@El'endiaStarman Did you end up backing Turing Tumble? And if so, do you already have yours?

@MartinEnder I am waiting very excitedly and patiently for mine.

Haha okay, yeah same here.

Apparently the ship with all the European boxes arrived in the UK six days ago, but I haven't received individual tracking info yet.

The shipping containers for the USA supposedly arrived in Louisville, KY on or a little after June 5, 13 days ago, and I have not yet gotten any tracking info either. Louisville is even a shipping/distribution center of sorts given how central it is population-wise.

@MartinEnder yeah. I think that the solution space of portal is still pretty discrete. There are a couple of continuous stuff (like pointing lasers), but most of the time, that continuous stuff is often solved within a grid (like changing the angle of a laser by 90 degrees)

The positioning of the portals and your own movement are still continuous.

That said, Portal is incredibly well designed and avoids a lot of the common problems with continuous solution spaces.

yeah, I think that the world is very continuous, but that all of the solutions (with one exception I can think of) are very discrete

It tends to be very obvious when you've found the right solution and just need to work on executing that or throw.

the one exception is the puzzle where you have to get a single laser through a bunch of beacons

which requires weird angles and such

Aren't there also a couple of puzzles that require you to change portals in mid-air for catapult effects? Or was that only in Portal 2?

Oh, I'm considering them both

but yeah, that's definitely a thing

@MartinEnder There was such a puzzle in Portal 1 for sure, where you had to go up a series of platforms above lava acid.

was that 1?

that is one of the most memorable levels

I thought it was. Looking for it, I happened to notice this which also requires shooting a portal in flight: youtu.be/0P2dzIa6pZY?t=15m1s

ah yeah, I remember that one

Oh wow, the level I had in mind is much later: youtu.be/0P2dzIa6pZY?t=23m37s

@MartinEnder have you been looking at Hot Lava?

it's a Klei game, but it's a 3d platformer :)

so I'm not sure where you stand on it

I've seen a trailer, that's about it.

it definitely reminds me of mirrors edge. It's not action-focused, although they do time your runs

Oh, is it already out?

just watching a LP

Also, I think my problem is not the 3D, but the first person view.

I just don't understand how people do precise jumps without seeing the character's feet.

yeah, it's in first person as well

perhaps that can be changed though

also, of note is that they have multiplayer that just ...happens

like, you don't join a server, add friends, or anything

it literally just pulls friends from your steam list that are currently playing and you see them in the world

@MartinEnder it looks like its in open beta

yeah

well, I've got enough other stuff to play for now, but I'll probably check it out once it's out of early access.

yeah. I'd be interested to see how well it does.

I'm not super interested right now, as one of the big reasons I loved Mirror's edge is the...high intensity of it all

it really gets my heart rate going :)

where this game is intentionally...childish

not in terms of the graphics, but the plot

If you want to play a deliberately stressful game, try Frostpunk. ;)

@NathanMerrill I've played about 30 minutes of it. I found it obnoxious and frustrating tbh

Which is sad cause I like Klei a lot

It seems like a very un-Klei game though tbh

True

@NathanMerrill I saw players that weren't even friends of mine

@MartinEnder I was interested in that, but haven't tried it yet. Good?

Yeah, it looks really good. I've barely played it myself, but my wife put about 10 hours into it.

Re Klei, I'm actually more looking forward to Griftlands. And I haven't even tried Oxygen Not Included yet.

It looks kinda like a large-scale TWOM

@MartinEnder Also, I've started guacamelee. :)

Nice, how's it going?

It's a lot of fun, but I think hollow Knight set my standards for a metroidvania insanely high

Yeah, it's hard to not feel a bit disappointed by metroidvanias after HK.

Luckilu, I played Guacamelee and Ori before HK.

I'd say the combat and the humor really shine, but those are the main things going for it. It's not quite as compelling or interesting

Ooh, I've wanted to play Ori

The art style looks gorgeous

Ori is a beautiful game, but you should know going into it that combat is basically nonexistent. It's a lot more platforming focused than HK and Guacamelee. But it's really good at that.

Art style, soundtrack and story are all really beautiful.

Also I guess Guacamelee and Ori have a more linear story. The overall world is still open and there are some sequence breaks, but you've got a bunch of clear subgoals that should be done in a certain order. (Like early dungeons of a Zelda game, in a way.)

I don't need combat. And I've always like story-driven games

I think the biggest difference I've noticed between guacamelee and Hollow Knight, is that in Hollow Knight every single area is unique and beautiful. So even when I don't know where I am, I don't really feel lost. every area is memorable, and interesting. In guacamelee, it feels like a bunch of disconnected levels with the same design

oh yeah sure, I don't need combat either, but a lot of people seem to be disappointed that Ori's combat is rather lacking (there's mostly just an auto-aiming ranged attack... although you later get a pretty cool movement ability that can be used for combat, too).

So the main appeal is the combat which was very well done

Ah yeah I see. The design of Hollow Knight's world is absolutely exceptional though. So far the only game I've seen which comes close in that area is Environmental Station Alpha.

For me the next game (and MV) on the list is Yoku's Island Express. I've been really looking forward to that before release, and the reviews seem very promising.

I've also started playing Stardew Valley again recently. The multiplayer is awesome

I played HK last night (after a long break), and I still can't find the map maker in the waterways

I did find the shaky ground, and explored a bunch of new waterways (and beat the boss there)

but still no maps :/

oh, and then I found the boss in the black and orange area (at the bottom), and died :)

he seems quite fun, so I'm excited to go back and beat him

Ah, his name is "Broken Vessel"

Speaking of MVs, anyone played Dust: An Elysian Tail?

Aside from voice acting and soundtrack, it was entirely programmed and designed by one guy.

@AdmBorkBork yeah, it was quite entertaining. Not really great in terms of actual MV gameplay, but the combat is quite satisfying (if simple) and the voice acting is hilarious.

@AdmBorkBork never finished it, probably should

Got it a long time ago

@NathanMerrill Broken Vessel is quite fun. And surprisingly difficult. He seems like he should be pretty easy, but he really isn't

Yeah, I figured out last time that I really don't have time to heal

unless I want to invest in quick healing

which I don't think I do

oh, and extra mana on hit

I'll often change out the swarm and map for boss fights, but it totally depends on the boss as to what I change it to

Also, I figured out a while ago that if you do +extra mana and + mana on hit and cheaper heals, you can basically do platforming challenges for ages

I was doing the platforming challenge in greenpath, and I must have died at least 20-30 times before I had to go and heal

Ok, figured out the names: Soul Catcher, Grubsong, Deep focus