Quantum Conundrum, from Kim Swift of Portal fame

Kim Swift, one of the creators of Portal, left Valve to join indie studio Airtight Games to create Quantum Conundrum, a downloadable, 4-6 hour puzzle game set in a series of laboratory test chambers. You play as a boy searching for his mad scientist uncle who has invented a way to shift between dimensions but has, unfortunately, gotten himself stuck in some other dimension. You shift between dimensions with different physical properties in order to solve puzzles. Here's the announcement trailer:

And a gameplay video with narration from Kim Swift herself:

Looks fun! I was looking at the end of the trailer to see if it will show up on PC and noticed they had a Steam logo instead of the PC logo. I didn't know they were doing that now.

Honestly, the ign preview is what is selling me on the game. Watching the official trailer after that, I was dissapointed in it. I haven't watched the linked narrated gameplay yet.

This looks to me to have the creativeness that Portal 2 lacked. Looking forward to this!

Ooh, bookmarked.

mrtomaytohead wrote:

I haven't watched the linked narrated gameplay yet.

Do. The trailer isn't great, but the gameplay video really gives you an idea of the potential puzzles you'll be faced with.

Duoae wrote:

This looks to me to have the creativeness that Portal 2 lacked. Looking forward to this!

That was my reaction, as well.

ClockworkHouse wrote:
Duoae wrote:

This looks to me to have the creativeness that Portal 2 lacked. Looking forward to this!

That was my reaction, as well.

The initial impression of this is Portal gameplay approached from a different direction with different tools. I don't think that's a bad thing either, if there's conventions established for puzzle games, and that results in a lot of fun games, then great. Nobody minds conventions in other genres.

I'd argue that P2 isn't really different in it's gameplay, but it's presented differently to the player.

Duoae wrote:

This looks to me to have the creativeness that Portal 2 lacked. Looking forward to this!

Portal 2 lacked creativity? Are you sure you are talking about the right title?

Regarding QC, this looks like a neat title. Hope their pricing will be reasonable.

Luggage wrote:
Duoae wrote:

This looks to me to have the creativeness that Portal 2 lacked. Looking forward to this!

Portal 2 lacked creativity? Are you sure you are talking about the right title?

Regarding QC, this looks like a neat title. Hope their pricing will be reasonable.

Maybe you missed the Portal 2 spoilers thread?

Duoae wrote:
Luggage wrote:
Duoae wrote:

This looks to me to have the creativeness that Portal 2 lacked. Looking forward to this!

Portal 2 lacked creativity? Are you sure you are talking about the right title?

Regarding QC, this looks like a neat title. Hope their pricing will be reasonable.

Maybe you missed the Portal 2 spoilers thread? :D

I must be missing something, because now I am utterly confused.

Looking forward to this game as well.
Ars Technica also has an article about it.

I was thinking about ways to layer different 'realities' into a game world, so that one space held several objects. As soon as I started watching this, I knew figuredout what she was going present and it made perfect sense. Very elegant idea. I'm looking forward to trying it, but I do hope that it isn't just a different way of displaying a UI.

New gameplay video narrated by Kim Swift.

Portal never really "clicked" with me, but QC looks too good to pass up. If the price is reasonable, I'll be getting this on day 1.

I'm either too much of a Valve fan-boy (hint: I am), or I'm not that familiar with the entire roster of physics-based puzzle games.
Meaning, I see too much Portal in QC.

Use boxes to solve a level: Companion Cubes.
Play with the properties of physics: Portals and Gels.

Granted, if you're developing a game around physics, the only way you can pretty much go is to play with physics: momentum, gravity, speed, mass, etc.

But then there's these two other points:

The cloning machine has a name and hints at human traits: Glados.
Entire house is a lab: Aperture Science.

Am I going out of my way to find fault in this game?

Hobbes2099 wrote:

Am I going out of my way to find fault in this game?

Given what passes in the rest of the gaming space, I'd say yes. I think puzzle games can support two vaguely similar games.

I just noticed something weird about the physics model. Actually, i think a lot of games are guilty of this. At about 0:57, the safe gets tossed through the glass as the physics return from fluffy to regular and when the safe hits the ground, it's all bouncy and it stays upright as it hits the ground like there's just not enough weight to it. Shouldn't it hit the ground and topple / grind itself to a halt?

Maybe I'm too much of a fangirl but I see "too much like Portal" as a selling point.

Hope they don't go overboard with the pricing, because this looks like a sure purchase pour moi.

From the strength of that demo video alone, I will not bat an eyelash at buying this game for 30 dollars. 40 dollars if Kim Swift has commentary for the whole thing.

I stopped watching after maybe 45 seconds, because I didn't want to spoil anything. Sure sale here, probably Day 1.

mrtomaytohead wrote:

I just noticed something weird about the physics model. Actually, i think a lot of games are guilty of this. At about 0:57, the safe gets tossed through the glass as the physics return from fluffy to regular and when the safe hits the ground, it's all bouncy and it stays upright as it hits the ground like there's just not enough weight to it. Shouldn't it hit the ground and topple / grind itself to a halt?

Based on my experience with various physics sims, the problem is usually not in the movement, instead its in getting things to stop convincingly. Even the non-realtime physics engines can have issues with this.

I'm really looking forward to this.

Available for pre-order (10% off - $14.99 $13.49) on Steam, with a release date of June 21. Also available for pre-order (10% off - $19.99 $17.99) is a Season Pass that includes "the full game, Soundtrack, and two upcoming DLC's!"

Also, a pre-E3 trailer.

That is probably the least money-grabbing "Season Pass" I've ever seen. Sold.

EDIT: I'm surprised they didn't call it a "Deluxe Edition" since you usually don't see the "Season Pass" packages include the full game and soundtrack.

I was thinking the same thing. Odd choice of naming, but yeah, an extra $5 ($4.50 if you pre-order) for the soundtrack and 2 DLC packs seems quite reasonable.

I is a sold.

I preordered the season pass thing. I'm sad it doesn't come out today. I wanted to play it tonight.

I had absolutely no idea that this is coming out in 2 days. A lovely surprise!

I was just wondering the other day how long we were going to have to wait for this. I preordered this so hard.

tuffalobuffalo wrote:

I preordered the season pass thing. I'm sad it doesn't come out today. I wanted to play it tonight. :(

Thursday release is weird.