Manifold Garden

Manifold Garden
Developer(s) William Chyr
Platform(s) Windows, MacOS, Linux, PlayStation 4
Release TBA 2018
Genre(s) First-person puzzle game

Manifold Garden is an in-development indie first-person puzzle video game developed by American artist William Chyr. It is planned for release on Windows, MacOS, Linux and PlayStation 4 in 2018.[1] Taking place in a non-Euclidean world, the player must navigate an abstract series of structures.

Gameplay

In Manifold Garden, the game environment repeats itself such that players who fall from a platform fall into another instance of the same structure

The game takes place in a "universe with a different set of physical laws" where the player can manipulate gravity, being able to "turn walls into floors".[2] The player must solve puzzles using the world's geometry in addition to devices within the architecture of the world.[2] Because of this, many puzzles revolve around falling off a ledge and traveling somewhere else after the world wraps back on itself.[3] Later puzzles will involve growing trees and natural elements to bring life back to the "sterile" world.[1]

Development

William Chyr

The game was initially created when its creator, William Chyr, who had a passion for large-scale artwork and was previously known for massive balloon sculptures. Seeking to change his work with sculptures, and finding other mediums cost-prohibitive, he decided to move to a video game with no space limitations.[3] The game was originally known as Relativity, after the M.C. Escher print Relativity upon which it was based, before it was re-revealed as Manifold Garden.[3]

The development of the game has taken five years so far despite it initially being intended as a small game. Chyr has stated that he may leave game development after it is released, due to art games not being financially sustainable. He estimates that the game would have to sell at least 40,000 units to be successful and not a "total disaster" financially. He stated that a lack of experience cost him a year or two of development time, and the development time was protracted by its scope, which was realistically large enough to require three developers.[4]

The game's inspirations include Starseed Pilgrim, Infinifactory, Portal, as well as the film Inception.[3][1] The game was also intended as a metaphor for the last 400 years of physics discoveries.[1]

Reception

Manifold Garden was called "beautifully hypnotic" by Philippa Warr of Rock, Paper, Shotgun.[2] Nathan Grayson of Kotaku called the game "incredibly pretty" and "damn cool", remarking that the game "broke" his brain.[5]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Farokhmanesh, Megan (2016-06-23). "Manifold Garden takes Inception's twisting architecture and turns it into a puzzle". Polygon. Retrieved 2018-04-11.
  2. 1 2 3 "Manifold Garden Is So Beautiful Right Now". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. 2016-05-17. Retrieved 2018-04-11.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Cameron, Phill. "How Manifold Garden makes reality fold back on itself". Retrieved 2018-04-11.
  4. ↑ "Tending the Manifold Garden". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 2018-04-11.
  5. ↑ Grayson, Nathan. "Manifold Garden, An Incredibly Pretty Puzzle Game". Kotaku. Retrieved 2018-04-11.

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