General Discussion
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Hey, I am a big fan of BABA IS YOU from Chinese. Firstly, thank you for making such a fantastic puzzle game for us.
Recently, when I was playing “NEW ADVENTURE”, I find a very tricky way to pass “Land of Oddities”-19 without using the function of provide by this level. I noticed that the general way to solve this level is to using to let text mimic tile so that it deny the following rule. But I happen to moved a rock into this sentence, and then turned it to tile. When I made the rule: “TILE IS TEXT”, The word TILE and word ROCK get overlaped. It allows me to make infinite ROCK item and another word TILE when I made rule: “ROCK IS TILE”. In the end, I made the whole sentence at the top looks like:”TILE IS TEXT NEAR ICE/TILE IS ROCK/TILE”. Now I have the power to destroy the “troublesome ice rule” by simply let ROCK/TILE IS TILE. The word MIMIC is simply used to sink doors.
I think its a very interesting tricky way to solve this puzzle. I notice that it is hard to fix it as a bug, but might be a good idea to design a new puzzle. I don’t know if you are still working on fixing this game now. Anyway, good luck.
Hey there,
I posted a comment on an earlier blog about the La-Mulana music translations, but I think it got marked as spam as I posted several urls. I have a few old mysteries about the translation lingering in case you still have access to the Japanese speaking friend of yours (untranslated background graphics assets).
Hi Jesse,
I’ve been thinking of hiring a translator to handle translating the Japanese to English; definitely interested in more accurate translations.
Hello Hempuli! Any updates on Environmental Station Alpha 2? I’m a big fan of the first.
Has progress on ESA 2 stalled?
Hi Hempuli. I’m a Games Design student currently doing work on the theory of games design and I was hoping you could please answer some question about idea generation.
1. When you’re starting from scratch to come up with an idea do you try to find a problem to solve first?
2. Do you follow a formula for generating ideas, be it your own or inspired by others?
3. How do you decide when an idea has what it takes to become something bigger? Like when can you see an idea being a game or part of a game?
4. Are there any mechanics, concepts etc. that you would love to see more of in games?
After playing through ESA, I picked up Baba Is You and fell in love with it (some levels are so hard!)
Baba needs a snow level! Christmas trees and snow chalets: Baba is hygge! :)
Do you do ESA 2 from the beginning after changing the style, or are all developments still valid? And how many there be secrets, more or less than ESA 1?
I’ll have to create ESA2 almost from scratch although I’ll be able to reuse some assets. There’ll probably be a slightly shorter main game but more secrets.
In level Ruins-5 of BaBa IS You, there is an inconsistency with how rules are parsed;
(WARNING: SPOILER)
‘Box HAS Key and Box IS You’ (vertically) *should*, in my mind, be parsed as, ‘Box HAS Key and Box; Key and Box IS You’, but it is *actually* parsed as ‘Box HAS Key and Box; Box IS You’. This is on the Switch version, and may have been fixed by another update on the PC version. I do recall an update where you fixed how rules are parsed when an errant letter is placed before them, but if this also fixes this inconsistency then I’m sure it probably just hasn’t been released to the Switch version yet.
I have an idea for something you could make: A modified version of BaBa IS You called BaBa IS AI; in the code, the player input is replaced by a neural network; the ‘You’ block now reads ‘AI’; TAS (tool-assisted speedrun; might be problematic with Tele, but a data-set of BaBa runs by players and their RNG seeds preset could also be used alongside the TAS) inputs are used to train a separate, pre-made AI that watches the main AI play the game, and because the TAS has told it what to reward and what to punish, the observer, pre-made AI tells the player AI when it succeeds or fails; or it could be ‘curiosity-driven’; either way, a BaBa playthrough by an AI would be fascinating.
Whoops, I just sent an incomplete comment. Anyways, I would like to ask a private question, do you know where I may do that or how I may contact you?
Hello Hempuli!
I’d like to ask a private question, do you know where I can do
I really liked listening to the Beta tracks for Baba Is You, it’s like the same style and feeling but with more melody and interest. Will you be releasing more beta tracks? You’re a really good composer!
Thank you very much! I don’t have that many more beta tracks I’d be happy enough with to release, but maybe! There are 1-2 longer tracks, at least, although they’re not very good to listen to.
Hello, I noticed that ESA went on sale on Steam on April 22 for three years in a row, but it didn’t happen this year. Are you planning a sale soon? I’m ready to buy it.
There’ll be an anniversary sale at *some* point – I was too busy during the actual anniversary date + I want to implement some changes for ESA before that.
Hi There,
Absolutely love Baba Is You. You are a brilliant puzzle designer, excellent pacing. I don’t know how one even goes about pacing somebody else’s brain. They are tricky puzzles but if I keep revisiting day after day eventually it clicks. Anyway this is the best puzzle game I’ve played probably ever and I hope everybody notices. Thanks!
Testest
Hello Hempuli
I like your game called Baba Is You and i am wondering what is your favorite animal and could you draw one if that please you
I wish you are happy and you are gonna have a good year
Hi!
I answered your request in the About thread; sorry for being so slow with approving these comments.
-Arvi
I’d like to be a sequel, the game is pretty fun! How long does it take to make this game?
which game are you referring to?
This one (ESA)
The fact that ESA 2 is gonna come out some day is one of my first reasons to live. Loved the first one, can’t wait for this! ^_^
Also, will the music still be by the same composer? I really liked the soundtrack of ESA 1, so I’m wondering…
Hey,
I was serious in the artist / programmer tweet though :X
(But I guess a like means no :D)
I have a feeling in my ESA run I’ve locked myself out of the best ending? Cause the eyes don’t open for me, maybe I shouldn’t have killed the security overmind … I wish there was a *subtle* hint before that happened, considering it’s a point of no return.
V happy that you’re working on the sequel, I will miss the giant pixels though!
The eyes are completely separate from everything else plot-wise; you’re able to open them at any point of the game. Are you sure you’re trying to do the right thing to open them? Some also require standing in specific spots in their respective rooms.
Thank you!
Hempuli did your will make another game like Masjin ?
I wanted to play Masjin but i dont know any communitys who play Masjin
If you know can show me ?
Hi Orkmat! I’m not sure if I will, because making online multiplayer games is quite difficult and even if I tried my best I wouldn’t be able to make it very stable or reliable. Unfortunately I’m not aware of any communities that’d play Masjin atm :(
Thanks for answering Hempuli!
I’ve changed the Masjin Server.txt to a Lacewing server and worked fine as well to play public, i think will be helpfull, thanks!
Oh hey, I got some video software working!
Here is a 3:52 crown run, the best time I have had, but the worst run in a long time. :p
https://youtu.be/H9MeCPAQYmQ
Thanks for these! :) Watching it now
Could I tweet this?
Yes its fine.
I couldn’t find a contact email which is why I’m posting this here. I’m a livestreamer/youtuber, and I’d love to cover ESA in some videos and/or on stream. I was hoping to obtain a review copy of ESA if possible. My channels can be found at http://www.Twitch.tv/TheXseption and http://www.YouTube.com/TheXseption. Email: TheXseption@gmail.com
Thanks for your time!
Thanks! I’ll send you e-mail. :)
http://i.imgur.com/dpnpWxl.png
Soon is will be all mine, just got that 14.16 Excalibur.
Whoa :O Amazing work! It makes me really happy that there are players for CWOUN :)
I’ve been following this game for well over a year, and I’m glad it’s finally close to being put out there in its finished form.
I haven’t read the comments consistently, so I’m not sure whether you intend to put the soundtrack up on Steam as well. Apologies if it’s somewhere obvious and I missed it, but it sounds like something I’d be interested in getting my hands on.
Haven’t mentioned it; I’ll have to discuss that with the composer but I’m pretty sure the OST will be released as well :)
Ok so the problem I posted earlier is resolved
Haha I feel like an idiot
I unzipped the game .exe but not the data folder. Duh
Anyways thanks, and I’m loving the game
Glad to hear that! Sorry that your comments didn’t appear here earlier, the spam filter had a Moment. Thanks a lot for the compliments :)
http://dark-wire.com/relay/
Server is down for masjin. Is there any way to host our own?
I’ve been meaning to create a server hosting tool but I really haven’t had the time. Sorry about that! I’ll try to figure out something.
I have some server space and I’m trying to host the Masjin server. I have opened and forwarded the port 6121 and I can connect to it from the client (it says “player connected” on the server) but the client won’t respond, it stays on the Connecting state. When I try to connect locally from the same machine there is no problem, but even if I try to connect from the server to the server by my external IP it says “player connected” but the client won’t respond. I’m running Windows Server 2012 and am able to host multiple applications without problems (Minecraft, webserver, etc)
Ugh, ok. Good to know this :( I’ll try to work on this, but unfortunately my ability to tweak things is very very limited.
You have my email adress (I filled it in) if you need access to a remote server I can provide that.
I’m not 100% sure that it has to do with the Masjin client and/or server. It could still be something I did wrong
but I’m out of ideas what that could be and the only way for me to figure out more would be to debug the client.
I guess we should organize some kind of a bug-hunting event with Masjin’s hosting system. But really, the hosting/server code is fully self-contained and inaccessible to me, at the moment the only thing I can do is tell the hosting tool to ‘HOST’ on a given port. I tested the server hosting with a friend earlier and I think it worked just fine, though.
I really love your games and the particular feeling/touch you give them, and I’m glad to hear that you played Treasure Adventure Game! It has a similar atmosphere to what you’re going for, I think, and if it has inspired you, then you’re not alone.
If I had to bet on the best-game-to-come between the Chucklefish remake and ESA, though, I think you can guess where my bets would be ^w^
Do you have any plans on releasing that World Generator for us to play with? I’d really love a great world generator for my RPG worlds and yours has a great style to it that I really like.
This was asked earlier, I’d love to flesh it out a bit but right now I don’t really have enough time for that!
You should totally add more chapters to the game. There’s enough space on the item log for it. This game is superb!
I noticed a bug I think I’ll mention. The levitation pack that creates the purple line beneath you right? Well say there is a deep vertical chasm. I’ll use that pack as a quick way to get down from a high area by falling, switching to the pack, unequipping to fall again, then switching to prevent me from hitting the ground. This is a great way to emulate downward flight. Well a few of the times I’d do this I noticed that the player would fall down in midair & take damage as if he jumped from a great leap, & I believe this was without the platform beneath me too! Please look into this phenomenon.
Also, may I make a feature suggestion? Oil Drums are supposed to be volatile & sensitive to mishandling right? Well can you make it so if they are thrown onto a bear trap they will explode? This would have a lot of practical uses in the game & it seems to me like this is something most people would assume is a basic mechanic after understanding the oil drum’s dynamics. I certainly assumed this.
If you switch to the levitation pack while already falling too fast, you take falling damage. This is intentional but do you think it should be changed?
AS for the suggestion, thanks! I’ll add that.
I left a really long drawn out comment but my browser messed up on me :/ The gist of what I was saying is that I tend to use the levitation pack to excavate gold seams from the first two areas after already practically strip mining them, & that the fall breaking exploit does not appear to me to be game breaking or over powered. I use this maneuver most in areas I have already explored. I wouldn’t take the risk of a dive blind into the heart of the temple & you get the item (if you even get it at all that run) midgame, so it’s potential for exploits with it is pretty minimal in my opinion. I would say remove fall damage. That is my opinion on the matter.
Alright! I’ll keep that in mind once I return to CWOUN :)
I was more curious from a technical standpoint, thanks for you replies! :)
The crystal ball has a separate function than the mirror I take it?
& I understand the different chests have different item pools, the blue chest is in the first area & it’s key is in the second; in the second area there’s the alien chest. If I recall correctly the lightning gun is found in the blue chest whereas the pink alien cannon thingy is in the second chest. What I’m asking is are those pools entirely random or more of a random fixed pairing? Can I get the lightning gun & the alien cannon in the same run?
All the chests have fixed pools that don’t change. So yes, you can get those in the same run, but it’s entirely based on luck. Since the items vary a lot in terms of usefulness, this might not be the best way to do it :(
I’m totally dying to have a hint what I have to do get this item? Is it in one of the special chests? (I used a stat sheet from an earlier build so I don’t spoil anything. The item in question is highlighted)
http://i.imgur.com/D3Y9V0k.png
[spoiler]It should be the crystal ball you get from the ancient chest. The item isn’t very useful, sadly.[/spoiler]
(Spoilers)
That’s not the same Crystal ball that gives you an extra heart is it? Because I found that one.
On a related note, are the treasures completely random or kinda a mixed bag? I.e. is it possible to get the alien weapon & the lightning weapon in the same run?
The crystal ball is blue and lets you teleport to where you’ve been earlier.
There are 3 chests, and they all have separate item pools. You can’t get two of the items that you get from the blue chest, no.
Awesome, sounds like it’ll be pretty seamless C:3
Okay so there’s definitely something going on codewise with two items of the same class being on screen at the same time. I threw a spike ball at a skeleton & it hit once, so he was still alive. The ball was at his feet. I threw another ball I got at a skeleton above him, when that ball killed him, it killed the other skeleton who was standing on the other ball.
Yeah, that’s a problem with how MMF 2 identifies which entity to ‘target’. There are some instances where I can’t fully fix it without making some really weird cornercase code, but I’ll try my best (once ESA is done)!
ESA is MMF2 right? Think it’ll have similar bugs?
Yes, and no, I don’t think so, because ESA doesn’t have a similar pickup/throw item interaction system. There are some very rare situations where an enemy might take damage even though it shouldn’t if the player spams their gun and there are several enemies about, but with the new gun that’s even less probable than before :)
Thanks for the reports!
No problem! I got another for you. Sometimes imps bug out & stutter/lag when they walk. Skip to 0:05 of the video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6HJKAgC6LI&feature=youtu.be
Yeah! Noticed that, it’s really weird and so inconsistent that I have no idea what’s going on there.
The shopkeeper’s dead body turns to face the player, also if struck with lighting his dead body will continue to say “ARGH!”
You can also sell gems to dead shopkeepers apparently.
CWOUN bugs;
If you kill an enemy with a stalactite, & another enemy(like a bat) is on screen touching another stalactite, that enemy will also die.
Sometimes Snails pass through falling blocks instead of being crushed.
Sometimes if a skeleton is trapped in a one block space with a block above him, but no block to the right or left of that, he can still sometimes throw bones diagonally out of the corner between the block above him & the wall he is facing.
This has happened a few times but not in any frequency I could surmise the exact nature of the bug behavior; sometimes opening a crate will give me both the item in it & another item, most typically a flare. One time said glitch flare was double stacked with another item I was holding on my back. I had to set that item down to get the flare to behave normally.
http://i.imgur.com/ViPhrKP.png
Here is the flare bug. I was holding a blue key, I picked up a crate & opened it, got a flare, but the flare was stacked with spike balls. There was a merchant nearby. It was stacked with two spike balls actually, both of them I bought from the merchant(& threw off screen). So the game must have associated those items with this crate item & maybe the blue key fueled part of the glitch? I can’t say, but the stuff I bought prior double stacked on the flare for sure.
If one bear trap is stepped on & there’s another one on screen, that one may go off too.
Spring boxes will animate as if they’re being jumped on if another nearby is being jumped on.
Also one time I bought two spike balls, through them both off screen, picked one up & used it to kill an enemy, went & picked the other one up, & that one double stacked into two spike balls (i.e. if I set one down I was still holding a second one)
There really isn’t a better place to ask this – I’ll just post it here.
What happened to your older games? BulletZORZ, for example, is nowhere to be found. More importantly, GENERIC. I remember really, really enjoying that game, and in fact the game’s original page still exists at http://hempuli.com/gener. The game can however no longer be downloaded, but I definitely want to play it again.
Any chance for a return of those old games, or at least an explanation as to where they went?
I removed some older games from the main site because I didn’t think they were very amazing but also because some antivirus software reported them as harmful (false positives but I don’t like the idea anyway). I guess I could try recompiling them and seeing if they still give problems, and then re-add them if not.
Thanks for the interest!
Do you have a twitter or a mailing list we can follow for the game? I really want to play it for my youtube channel. :)
Yeah! go and seek out @ESAdevlog! :) Thanks for your interest.
Thanks!
Hey, I just wanted to say that I’m sad that Your games are not more known… I got some friends to play Masjin, so there’s that xD but good work :D