Gutterspace

Gutterspace is a hand-drawn, local co-op game where you and a friend share control of a two-headed skeleton named Tittle and Dot. Every jump, every ability, every movement is split between two players. Stay in sync and you’ll move fluidly, even gaining bonuses. Drift apart, and the body stumbles.

The world you’re exploring is built from poetry. Some of it James wrote as a kid, wrestling with hidden identity, loss, and a sharp self-awareness. Some of it Tom wrote much later, in the long process of healing from war, family rupture, and everything unresolved. Each poem becomes a dreamlike level, and every word turns into a wisp you can collect. Complete a poem, and you’ll unlock a strange ally. A summonable characters that grant special abilities and give you a break from sharing one body.

This is a game about Communication, dreams, lost feels, and embracing weirdness. A dreamscape stitched together with poetry.  

The Team
We’re Tom and James Smockborg, a husband-and-husband indie duo from Massachusetts.

• James is a mixed media artist with a background in commissioned work in Seattle. They have a synesthesia gift for translating feeling into hue and texture. Every frame of Gutterspace is hand-drawn by them, carrying that emotional resonance into the game’s world. 
• Tom is the programmer, with two decades of experience. He’s worked at Amazon on the mobile shopping app, released mobile games on iOS, and consulted for companies across the Midwest. 

Together, we wrote the poetry that drives the game, blending two voices and two histories into one strange, luminous whole.

Made with love and real trauma.

Therapy Market Potential
Although Gutterspace is first and foremost a co-op adventure, its mechanics align closely with therapeutic models of coordination, rupture, and repair. Two players literally share control of one body, surfacing dynamics of timing, communication, and frustration tolerance in a playful, low-stakes setting.

For clinics and training programs, games like this could become a scalable adjunctive tool. Therapists already pay annually for specialized platforms above the price point of an entertainment title.

If you are a therapist, educator, or investor curious about this dimension of the project, we’d love to hear from you!