animations.

Aligning the character’s hands with the box edges was another tricky task. The arm and hand positions needed to match the box’s movement precisely. To solve this, we repeatedly tested the animation, taking screenshots of the box in Unity and importing them into Spine. This allowed us to fine-tune the arm rotation and positioning for a more natural interaction.

Since our past animations focused only on ground and air movement, implementing swimming mechanics was an exciting new challenge. Through careful planning, testing, and iteration, we successfully brought Ben and Abi’s underwater animations to life. We can't wait for players to experience them in action!

Thanks for following along, and stay tuned for more updates!

Best regards,
Playdew Team

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1752540/Lost_Twins_II/