[HN Gopher] Patrick's Parabox
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       Patrick's Parabox
        
       Author : tosh
       Score  : 127 points
       Date   : 2022-03-30 18:01 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (twitter.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (twitter.com)
        
       | seanalltogether wrote:
       | It looks like an amazing puzzle game. I hate it and will never
       | play it, but it looks amazing.
        
         | jbverschoor wrote:
         | I get anxiety from looking at it. Similar to the movies "the
         | cube"
        
           | kingcharles wrote:
           | LOL. Exactly that! I took one look at this thing and started
           | to think about harming myself haha
        
       | boredumb wrote:
       | This is great. I do think I'd get sea sick from playing it for an
       | hour though.
        
         | CobrastanJorji wrote:
         | Yep, this is in that category I put a lot of VR games. I'm
         | excited that it exists but I will definitely not be playing it
         | myself.
        
         | dymk wrote:
         | The game itself doesn't involve this constant slow zooming.
         | It's just for effect for the trailer to demonstrate the
         | recursive nature of the game.
        
           | staffordrj wrote:
           | The constant zooming is straight from a specific level in the
           | game. The next level is similar and constantly zooms out.
           | Those are the only two I've experience so far with that
           | mechanic.
        
             | y2bd wrote:
             | If anyone gets to one of those levels and is unable to play
             | due to the visual effect, you can hit 7 on your keyboard
             | and it switches to an alternate view. I think this actually
             | works on all levels, kind of an interesting feature.
        
               | eyelidlessness wrote:
               | A puzzle game which uses unusual animation to visualize a
               | unique gameplay mechanism, but which also accommodates
               | people who are put off by the animation... is pretty much
               | the gaming equivalent of finding my soulmate without
               | knowing what I was even looking for. Or even knowing I
               | was looking for anything at all.
               | 
               | I've pretty much soured on trying new games several times
               | over the last decade, only to be delighted by a new game
               | or class of games which tickle some niche fancy for me.
               | Given this and some of the other recommendations in these
               | comments, it looks like I'll be starting another
               | iteration.
        
       | jerf wrote:
       | One of these days, if I'm ever bored and just have nothing else
       | to do, I've always wanted to screw around with cellular automata
       | built on a similar principle, where something triggers the cells
       | to subdivide and/or unsubdivide, and there's some sort of flow
       | back and forth between the levels. Seems like some interesting
       | things might happen. (I've also thought the subdivided cells
       | might run at a different time scale, too.) Not infinitely
       | recursive, but similar in idea, I think.
        
       | usdivad wrote:
       | This looks super fun! Reminds me of the "first-person recursive
       | puzzle game" Maquette:
       | https://store.steampowered.com/app/762840/Maquette/
        
       | von_lohengramm wrote:
       | This _zooming in_ effect is really similar to how THC affects me
       | except it 's in reverse i.e. _zooming out_. In addition to this,
       | I am made a total observer who 's entirely out of control and
       | forced to watch myself thankfully act in character. It's an
       | incredibly uncomfortable feeling if I'm not in a comfortable &
       | safe environment.
        
       | pandigital wrote:
       | Seems to be inspired by Tom7's "You can't win this game, it
       | exists only to destroy your mind" [1]. Tom7 is like an indie
       | intellectual/artistic hero of mine. Be sure to check out his
       | other stuff. [2]
       | 
       | [1] http://entire.spacebar.org/ [2] http://www.tom7.org/
        
         | skymt wrote:
         | Perhaps the zooming presentation was, but the mechanical
         | inspiration was a different jam game, Sokosoko.
         | 
         | https://juner.itch.io/sokosoko
        
         | adzm wrote:
         | I really loved his approach to art -- crap art!
         | http://crapart.spacebar.org/
        
         | vanderZwan wrote:
         | Oh man, you just reminded me that he usually uploads something
         | around april fools so we have some new stuff to look forward to
         | soon
        
       | olejorgenb wrote:
       | I've played it. The mechanic is interesting and the game is
       | overall very well-polished. There's a free demo on Steam.
       | 
       | Another sokoban game with a twist:
       | https://store.steampowered.com/app/316610/A_Good_Snowman_Is_...
        
       | bussiere wrote:
       | sokoban <3
        
       | Stampo00 wrote:
       | I thought Baba Is You and Stephen's Sausage Roll broke my brain.
       | I'm ready to suck at this.
        
       | kej wrote:
       | This looks pretty good, and reminds me of Recursed, another
       | recursive puzzle game sitting in my backlog:
       | https://store.steampowered.com/app/497780/Recursed/
        
         | swsieber wrote:
         | I've played Recursed, and it's quite fun. This definitely gives
         | off the same feel, especially if you can squeeze one minimap
         | cube into another.
        
       | desmondw wrote:
       | Is there a mechanic I'm missing here? It just looks like sokoban
       | with recursive visuals.
       | 
       | EDIT: Apparently when you exit the side of the level with your
       | character, they appear on that side of the "level" block you are
       | pushing around.
        
         | dcre wrote:
         | There is more to it, but I would add we are in a golden age of
         | sokoban-likes, each with their own twists that make them worth
         | attention if you like the genre. A few of my favorites:
         | 
         | * Stephen's Sausage Roll
         | 
         | * Bonfire Peaks
         | 
         | * Baba Is You
         | 
         | * Sokobond
         | 
         | * A Good Snowman is Hard to Find
        
         | Zhyl wrote:
         | There's a lot more to it than that. I would sincerely recommend
         | playing the demo which does a good job of showcasing the
         | strengths of the game.
        
         | dymk wrote:
         | The mechanic is that it's recursive sokoban.
        
       | Zhyl wrote:
       | I'm not sure if it's still true, but for a while this game had
       | zero negative reviews on Steam.
       | 
       | I'm quite far in now, but I think there's still a while to go.
       | The game purportedly had 300+ puzzles.
       | 
       | More than anything I'm really enjoying how comprehensively the
       | rules are explored. There seems to be every permutation of rules
       | used in a puzzle somewhere and the number of different 'rules' or
       | 'ideas' that it gets out of a relatively simple premise is pretty
       | staggering - probably more than most sokoban games I've played.
       | 
       | On that note, I'm really enjoying the glut of quality puzzle
       | games recently. The Witness, Stephen's Sausage Roll, anything by
       | Alan Hezelden (Good Snowman, Cosmic Express, monsters
       | expedition), Bonfire Peaks, Pipe Push Paradise, Baba is You,
       | Recursed and more. It's a good time to be a puzzle gamer.
        
         | psyc wrote:
         | I think your 3rd paragraph is the highest praise a puzzle game
         | can receive. The most satisfying feeling when I'm playing a
         | game is when I think I grasp the scope of the rules, and then
         | they _go there with it_ , and I'm like oh no they did not...
        
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       (page generated 2022-03-31 23:00 UTC)