SEASON 01 // CHARACTER REVEAL
TAY-K
The image runs. The person waits. The footage loops. The avatar projects.
ONLYHANDS is an original fighting game where artists become characters, and fights turn on timing, positioning and momentum — no life bar, no timer.
- ● Past // 2017 // Running
- ■ Present // 2026 // Waiting
- ○ Future // Imagined // Projected
02 // BEFORE WE MOVE ON // OUR POSITION
The easy version is the 2017 image. We’re not making it.
ONLYHANDS turns the real characters culture creates into fighters. With Tay-K, the obvious move is to sell the running image. We build the avatar instead, projected from the waiting state, with the record in the frame the whole time.
The easy version: the running image, sold as is.
What we build: the avatar, with the record attached.
CONDONE: FALSE // CONDEMN: FALSE // VERDICT: OPEN
03 // THE CHARACTER
An image can travel everywhere and still hold its subject in place.
The past image is still running. The present person is waiting. The imagined future becomes projected.
ONLYHANDS makes that fracture something the player can inhabit. A new self matters only through the choices it makes.
- The image repeats.
- The person keeps aging.
- The future remains a question.
04 // THE FORMS
One person. Three states. Three forms.
Each form fights differently, and each one pays for it.
The 2017 image, still running. The fastest of the three, but his speed never gets him anywhere new.
- Fights
- Up close and fast. Dashes leave afterimages he can jump back to. Every jump back puts him where he started.
- Anchor
- The ankle band (severed)
- Cost
- Speed loops in place
Silhouette
- Hood
- The look people recognize.
- Trace seams
- Lines that show his speed.
- Marks
- Tally marks counting time.
- Band + soles
- Lit-up sneakers next to the ankle band.
05 // THE GAUGE // HOW FAR THE THREE STATES DRIFT APART
In a match, all three states run at once. The game measures how far apart they drift, and shows it to everyone watching. Drag to desync.
The real body and image occupy the same space. Neutral defense, clinical patience.
The image goes everywhere. The consequence lands on the body.
06 // THE WORLD
Sector 04: municipal feed intercept.
At 0% desync: a neon arena at full production, a packed crowd behind the chain-link, jumbotrons looping the familiar image.
At 100%: the jumbotrons drop the match feed and cut to black-and-white ceiling cameras tracking his stationary body. The crowd goes dark.
The test: the finished double steps into the arena and the crowd rises. Perform the past, or refuse it. Either way, hard cut back to the cell. Neither choice grants escape.
The further the avatar projects, the more the feed shows the waiting body.
07 // THE BUILD
From the waiting state, he builds a self that can project.
01 // LikenessHis face, scanned from the 2017 image.
02 // FrameA synthetic body that doesn’t have to wait.
03 // SystemsWiring for reach: sight, steering, signal.
04 // HapticThe avatar, ready to project.
The avatar projects anywhere. The person still waits. We’re building his avatar while the story imagines him building one.
// END_OF_PLAYBACK
Every shard is still running. He waits in the middle.
Every shard is a version people have already seen: the hoodie, the stage, the crowd, the run. Each one keeps playing. The figure at the center is held in chains.
