Map Editor, Photoshop Tool Coming To Braid 44
Erik J writes "Braid creator Jonathon Blow has revealed that a map editor and image tool will be added to the popular puzzle game. First, though, Braid will receive a patch to fix some issues players have reported. Blow explains: 'After I get a new version out in a few days that fixes the problems some people are having, and when more people have played/finished the game, I am going to post some documentation for the editor. The way it works is you can make levels with the editor (up to a full game, potentially) and run that with -universe later... also a tool will be released that lets you take Photoshop files and import them into the game, if you want to put new graphics in your levels.' It is unclear if these capabilities are coming only to PC or to the Xbox 360 version as well."
Are we still talking about Braid? (Score:3, Interesting)
Why do I get the feeling that many more people discuss this game on Slashdot than actually play it?
Re:Are we still talking about Braid? (Score:5, Interesting)
It actually is quite deep in its quality of gameplay. The gameplay gimmick isn't simply 'rewinding time', as some have dismissed it. The game begins adding layers to the onion quite quickly as each level introduces a newly added concept to the stable of gameplay.
-The first level is, simply, time rewinding. But unlike Prince of Persia the amount of rewinding is infinite, and if you rewind too far, simply fast forward to the spot you missed.
- The second level introduces items which aren't affected by time reversal, leading to significantly increased puzzle-platforming.
- The third introduces the idea of, how would one describe it, shadow-gameplay? Where what you do is mimic'd by your shadow after you do it, allowing you to accomplish two things at once, effectively.
- The next gimmick is to tie your lateral movement to the movement of time. So if you're moving to the right, time advances, but if you're moving left time rewinds for all characters and items onscreen.
- Later you're given a ring that is capable of slowing the local passage of time to a near stand-still. You can drop this ring wherever you want and do things like massively slow the number of cannonballs fired from a cannon in a minute, or cause enemies to bunch up in place. Almost like a miniature black-hole, because the time dilation radiates outward and then get faster and faster the further away you are. One puzzle that was really crazy, near the end, had you manipulating a series of three piranha plants (there are more than a few similar nods to Mario) using time reversal in order to allow a series of time-immune enemies to walk past these plants, and the tough thing was that you needed two of them in a row to do the move.
- The last gimmick had time running in the backwards entirely. So, enemies would fly up onto the screen where they were shown to have just been scorched by a fire-bed and then would be quickly sucked into a cannon where it came from, and using this feature you could interfere with that process and neat things would happen, it was fairly crazy.
The boss battles were especially creative and enjoyable without being overwhelming. The end of the show was also extremely well thought out, and I will not give-away the end for anyone :) I will say that the books detailing the 'story' along the way are exercises in deliberate confuzzlement, they don't particularly make sense, I think they tried a bit to hard to be profound and then just ended up like so much gibberish, and the end acknowledges this fact at least. The final prognosis is that Braid is the latest in a series of well-thought out and perfectly executed 'short games', much like a short-story that began with, arguably, 'World of Goo' and have dramatically upped the ante for originality in platforming and the question of 'what is a game?' and what makes one fun. Another recent win is 'And Yet It Moves' which moves the world around the player in order to accomplish platforming goals and tiny integrated minigames. We may be entering a new golden age of gaming where a single producer finally has enough technological leverage to create wonderful titles like these and come out on top. This is the avant-garde of the game industry. Braid's great, try it and buy it.