The language which I used for describing Inconsiderate Climbers (https://droqen.itch.io/inconsiderate-climbers) was very . . . mechanical, as is the way of many videogame genres. I didn't say it was about the feeling of cohabitation, no, I described it in relation to cooperative and competitive games. "You're not allies or enemies," I wrote, in effect saying 'You're not playing a cooperative or competitive game'. You're "individuals with conflicting goals."
How I described it is a reflection of how I felt about it. I thought that was the best way to describe it. Thinking about this now I'd like to look at it through the lens of feeling. How did it feel?
I did dabble with a game which was literally about cohabitation before arriving at Inconsiderate Climbers' present-day design. That is, it tried to simulate cohabitation. By the time I had moved away from the literal simulation I thought I had, also, to give up the feeling of it. I was wrong.
. . . Its original name was "Different Towers." I liked that name. I wonder if it had deeper feeling.
So. The deep feeling of 'cohabitation'. That word doesn't capture it -- the friction, the joy, the familiarity, the sloth.
"What it's like to live together."