miegakure
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Miegakure solves puzzles, breaks your brain in the 4th dimension
At first glance, Miegakure is just a simple puzzle-infused platformer with a crisp, colorful Japanese setting. That is, until you stumble upon its central mechanic. At the press of a button, the world seems to fold in on itself, collapsing and expanding like an accordion until a new, different world appears (just watch the trailer). Sometimes this new world contains slices of the old one, sometimes it's completely different. Developer Marc ten Bosch's explanation to me made sense, even if I didn't fully understand it: In Miegakure, you get to play with four dimensions, not just three. Throughout the game, you can swap one of the current three dimensions for the fourth. If you've ever tried to comprehend rotation in four dimensions, you might be familiar with the mind-rending confusion that Miegakure can inspire. That said, I was able to intuit the solutions to Miegakure's puzzles, even if I didn't understand the principles at work. Bosch told me he's perfectly fine with that. "See, the thing that's really interesting to me, is that we've tried to build this game where you can play it and just get a feel for what the fourth dimension is like, without necessarily understanding what the math is," he said. "I sort of see it as like a toy ball. Like, you throw the ball, and you know what's going to happen to it, but that doesn't necessarily mean that you know the math and understand gravity in a very deep way." Miegakure is planned for PC, Mac, Linux and "another console." The release date hasn't been set. [Image: Marc ten Bosch]
Boston Indie Showcase participants selected for PAX East
The Penny Arcade Expo is mixing things up a bit for its inaugural east coast occurrence -- the annual showcase of independent games will now focus on local flavors. According to an update on the PAX East site, the Boston Indie Showcase (which attendees can spot on the show floor at Booth 117) will offer six games the chance to be prominently displayed at a major gaming event without "eating into their elusive indie budgets." Here's a list of the games which made the cut, along with links to additional info. Slam Bolt Scrappers - Fire Hose Games AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! - Dejobaan Games Dearth - MIT Gambit Game Lab Waker - MIT Gambit Game Lab Turba - Keith Morgado Miegakure - Marc ten Bosch
