Where You Plant Your Trees

This is a game about growing up and losing touch. It is about the loneliness of distance coupled with the excitement of a life chosen by you, or possibly the frustration of a life chosen for you. 

Two childhood friends reconnect after their lives have taken them in different directions. Can they still find common ground? Will they bridge their distance through letter writing alone? Do they long for the path the other has taken? Or is there comfort where they planted their trees? Who or what keeps them rooted to that spot?

The players write letters as The Transplanted (the one who moved away) and the Deep-Rooted (the one who stayed). 

Notes from Cole:

I have spent a great deal of my life moving from house to house. 

I lived in Japan for just over 7 years, and currently I am living in Michigan, far, far away from any of my friends. As a person over 30, putting down roots in a new place has tough. I miss my childhood friends still living in Chicago, and I miss the amazing friends I made in Japan. Distance has taken its toll on those relationships, and yet, when we see each other, it is as if no time has passed at all. 

I wanted to make a game that reflects the  painful and complicated, but also simple and comforting feelings that being apart from those closest to you out of choice brings. 

Why do we choose to live so far apart? What keeps us living where we are? What takes one person hundred of miles away and roots another person to the spot they grew up? 

The structure of this game is inspired by Annie!'s Beyond Reach and Blind Devotion. As always, feedback is welcome.