Greenhouse have posted up the PC demo of Jonathan Blow’s time-fiddling, award-winning platformer, Braid. It’s 120mb and contains a sizeable chunk of the game, with an option to unlock the full thing in exchange for $15. And, well, it’s pretty damn good. (It even automagically detects 360 controllers being plugged in mid-game.) Thanks to Aaron for the tip. We’ll be talking at greater length about Braid next week.
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You can probably do that to Portal too. For most people, Braid’s about the length of Portal. If you’re not one of those people, well done, you’re very good. But you’re not normal.
KG
It’ll take you a lot longer than a few hours if you want to get all eight stars.
@ Lambchops
I shall have to see if I can find those Professor Fizzwizzle games then, as I do like a good puzzle platformer myself.
As for Braid I really enjoyed it. The story kind of went over my head a bit, but it was still an enjoyable read. I guess I must be a bit of a thicky though as I had to check the internet to get past a couple of bits, especially that bit at the end of world 2. I probably would have figured it out had I accidentally landed on the platform at some point, but as I kept jumping past it I didn’t even recognise it as being a bit of platform. I was a little bit annoyed by that one actually, as I thought was a bit spurious when compared to the other time bending puzzles.
The Fizzwizzle games are enjoyable (both the original and the molten expansion, the pinball one ehhhhh) but they barely hold a candle to my favorite of the Turn Based / Logic Step Puzzle Genre DROD. Check out the Architect’s edition if you want a full free (and rather old, but still excellent gameplay wise) game or check out the demos of some of the newer stuff (as well as a take on Tower of the Sorceror – DROD RPG) if you like. Great for optimizers as well as creators of levels and it doesn’t get much more independent that Caravel Games.
Speaking of Braid, this PC version FAR exceeds any expectations I originally had, though it didn’t work on one of the 5 boxes I thew the demo on (Radeon X850 VGA with a black screen but the words of the game show up. odd). I kept waiting for the demo to end and saw a LOT more than the 360 demo shared. Nice work showing off the full range of the game this way. Then I checked out the readme. Level Editor? Languages? Full Mod Support? Keeping Speed Runs? Ability to reduce frame rate and post processing effects or music? All of this is phenomenal and much more than I was thinking would be there.
I can’t wait to see what the community can come up with. I know Mr. Blow felt the game was complete in itself and, without getting into intellectual or some pseudo-solipsistic claptrap, I think the game is pretty much dead on complete and I loved the story. Anything that tries to make me Think I am a fan of. I’m also a sucker for editors and community based work though (some of the most inspired work comes from the most indie of all indie devs, the modders) and I’m grateful that Braid can live on for more than just it’s sound, art design and story.
Excellent Work, Mr. Blow. Good Show.
Woke up to find Braid finally up on Steam. Love the game, very clever puzzles and gorgeous music and visuals.
My only complaint would be the writing, which is plain bizarre. At times it reads like wonkily translated Japanese – is that deliberate? One particular favourite example thus far has to be:
“Immediately Tim walked out his door, the next morning, towards whatever the new day held.”
Perhaps it’s supposed to be a sly comment on the malleable nature of time in the game, but the clumsy syntax makes it feel very clunky. As my passing girlfriend (who doesn’t play many games but reads a lot of books) mentioned, “computer game programmers shouldn’t try to write.”
I’m not sure why people are getting so heated about whether the game is ‘pretentious’ or not. It didn’t strike me as pretentious or intellectual, just a little clumsily written.
However, the amazing level design more than makes up for the writing, which is only a very minor part of the game anyway. Looking forward to playing more…my brain is hurting a bit now though, so I’m taking a break. :)
@Tarn:
So she’s only a short term girlfriend then? ;-)
Ah the English languages… so wonderfully vague and open to willful misinterpretation.
I am disappointed Blow didn’t end up doing a Mac port. I know he was actively trying to a do a linux port at one point, but that was abandoned.
The best thing about greenhouse is getting games from a single purchase that run on both my PC desktop and my Macbook.
Wow, so much rage.
I bought it on steam this morning.
Really enjoying it so far (world 4).
I laughed gleefully at a few points, much like the previous poster (way back up there somewhere amongst all the bile).
I’m not sure how I feel about the writing. I had read a lot about it and I was expecting something completely impenetrable, but so far it seems pretty transparent. Grammar-pedantry aside it seems pretty readable to me.
Its the content that puts me off a bit. Its just so earnest (the university social tightrope, the difficult family meal, she didn’t understand him etc. etc.) it makes me squirm a bit.
That said, imho its the opposite of pretentious. In fact its almost too honest! For instance, no matter how much the cliché might make you cringe, I’m sure that a lot of people genuinely find social acclimation after leaving their childhood home to be a bit of an angsty experience.
Although I think there is clearly no pretence, I personally would have preferred if the angst & earnestness was buried a bit. I would have liked a bit more obscurity actually.
That said, the gameplay is still exquisite! I’m enjoying it immensely.
Hmm I had thought the story actually told a story, but it seems to be random stuff. I found the situations a bit off putting as well, a bit angsty, “oh no university how harrowing!”, just strikes me as self-conscious.
But you can just ignore it. I still would have prefered if it all came together though, Portal had a brilliant story which actually drove me along.
Still got gaps to fill, ooh it’s annoying. Good gameplay, visuals very nice, I liked the sound effects warping etc.
Isn’t part of the point that the story comments on the guy’s angst and self-centredness, to the point where he doesn’t actually get what has happened because he’s staring at his own navel?
“It even automagically detects 360 controllers being plugged in mid-game.”
And yet doesn’t recognise non-360 joypads at all.
Fuck off, Braid.
Remember you can use programs like Xpadder to use a gamepad (my old ass Gravis Gamepad works great), but it is indeed a bit silly to not support a generic gamepad in the game itself.
The artstyle reminds me of PBF (http://pbfcomics.com/).
People put off by the writing in the demo stages should be assured that the self-indulgence actually serves a very specific purpose in how the plot develops.
Shortly after the demo ends, things twist violently into something very uncomfortable, and… let’s just say it *knows* the writing comes across as teenage Livejournal rambling, and that’s kind of the point.
Tim’s character is very complex.
The bit just after the demo ends?
I’m nearly complete in the house and I can’t think which bit you mean.
The XBox 360 controller is the generic PC gamepad.
Sorry to break the bad news.
“The XBox 360 controller is the generic PC gamepad” is a unfounded assumption that also happens to be wrong.
Sorry to break the bad news.
Good games sure do seem to bring out a lot of anger in people.
It would appear that some recent comments were deleted, so I will re-reply to Yutt’s post:
[No, this thread is not the Yutt-Cedge private battleground. Do shrug it off, both of you. - RPS]
@Meat Circus:
No, actually, it’s not. “De facto” does not equal “generic.” The fact that there is only one company making a proprietary, specifically branded “Xbox 360 controller for Windows” makes it specifically non-generic, by definition.
“Generic PC gamepad” actually refers to a specific standard plug-n-play driver and design that has existed for decades. Microsoft is pushing for the Xbox 360 controller to become the new standard gamepad for PC (through it’s inclusion in the Games for Windows standard), but this far from makes it the “generic PC gamepad.” Quite the opposite, in fact.
The system requirements has “TBD” for the minimum video card.
I think I found it.
http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/466/braid.jpg
The exciting adventures of time traveling cube man in color shifting cube world! Set to relaxing classical music!
For the record, despite looking like that it was actually running at 20 FPS, on my integrated intel chipset. “Cards below sm2.0 won’t be able to run it fast enough” my ass.
The game is beautiful and challenging. I really do think people need to quit the overblown proselytizing, though. Seeing as it’s an artistic experience, nobody else is going to necessarily get what you got from the game. Not that the shrill cries of “Pretentious!!1!” can’t go screw either. “Enforced mediocrity! Don’t make anything that aspires to anything higher than entertainment, my fragile feelings might get hurt!”
p.s. I’ve just got an onboard GeForce 7050, and the demo ran great.
So,
I watched Blow’s speech about game design (http://braid-game.com/news/?p=129) since I bought this game
and really enjoy it (have not finished it by a long shot, do not think it is revolutionary and some parts are annoying but world 4 is certainly worth the price of admission).
Since I could imagine other people here may do the the same (watch the speech as they have played part of the game), some words of warning.
After hearing Jonathan Blow talk, specifically about BioShock, I now feel conflicted about killing the ‘lionheads’. At least the pink bunnies attack you, it’s self defense. What’s up with those bunnies anyway, what have I ever done to them?
But I bet the lionheads feel exactly the same about me, there they are walking back and forth waiting for the day to end so they can go home and spend time with their kids (yes, Austin Powers henchmen reference), and here I am killing them off because I want a key or jump to a higher platform.
In some levels it is possible to get the puzzle pieces, then rewind all the way back undoing your murder spree,
and I would recommend every ethical person to do exactly that, no harm no foul? But on some levels this will undo getting the puzzle pieces, because the developers are clearly unethical when it comes to lionhead rights. (unless there goal was to make you think about why you as player are so obsessed with getting these pieces and not letting anything stand in your way to get them).
Mac Port: It’s working beautifully on Wine on my linux beast and I believe there are ports of wine available for the mac so try it on that.
@Teo
So Braid is nothing compared to quantum mechanics then?
@Tarn
“As my passing girlfriend (who doesn’t play many games but reads a lot of books) mentioned, “computer game programmers shouldn’t try to write.””
Tell your GF that nowdays games are made by a team of peple. The guy that write code could be different the one that draw stuff… normally is different. Nothing stops a game to have a writter, any writter with any skill level. Or to sumarize… tell your girlfriend that we are not at the 80’s anymore, where a single bedroom programer make a byzarre platform game. That has been different the last.. 20 years.
Damn, and I was hoping that I would have to derive the Hamiltonian for the level before I could solve the puzzles.
whalleywhat:
As I said before, you can be “non-mediocre,” without resorting to trite pretentiousness. Pretentiousness is an easy way to appear artistic, in my opinion. Braid is not pretentious because it is “non-mediocre.” It is pretentious, because it is pretentious.
@Tei:
I think you are misunderstanding her comment. I’m pretty sure she is quite aware that games are developed by teams these days. But in the case of Braid, the same guy who did the programming and level design, also did the writing. And while he is a good programmer, and a good designer, he is a terrible writer. Which is what I think she meant by her statement.
Braid was made by two people: one guy who did the programming, design, and writing, and one who did the graphics (the music was all pre-existing, and licensed; it was not made for the game).
Cedge: Apart from anything else, do you think that “pretentious” is a factual description of Braid? That’s how you come across, yet you haven’t really given much evidence for your judgment of the game.
@Tei
As Cedge points out, you’re presuming a level of ignorance on my part and my girlfriend’s part that isn’t the case. It’s also a little odd to talk about games being developed by huge teams in the context of Braid, which was developed by (I believe) 2 people.
Games where the team bother to hire actual writers for dialogue tend to come off a lot better. Then you’ve got the likes of Bethesda, who boast that their tech guys also write the quests and dialogue – which explains a lot.
You can have a team of 1 or a team of 100; it doesn’t mean there are any actual good writers included. :)
Anyway, I don’t want to get too fixated on the writing, because it’s such a minor part of Braid. The areas that matter – puzzles, level design, visuals, sound, atmosphere, controls – are all absolutely outstanding and great fun.
I’m finding some of the later puzzles exceedingly tricky. My favourite world has to be the one with the slow-down ring. Love the way that works. :)
Oh jeez, is this discussion still going on?
@Tei: We’re not talking about God of War or another big title developed by a team of 100. We’re talking about Braid. And as far as I know, Jonathan Blow is both programmer and writer on *that*. Which means that Tam (’s girlfriend’s) comment was applicable.
@eyemessiah decide for yourself
I didn’t read any hype, and just from playing the demo four times, I think I’m in love. Now if I can just manipulate events to produce money, I’ll be able to smother myself in Braid and laugh and be walked in upon.
I was really excited about the writing, actually. I somethings think that some people aren’t even qualified to judge the quality of things at all.
@Cedge: Then I’m gonna echo what Thirith said and ask you to identify your definition of pretension in Braid, cause everything about the game exudes effort and thought for me. ‘Trite’ speaks to some sort of shortcut or insincerity taking place, which doesn’t quite jibe with a guy sinking 100 grand into designing his own game.
@Jazmeister:
Only you can judge things for yourself.
@whalleywhat:
Trite is the perfect word to describe it, so you’re setting a ground rule that I’m not allowed to use that word? Wonderful.
The writing about “university” and it’s “social tightrope” and the “insecurities” of it just reeks of teeny Livejournal-style angst. The waxing on “mistakes” and “relationships” and “regret,” all similarly reek of someone desperate to sound dramatic.
But, I see how it is. Not I’m not allowed to call the game “trite” or “pretentious.” Next, I won’t be allowed to call it “angsty,” and will have to find yet another way to describe it.
Also, regarding your last statement:
“‘Trite’ speaks to some sort of shortcut or insincerity taking place, which doesn’t quite jibe with a guy sinking 100 grand into designing his own game.”
Self-funding is is no more a guarantee of sincerity, than triteness is a shortcut to it. And besides, it’s not exactly like the creation of this game was an act of charity.
Is it possible to hide the comment in till its moused over here? People need to finish the game to get the whole story as the real story hasn’t been said here.
@Cedge: So far you’ve basically been saying that Braid’s writing is pretentious and trite because you say it is pretentious and trite. The mere statement doesn’t make it so. If you have a point, argue for it. So far your argument has consisted of being passive-aggressive and repetitive. Just because something treats themes that you consider angsty doesn’t make it trite or pretentious – because that would mean that there are certain topics that are off-limits for writers. Any theme can be done well or badly; just stating again and again that Jonathan Blow did them badly doesn’t constitute an argument unless you consider “Is not!” “Is so!” “Is not!” “Is so!” an argument.
@Tarn
“As my passing girlfriend (who doesn’t play many games but reads a lot of books) mentioned, “computer game programmers shouldn’t try to write.””
*sadface* I am programmer myself, and I don’t see why I sould not write stuff. *sadface*
Oh.. the comment is about Braid? cool. If is not a generalization about all programmers, I am happy.
@Thirith:
I have given examples of why I think it’s trite and pretentious. Or have those comments been deleted?
And hey, I’m not saying you couldn’t have a good “angsty” game (though I sure as hell haven’s seen one). I’m saying that Braid is bad at it.
Again, Braid comes across as being written like something I would read from a poetry assignment done by an angsty first-year university student who spends too much time in hip coffee shops. If that’s cool to you, then so be it. I don’t think I have ever condemned anyone enjoying this game.
@Tei If you’re a good writer as well as a good programmer, then please feel free to write dialogue/prose/poetry etc. :) There are some people that have excellent skills in both fields, but most do not.
I’m still confused as to why people are spending so much time analysing the text of the game. Unless it becomes a major factor at a later stage, it all seems to be such a minor part of the overall game. The puzzles are great, the art is great, the ideas are great.
I don’t actually have a problem with the story itself. It seems to be a mild piss-take of Super Mario et al, if anything, which amuses me. What I do wish, though, is that it was told more through the visuals than the text. A screen of text seems like a slightly lazy way to tell a story, and it separates the gaming from the story in such a way as to make the story largely irrelevant to what is actually going on.
If Braid told its story in a more natural, visual manner – even the exact same story – then it would work much better for me. The words – regardless of their quality – just don’t seem to fit into the design for me.
The opening, for example, with Tim emerging from the darkness of the street, going into the house, is amazingly evocative. The gradually emerging puzzles are intriguing. I’m not sure the story needed over-stating in the level selection screens.
Meanwhile, I’m rather stuck on the last few levels. Tricky buggers.
On the question of Impulse and DRM:
I used the “Download and archive”-Function of Impulse, then turned off my connection to the internet (router), unpacked the game and ran it two or three levels into World 2.
All of this worked without a problem, so it looks like the Impulse version is really without DRM. Of course, it could be that some authentication is done after the Demo levels end.
The comments sound so hateful in this thread.
I bought the game a week ago and I solved it with my girlfriend. She never played any game before, we had a lot of fun.
The last level was pure genious and a bit sad.
This was the best game I played in a long time. It took me two evenings to solve it.