What Linus Bruckman Sees When His Eyes Are Closed

lspace · Sat 25/11/2006 19:42:36

I just started this game and it looks very interesting.Ã,Â When I try to access the manual (from outside the game) I get a "bandwidth exceeded" message.Ã,Â So, could someone please tell me how to save, quit, access inventory etc etc?Ã,Â Ã,Â Thanks

Nikolas · Sat 25/11/2006 19:52:19

:-/ The manual works fro mthe link here at the first post of the thread...

Anyways... There is no inventory, so you don't need that, no items at all. Pressing Esc will get you to the screen where you can save, load, tweak the settings and quit.

Nikolas · Sat 25/11/2006 20:01:25

Bandwith exceeded indeed... Got the message from the main page... Well... at 188 downloads in 12 hours or so... Ah...

I'm arranging things with www.cgempire.com. Should be up again in an hour or so... but with the links given here... Can't change the initial post, or the games page I'm afraid. And Vince is most probably asleep (03:00 in Japan right now...)

Nikolas · Sat 25/11/2006 20:52:40

Sorry for that... It's now mirrored to www.cgempire.com

Linus.rar (44 Mb)
Linus.zip (71 Mb)
The Soundtrack (6.8 Mb)

EDIT: OMG! Three posts in a row

I'm awful! Will someone combine the three posts into one please? So sorry for that... Was in a hurry...

Afflict · Sat 25/11/2006 21:17:23

Well done Nikolas, I am downloading it now.

Alynn · Sat 25/11/2006 21:55:26

Bah I finished it (the full thing) and good god was that a brain bender, I didn't even bother to solve the top by itself. Once it was translated I went right to solving the whole thing...

And then when I get my handy dandy code... bandwith is exceeded on site... so I can't even join the ranks of the uber Linus Bruckman defeater squad... or something.

Vince Twelve · Sat 25/11/2006 22:35:36

Gah! Sorry about the bandwidth thing. I have a number of websites and I can manually set the bandwidth limit for each. In preparation for the launch, I wanted to set the bandwidth limit to 100 GB /Month, but I set it to 10 GB on accident!

The main download should be working again! Gah!

And congrats to Mac, for being the first person on the Hall of Completions!

Mac · Sun 26/11/2006 11:24:20

Er, thanks. It's pretty cold and lonely out here in the hall. Can I come back inside now?

buloght · Sun 26/11/2006 23:22:25

Looks interesing, and started playing, still figuring everything out but it looks pretty unique and great! And the music is great too nikolas

ManicMatt · Mon 27/11/2006 01:24:16

Hmm maybe I should persist, but I was put off playing it as soon as I realised I had to do something with those pill things. Too much work, looking at it, and the menu.

So, fantastic graphics, brilliant music, crazy and amusing dialogue, but just like your last game, Anna, I really don't like those sort of puzzles. It's put me right off.

Still, this game is so fresh otherwise, and interesting, and mind-bending that everyone should play it just to see such originality!

Gregjazz · Mon 27/11/2006 01:27:18

I did that same thing when I played it Matt, as soon as I realized what I needed to do to beat it, I thought, "I'll beat it tomorrow." But when I played it again and actually worked on solving the puzzle, it really isn't as difficult as you think. What's harder is the very last part, which I don't want to spoil.

Vince Twelve · Mon 27/11/2006 01:37:52

Mac: No! You must remain out there. But you have Alynn to keep you company now.

Alynn: Thank you for being the second person to join the Hall of Completion!!!

Buloght: Thanks for the nice comment! I'm glad you like it so far. Doesn't Nik just rock?

ManicMatt: Yeah, I realize that this game isn't going to appeal to everyone. It's not exactly your standard adventure. And the game is really just one big multi-layered logic puzzle, which I know doesn't appeal to everyone, but it's the kind of mind-bender that I like. So, it won't appeal to everyone, but at least the unique concept, graphics, and music can be appreciated by all! And like Geoff said, once the logic-y stuff starts setting in, the game really comes together. Thanks for playing!

Geoffkhan: Thanks again for your beta-ing help! And hurry up with Super Jazz Man!

Mac · Mon 27/11/2006 03:28:13

Hurrah, I have an Alynn! So that's what that strange growth on my back is...

I just want to say that I'm really quite thoroughly sick of standard adventure games, which is why this appealed to me so much. Despite my mental handicaps, I found solving the puzzles to be a really rewarding experience. It's a lot of work, but it's all quite logical and I'd really recommend people just stick with it as it certainly does make sense the more you play it. My brain wanted me to stop hurting it, but something was compelling me to just keep playing and keep trying. Hehe, I had a whole page of notes to help me solve it all.

Anyway, I've posted enough in this thread, but I just want to congratulate you Vince Twelve on a truly great gaming experience, both in the lead up to the release and of course the game itself.

thewalrus · Mon 27/11/2006 15:35:42

What mental handicaps? Were you just making a joke?

The Scorposer · Mon 27/11/2006 21:22:11

This game is a real gem; very creative! Great work by Vince and his team.

And awesome work, Nikolas! It's amazing how well the two different types of music work together! My compliments

All I have to do next is get my name in the Hall of Completion!

Vince Twelve · Wed 29/11/2006 00:36:57

Thanks Scorpy! I appreciate the comments. Good luck on joining the Hall of Completion. Five people there now!

Now here's where I shamelessly try to promote the game some more:

To everyone who played the game, now that the AGS game database is working again, why not leave a vote and a comment over on the game's page?

And if you use Digg, how's about giving me some luvin'?

Also, for those interested, I'm going to be posting a post-mortem on the game, looking back at the development process of Linus, on the xii games blog. So, if you like that kind of thing, it should be up this week. Possibly today.

Thanks!

Ali · Wed 29/11/2006 11:02:37

This is an ingenious game, I can't think of another like it. The animations and post-effects really bring what could have been a very static puzzle to life. Bravo Mr Twelve!

I thought I was well on my way to completing the pill-puzzle, until I realised that I hadn't been moving the floating orbs when I'd been moving the pills. Oooh I wish I spoke japanese.

Tartalo · Thu 05/04/2007 00:59:54

Great discovery this game. You manage to mix a lot of logic classics in a single puzzle, besides the music, both stories... all helps a lot in motivating you going forward. (I know, my name is not yet in the hall of fame but will be soon, I screwed the order of the top story and my brain is too smoky to try again right now.)

Apart of telling that I like it a lot I'll make a couple of comments in case you want to keep improving it.

- I wish you could move the balls without entering a different screen, I had to enter the controls repeating myself "top-left, top-left..." (and even so I made errors more than once.)

- If you play this game with the Linux engine the English subtitles for the top story might not appear when you start a new game. If they appear and you save the game, the subtitles will stay every time you load it again.

Vince Twelve · Thu 05/04/2007 02:14:15

Thanks Tartalo (and a belated thanks to Ali)! I'm glad you enjoyed it!

And thanks for the suggestions! Your first suggestion is very valid. I could have implemented this differently without breaking the visual reminder of which button you have to press, especially since every button press requires significant thought!

As for the subtitles not working, there aren't supposed to be English subtitles for the top until you finish the bottom. Likewise there aren't supposed to be Japanese subtitles for the bottom until you finish the top, giving a different play experience for English and Japanese players. But if you mean that you beat the bottom and still no subtitles appeared on the top, I'm not sure why that would be. The game remembers which subtitles are unlocked by checking a save file that it makes when you complete one of the stories. It may be a compatibility problem with Linux as I've never tested it on that platform.

And hey, since this topic is back up here, people who enjoyed the game might enjoy reading a Post-Mortem about the game on my blog:

Part One: Concept
Part Two: Art Production
Part Three: Development

Also, Linus was named "Catch of the Month" in the February issue of Australia's PC Powerplay Magazine:

And it had a little article in the January issue of UK's PC Gamer Magazine:

[/self indulgence]

Tartalo · Thu 05/04/2007 03:37:49

Quote from: Vince Twelve on Thu 05/04/2007 02:14:15
There aren't supposed to be English subtitles for the top until you finish the bottom.

I solved the bottom, saw one ending, thought that being sold was just humor and quited thinking I had done it. Then I reminded the code thing, entered again, started a new game and the subtitles were there, in this moment both stories go simultaneous.

If this was the expected behavior all good, if not tell me which AGS version you used to develop the game and I'll try again, some games act odd if you don't use the right engine version. Windows users can't have this problem because the engine goes embedded in the game, but in Linux you choose it.