Humble Indie Bundle 3
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Re: Humble Indie Bundle 3
And Yet It Moves fails to run at all 
The only game to work so far completely without also inconveniencing me somehow is VVVVVVV, and it has major game design failures. First and foremost: repeatedly making players react to things that aren't on screen and they they potentially haven't seen at all yet. This is a major failure. They are dying not through lack of skill, or because they made a mistake, but because they didn't know something that they couldn't possibly have known. And even if they have seen it, you're expecting them to instantly memorize several pages full of layouts. Ridiculous.
So obviously, I am rather dissatisfied with this bundle.
The only one I haven't given the chance to disappoint me yet is cogs. And that's because I dislike those shifty puzzle games pretty much invariably.
The only game to work so far completely without also inconveniencing me somehow is VVVVVVV, and it has major game design failures. First and foremost: repeatedly making players react to things that aren't on screen and they they potentially haven't seen at all yet. This is a major failure. They are dying not through lack of skill, or because they made a mistake, but because they didn't know something that they couldn't possibly have known. And even if they have seen it, you're expecting them to instantly memorize several pages full of layouts. Ridiculous.
So obviously, I am rather dissatisfied with this bundle.
The only one I haven't given the chance to disappoint me yet is cogs. And that's because I dislike those shifty puzzle games pretty much invariably.
Re: Humble Indie Bundle 3
I really only bought this bundle to get the HIB 2 and bonus games, but I'll certainly have a look at some of the HIB 3 games.
Braid -- Extremely fun, but I don't know how anyone beats it without a walk-through. The puzzles are just really damn hard, but I love that you can skip them and come back later. The main thing I hate about puzzle-intense games is that I always get stuck and can't progress any further, and Braid conveniently avoids this problem. This is especially good because the game introduces so many new mechanics and you don't have time to practice them before you have to apply them, so you can come back to a puzzle later once you understand it better. I never would have made it past world #2 otherwise. The art is gorgeous and the music is pleasant to listen to, and I love the way the time mechanics are integrated into the core gameplay, rather than simply being a bullet-time or respawn mechanic like in so many other games. I don't dare give away the ending, but I dare say it was the only part of the game that wasn't fantastic.
Cortex Command -- Buggy, slow as all Hell, a cool concept hindered by poor execution. I'm having numerous issues with the resolution and the window itself, various graphics bugs, and at least one level (Maginot Defense) gets so laggy that it becomes completely unplayable after a few minutes. I would say "hopefully this all clears up in future versions", but the list of releases is rather sparse, so I don't have much faith that any bug reports I might make would actually be acted upon.
Crayon Physics Deluxe -- Refuses to start at all. I haven't looked into the cause yet, as I have plenty of other games to keep my attention.
[Edit: Never mind, just missing a library. Now it runs.]
Osmos -- Very interesting concept, and quite fun. It seems to me that the difficulty increases a little too fast, but I still enjoy it.
These are the only ones I've had time to play so far.
Braid -- Extremely fun, but I don't know how anyone beats it without a walk-through. The puzzles are just really damn hard, but I love that you can skip them and come back later. The main thing I hate about puzzle-intense games is that I always get stuck and can't progress any further, and Braid conveniently avoids this problem. This is especially good because the game introduces so many new mechanics and you don't have time to practice them before you have to apply them, so you can come back to a puzzle later once you understand it better. I never would have made it past world #2 otherwise. The art is gorgeous and the music is pleasant to listen to, and I love the way the time mechanics are integrated into the core gameplay, rather than simply being a bullet-time or respawn mechanic like in so many other games. I don't dare give away the ending, but I dare say it was the only part of the game that wasn't fantastic.
Cortex Command -- Buggy, slow as all Hell, a cool concept hindered by poor execution. I'm having numerous issues with the resolution and the window itself, various graphics bugs, and at least one level (Maginot Defense) gets so laggy that it becomes completely unplayable after a few minutes. I would say "hopefully this all clears up in future versions", but the list of releases is rather sparse, so I don't have much faith that any bug reports I might make would actually be acted upon.
Crayon Physics Deluxe -- Refuses to start at all. I haven't looked into the cause yet, as I have plenty of other games to keep my attention.
[Edit: Never mind, just missing a library. Now it runs.]Osmos -- Very interesting concept, and quite fun. It seems to me that the difficulty increases a little too fast, but I still enjoy it.
These are the only ones I've had time to play so far.
Last edited by johndh on August 11th, 2011, 2:41 am, edited 1 time in total.
It's spelled "definitely", not "definately". "Defiantly" is a different word entirely.
Re: Humble Indie Bundle 3
Someone gave me a gift key for this bundle, so I wasn’t really intending to play all the games (I’m not really a gamer myself). So far I’ve only been able to try VVVVVV, as it’s a platformer, and I grew up playing platformers from the DOS era.
Despite Gambit’s comments on the sadistic level design, I actually find this to be a feature, and given the Mind Screw-y ambiance and, er plot, it’s impossible to stay mad for too long after dying. Also, checkpoints are usually found in convenient places so there’s not a whole lot to lose; the ending appears to be a deliberate exception to the rule (you’ll know what I’m talking about when you see it), and so are some of the paths to the trinkets.
Also, can’t forget the music. Oh, the music. 
Despite Gambit’s comments on the sadistic level design, I actually find this to be a feature, and given the Mind Screw-y ambiance and, er plot, it’s impossible to stay mad for too long after dying. Also, checkpoints are usually found in convenient places so there’s not a whole lot to lose; the ending appears to be a deliberate exception to the rule (you’ll know what I’m talking about when you see it), and so are some of the paths to the trinkets.
Spoiler:
Author of the unofficial UtBS sequels Invasion from the Unknown and After the Storm.
Re: Humble Indie Bundle 3
Now that And Yet It Moves was patched and actually runs (though there are some issues with menu navigation), it's a lot of fun! It only created ~/.Broken\ Rules, so I guess it's okay. I look forward to the day when everything follows XDG_DATA_HOME, but ah well.
edit: Turns out Ant Yet It Moves isn't quite functional yet. It's not saving my progress at all! (How much do you want to bet it's getting broken by its own space in that directory name?)
edit 2: Wow! It is saving, but it isn't loading what it saved last time.
edit: Turns out Ant Yet It Moves isn't quite functional yet. It's not saving my progress at all! (How much do you want to bet it's getting broken by its own space in that directory name?)
edit 2: Wow! It is saving, but it isn't loading what it saved last time.
WARNING: different version of settings file: currentVersion is 1.21 reverting settings to default! TODO: make something more intelligent here
Re: Humble Indie Bundle 3
Some comments on the bundle (I'm a Mac user):
I played Hammerfight a bit and generally enjoyed, although I have a few issues with it. Firstly, it is hell to play in windowed mode. It is easily changeable in the options, but it's not really indicated well and I don,t know why it would default to window in the first place. The controls are generally ok (in fullscreen) but it can get choppy at times. Also, it is often a pain to navigate menus and some dialogs, because a good amount of them are written in white on bright yellow. My two major problems, however, are:
1) Lack of information/objectives not always clear or instinctive. For instance, that protect the caravan scenario near the beginning: it took me at least three tries before I understood that yellow arrows indicated my allies and red my enemies. At first, I was simply bashing everything, and loosing quite early for having eradicated the caravan myself. Even worse, the hammerball scenarios, which I passed but still haven't figured out. They simply say "The green team scores in the green goal, the yellow team in the yellow goal". Wait, what team am I on? I start near the green goal, so I'm green? But on the other hand, I've got a yellow light attached to me and the AI does everything it can to score in the green goal, so I must be yellow? But I seem to earn fame regardless of which goal I score in, and even if I hover over the field and let the AI score in the green goal, I seem to win the scenario with flying colors... There are a few such other examples, it can get quite frustrating to not understand what you,re supposed to do. Appart from scenarios, there is other game information you have to guess: for instance, the meter in the bottom left is your life, and your weapons can break, although there is absolutely no indicator of their "health" state. You also earn fame and titles, although it's not really clear how you get those and what effect they have.
2) The hall (armory): this is where you would buy new weapons/armors/stuff to improve your machine. The problem with it is that it doesn't seem to save what you've bought in the past if you do not leave the armory carrying it. And, as you'll guess, you cannot carry everything. And you have to buy stuff in a certain order, you cannot browse through a catalog or something. So you're around 1/3 of the game and buy a few weapons before you finally find one you appreciate (although there are barely any stats, so it's hard to tell at times). You leave the armory, come back quite a few scenarios later, and you have to buy your way to the weapon you are currently carrying, then blind-buy some more to see if there's something better lying hidden. That is, if you have enough money. The order sometimes change, but I don't know what it's based on. It is also frustrating in that at some point, you are proposed to join someone and they give you a weapon in exchange. But said weapon is absolutely not awaiting for you in the armory. Do you have to buy it (after an undefinite amount of undesirable weapons)? Who knows... Also irritating is the merchant that sell you complementary stuff, like shields, potions and throwable weapons of all sorts: his wares are randomized everytime, so it's a constant game of ask him to see his stuff, close, loop around the screen a few times, ask him again, rinse and repeat until you,ve had everything you wanted.
Crayon Physics I played a bit. I worked fine (as far as I could tell) and was fun at first, although I grew bit tired after ~30 levels. Maybe I'll get back to it in some time, I guess it's more a 2-3 levels every now and then kinda game than a rush-through-it one.
Cogs I was interested in seeing, but it would not work. Although that might be because my graphics card is kinda outdated. I'm playing on my 5 and a half years old macbook, which while still doing mostly ok, wasn't exactly top of the line when I bought it either.
VVVVVVV (do I have too many Vs?) I haven't tried, nor did I And Yet It Moves: I'm not really a platformer enthousiast. Same goes to the other games in the bundle, although I guess I'll get to them eventually, if only for the sake of trying 'em out.
I played Hammerfight a bit and generally enjoyed, although I have a few issues with it. Firstly, it is hell to play in windowed mode. It is easily changeable in the options, but it's not really indicated well and I don,t know why it would default to window in the first place. The controls are generally ok (in fullscreen) but it can get choppy at times. Also, it is often a pain to navigate menus and some dialogs, because a good amount of them are written in white on bright yellow. My two major problems, however, are:
1) Lack of information/objectives not always clear or instinctive. For instance, that protect the caravan scenario near the beginning: it took me at least three tries before I understood that yellow arrows indicated my allies and red my enemies. At first, I was simply bashing everything, and loosing quite early for having eradicated the caravan myself. Even worse, the hammerball scenarios, which I passed but still haven't figured out. They simply say "The green team scores in the green goal, the yellow team in the yellow goal". Wait, what team am I on? I start near the green goal, so I'm green? But on the other hand, I've got a yellow light attached to me and the AI does everything it can to score in the green goal, so I must be yellow? But I seem to earn fame regardless of which goal I score in, and even if I hover over the field and let the AI score in the green goal, I seem to win the scenario with flying colors... There are a few such other examples, it can get quite frustrating to not understand what you,re supposed to do. Appart from scenarios, there is other game information you have to guess: for instance, the meter in the bottom left is your life, and your weapons can break, although there is absolutely no indicator of their "health" state. You also earn fame and titles, although it's not really clear how you get those and what effect they have.
2) The hall (armory): this is where you would buy new weapons/armors/stuff to improve your machine. The problem with it is that it doesn't seem to save what you've bought in the past if you do not leave the armory carrying it. And, as you'll guess, you cannot carry everything. And you have to buy stuff in a certain order, you cannot browse through a catalog or something. So you're around 1/3 of the game and buy a few weapons before you finally find one you appreciate (although there are barely any stats, so it's hard to tell at times). You leave the armory, come back quite a few scenarios later, and you have to buy your way to the weapon you are currently carrying, then blind-buy some more to see if there's something better lying hidden. That is, if you have enough money. The order sometimes change, but I don't know what it's based on. It is also frustrating in that at some point, you are proposed to join someone and they give you a weapon in exchange. But said weapon is absolutely not awaiting for you in the armory. Do you have to buy it (after an undefinite amount of undesirable weapons)? Who knows... Also irritating is the merchant that sell you complementary stuff, like shields, potions and throwable weapons of all sorts: his wares are randomized everytime, so it's a constant game of ask him to see his stuff, close, loop around the screen a few times, ask him again, rinse and repeat until you,ve had everything you wanted.
Crayon Physics I played a bit. I worked fine (as far as I could tell) and was fun at first, although I grew bit tired after ~30 levels. Maybe I'll get back to it in some time, I guess it's more a 2-3 levels every now and then kinda game than a rush-through-it one.
Cogs I was interested in seeing, but it would not work. Although that might be because my graphics card is kinda outdated. I'm playing on my 5 and a half years old macbook, which while still doing mostly ok, wasn't exactly top of the line when I bought it either.
VVVVVVV (do I have too many Vs?) I haven't tried, nor did I And Yet It Moves: I'm not really a platformer enthousiast. Same goes to the other games in the bundle, although I guess I'll get to them eventually, if only for the sake of trying 'em out.
Jazz is not dead, it just smells funny - Frank Zappa
Current projects: Internet meme Era, The Settlers of Wesnoth
Current projects: Internet meme Era, The Settlers of Wesnoth
Re: Humble Indie Bundle 3
I can thoroughly recommend playing Atom Zombie Smasher, it's an interesting game and relatively easy to complete in a quick session. Of course that depends on the difficulty that you play.
Continuing Siege of Soradoc
Re: Humble Indie Bundle 3
I did play it.
Designwise, it is indeed a very interesting game. It has basic but ingenious mechanics and a healthy dose of theme appeal (to people who like zombie survival, which sadly does not really include me).
That said, I didn't find it all that fun to play. It didn't feel like I had a lot of control over the situation frequently. It isn't enough to just successfully evacuate major outbreak locations if you want to win you must consistantly capture territories but frequently the game does not give you the tools you need to do so or the weather conditions are adverse. Once the large zombies start showing up you need some kind of explosive in your lineup to even have a chance of slowing them down let alone conquering the territory. Of course, I might have a better time of it if I played it again. There is a snowball effect which will make it so that if you don't know what you're doing earlly you'll have an impossible time late game.
Designwise, it is indeed a very interesting game. It has basic but ingenious mechanics and a healthy dose of theme appeal (to people who like zombie survival, which sadly does not really include me).
That said, I didn't find it all that fun to play. It didn't feel like I had a lot of control over the situation frequently. It isn't enough to just successfully evacuate major outbreak locations if you want to win you must consistantly capture territories but frequently the game does not give you the tools you need to do so or the weather conditions are adverse. Once the large zombies start showing up you need some kind of explosive in your lineup to even have a chance of slowing them down let alone conquering the territory. Of course, I might have a better time of it if I played it again. There is a snowball effect which will make it so that if you don't know what you're doing earlly you'll have an impossible time late game.
"There are two kinds of old men in the world. The kind who didn't go to war and who say that they should have lived fast died young and left a handsome corpse and the old men who did go to war and who say that there is no such thing as a handsome corpse."
Re: Humble Indie Bundle 3
I agree with you.
I think that you have to look at the first game as a learning experience and not try to win it. I had the same experience but when I restarted it went a lot better and I won an short game.
There are some different options that you can start off with, I like the one that lets you choose which units you can take, I find it becomes annoying when you get a terrible unit to defend the city.
I think that you have to look at the first game as a learning experience and not try to win it. I had the same experience but when I restarted it went a lot better and I won an short game.
There are some different options that you can start off with, I like the one that lets you choose which units you can take, I find it becomes annoying when you get a terrible unit to defend the city.
Continuing Siege of Soradoc
Re: Humble Indie Bundle 3
Tried it again (with default settings), this time it gave me my assault squad first instead of last and it suddenly became a whole lot easier and I beat it.
I don't think it will ever be a favorite of mine but I do think that it is worth looking into.
EDIT: Generally I'm not into platformers but I did try VVVVVV as I'd been told it was a challenge. It certainly is, though rather short.
I don't think it will ever be a favorite of mine but I do think that it is worth looking into.
EDIT: Generally I'm not into platformers but I did try VVVVVV as I'd been told it was a challenge. It certainly is, though rather short.
Spoiler:
"There are two kinds of old men in the world. The kind who didn't go to war and who say that they should have lived fast died young and left a handsome corpse and the old men who did go to war and who say that there is no such thing as a handsome corpse."
Re: Humble Indie Bundle 3
I am not sure why, but this thread pushed me to get vvvvvv. May be something in my brain becomed to think should be a great game with such name... I dont know... but thanks a lot
Wonderfull design, and very tuned sadistic dificulty level. It is quite easy die 50 times or more in some rooms, but while you play you becomed more skilled without realize it, so when you try again rooms that becomed you mad in early game, after complete it, you discover they are now easier.
I currently completed game in about 1:30 hour and 1000 deaths (aprox) saving all tripulation members. Got all shiny tricks and opened secret lab (Vini,vidi, vinci was a hell, and beat it a heaven).
Also got S rank in first 2 timetrials, but not sure if I want get 2 more S rank and try "no death" mode and become mad for my whole life
For me guy did this game is a genious and its music more than good.
Edit: some hours after post I got my 3rd S rank in The Tower time trial
Edit2: 1 day after post I got my 4th S rank and unlocked no deaths mode
I have now pretty clear that if I achieved this in less than a week, real challenge is get less than 50 death trophy. Beat it in basic "infinite lives" is just an introduction, imo. But I think an average player can get less than 50d trophy in less than a month, imo. I at least will try get it.
Get 6 V ranks and beat no deaths mode is just for fanatics with a devil skill, imo.
Edit3: 2 days after I got 5th S rank. If anyone is asking himself what are S ranks, they means beat one mision with 0 deaths (in a comfortable time limit). They are the basic training for master misions and try beat game with less than 50 deaths. In the secret lab you can also train intermisions and graviton, so game is cleary designed to get <50d Trophy with a reasonable learning curve.
Edit4:After decide was impossible get the 6th S rank, tried the whole game again (my 2nd attemp). Got the the <100d trophy, with 85 deaths in 34:33 (hardest room the graviton with 33 deaths). This about 10 days after get game
Edit5:Finally got it with 47 deaths
I supose is game over for me here (just got 1 V rank)... but man... I really enjoyed it a lot. This game got me
Wonderfull design, and very tuned sadistic dificulty level. It is quite easy die 50 times or more in some rooms, but while you play you becomed more skilled without realize it, so when you try again rooms that becomed you mad in early game, after complete it, you discover they are now easier.
I currently completed game in about 1:30 hour and 1000 deaths (aprox) saving all tripulation members. Got all shiny tricks and opened secret lab (Vini,vidi, vinci was a hell, and beat it a heaven).
Also got S rank in first 2 timetrials, but not sure if I want get 2 more S rank and try "no death" mode and become mad for my whole life
For me guy did this game is a genious and its music more than good.
Edit: some hours after post I got my 3rd S rank in The Tower time trial
Edit2: 1 day after post I got my 4th S rank and unlocked no deaths mode
I have now pretty clear that if I achieved this in less than a week, real challenge is get less than 50 death trophy. Beat it in basic "infinite lives" is just an introduction, imo. But I think an average player can get less than 50d trophy in less than a month, imo. I at least will try get it.
Get 6 V ranks and beat no deaths mode is just for fanatics with a devil skill, imo.
Edit3: 2 days after I got 5th S rank. If anyone is asking himself what are S ranks, they means beat one mision with 0 deaths (in a comfortable time limit). They are the basic training for master misions and try beat game with less than 50 deaths. In the secret lab you can also train intermisions and graviton, so game is cleary designed to get <50d Trophy with a reasonable learning curve.
Edit4:After decide was impossible get the 6th S rank, tried the whole game again (my 2nd attemp). Got the the <100d trophy, with 85 deaths in 34:33 (hardest room the graviton with 33 deaths). This about 10 days after get game
Edit5:Finally got it with 47 deaths
I supose is game over for me here (just got 1 V rank)... but man... I really enjoyed it a lot. This game got me
Last edited by tekelili on August 28th, 2011, 2:19 am, edited 1 time in total.
Be aware English is not my first language and I could have explained bad myself using wrong or just invented words.
World Conquest II
World Conquest II
Re: Humble Indie Bundle 3
I'm REALLY enjoying VVVVVV, mostly for the sadistic puzzles which are really cool once you solve them.
My first time around, I comleted the game with ~1500 deaths and all 20 trinkets
They have a forum where you can download a slew of player-made levels, so a lot of replay value there.
I'm also enjoying Atom Zombie Smasher a lot, mostly for the frantic gameplay and strategy involved. It's a HARD game to win, though.
"And Yet it Moves" was also a really good game. They have some awesome puzzles in there.
Hammerfight... not so much. Clunky controls ruined the whole thing for me.
Crayon Physics Deluxe is a really relaxing puzzle game. It gets harder after about the 3rd world, but then you can really let your creativity shine. There's optional bonus stars you can earn for doing things "the awesome way", with only one object drawn, or without using any "special items". Really neat game, I expect it to be ridiculously hard/impossible to 100% it (all bonus stars, etc).
My first time around, I comleted the game with ~1500 deaths and all 20 trinkets
They have a forum where you can download a slew of player-made levels, so a lot of replay value there.
I'm also enjoying Atom Zombie Smasher a lot, mostly for the frantic gameplay and strategy involved. It's a HARD game to win, though.
"And Yet it Moves" was also a really good game. They have some awesome puzzles in there.
Hammerfight... not so much. Clunky controls ruined the whole thing for me.
Crayon Physics Deluxe is a really relaxing puzzle game. It gets harder after about the 3rd world, but then you can really let your creativity shine. There's optional bonus stars you can earn for doing things "the awesome way", with only one object drawn, or without using any "special items". Really neat game, I expect it to be ridiculously hard/impossible to 100% it (all bonus stars, etc).
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Blarumyrran
- Art Contributor
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Re: Humble Indie Bundle 3
I bought Humble Indie Bundle 3 as well!
My thoughts, on a scale of 1 to 10:
Braid: 10/10
Osmosis: 9/10
Machinarium: 7/10
VVVVVV: 7/10
Crayon Physics: 4/10
And Yet It Moves: 4/10
Cortex Command: 4/10
Hammerfight: 3/10
Revenge of the Titans: 1/10
My thoughts, on a scale of 1 to 10:
Braid: 10/10
Osmosis: 9/10
Machinarium: 7/10
VVVVVV: 7/10
Crayon Physics: 4/10
And Yet It Moves: 4/10
Cortex Command: 4/10
Hammerfight: 3/10
Revenge of the Titans: 1/10
Re: Humble Indie Bundle 3
I've actually enjoyed Revenge of the Titans. Maybe it's because I don't normally play tower defense games, so I'm not sick of the genre already. I'm most of the way through Steel Storm, and I'm finding it quite enjoyable. Those laser towers are getting on my nerves, though. I tried playing Hammerfight, but currently it gets stuck on the loading screen.
I'm most of the way through Steel Storm, and I'm finding it quite enjoyable. Those laser towers are getting on my nerves, though. I tried playing Hammerfight, but currently it gets stuck on the loading screen. It's spelled "definitely", not "definately". "Defiantly" is a different word entirely.