You have 20 minutes before the sun blows up
March 18, 2015 6:10 PM Subscribe
Outer Wilds begins around a fire, like so many of the best stories do. When you step towards the crackling flames, you're offered a surprisingly whimsical option: press X to roast a marshmallow. Why not? You transform the sugary orb into a ball of flame. When you step back, however, you see that the world is about to get far, far bigger than a campfire, or even a planet. You're sitting at the base of a rocketship, as a nearby engineer explains that you're the astronaut about to blast off into space.
All you need are the launch codes, and after a leisurely detour through your home planet where you pick up a few essential piloting skills, you suit up, buckle in, and launch your craft triumphantly into space, ready to explore the wonders of the universe.
Then the sun explodes.
The game is currently under development, but a demo is available for Mac, PC, or Linux. A gamepad is recommended.
I figure there's going to be a great puzzle solution involving that roasted marshmallow; better hang onto it in my inventory...
posted by Renoroc at 6:22 PM on March 18, 2015 [10 favorites]
posted by Renoroc at 6:22 PM on March 18, 2015 [10 favorites]
My coworker is part of the dev team for this, it's been a side project for them since grad school. They were amazed to win the Independent Games Festival Grand Prize last week over some really strong competition.
The demo is really just a pre-alpha build they had sitting accessible on their server that some people found and it just started picking up steam on its own without any marketing.
Anyways, I got around to trying it last week and it's pretty cool, think N64 Zelda meets Kerbal Space Program-lite meets that Minecraft sense of venturing into the unknown.
posted by JauntyFedora at 6:35 PM on March 18, 2015 [1 favorite]
The demo is really just a pre-alpha build they had sitting accessible on their server that some people found and it just started picking up steam on its own without any marketing.
Anyways, I got around to trying it last week and it's pretty cool, think N64 Zelda meets Kerbal Space Program-lite meets that Minecraft sense of venturing into the unknown.
posted by JauntyFedora at 6:35 PM on March 18, 2015 [1 favorite]
Ohhh! I tried this game a while ago and thought it was really cool. It does some seriously WILD things with depth perception. As in, when you fly towards a planet, you're like, "LOL look at that beach ball floating in front of me", then you're flying into a beach ball, then all of a sudden WHOA how is the beach ball bigger than me and I'm on a planet?! It's a really, really weird effect, not sure how to describe it, if it's an optical illusion, or actually intentional. Basically messes with your sense of distance / speed.
posted by pravit at 6:41 PM on March 18, 2015
posted by pravit at 6:41 PM on March 18, 2015
I figure there's going to be a great puzzle solution involving that roasted marshmallow; better hang onto it in my inventory...
The tricky part is that you will need to both have the marshmallow and have no marshmallow at the same time.
posted by Atom Eyes at 6:59 PM on March 18, 2015 [16 favorites]
The tricky part is that you will need to both have the marshmallow and have no marshmallow at the same time.
posted by Atom Eyes at 6:59 PM on March 18, 2015 [16 favorites]
does that mean I'm going to have to get another babel fish EVERY TIME the sun explodes
posted by DoctorFedora at 7:07 PM on March 18, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by DoctorFedora at 7:07 PM on March 18, 2015 [4 favorites]
Sorry, but this sounds too much like a no-win scenario, and well, you know how I feel about those.
posted by KHAAAN! at 7:13 PM on March 18, 2015 [14 favorites]
posted by KHAAAN! at 7:13 PM on March 18, 2015 [14 favorites]
Between this and No Man's Sky, I am about to be become the happiest camper ever. This literally what I dreamed of doing when I was kid-- exploring outer space, discovering "strange, new worlds." These are probably going to do for me what nothing else has done for me before-- turn me into a gamer.
posted by KingEdRa at 7:18 PM on March 18, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by KingEdRa at 7:18 PM on March 18, 2015 [4 favorites]
Just as long as you have your towel, you'll be fine.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 7:28 PM on March 18, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 7:28 PM on March 18, 2015 [6 favorites]
Then the sun explodes.
That reminds me of my favorite Astronomy Picture Of the Day, one so awesome that the next day, they had to follow up with just that.
posted by radwolf76 at 8:08 PM on March 18, 2015 [3 favorites]
That reminds me of my favorite Astronomy Picture Of the Day, one so awesome that the next day, they had to follow up with just that.
posted by radwolf76 at 8:08 PM on March 18, 2015 [3 favorites]
It will soon be pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue. While slathered in chocolate and sandwiched between two large graham crackers.
posted by not_on_display at 8:39 PM on March 18, 2015 [7 favorites]
posted by not_on_display at 8:39 PM on March 18, 2015 [7 favorites]
Anyways, I got around to trying it last week and it's pretty cool, think N64 Zelda meets Kerbal Space Program-lite meets that Minecraft sense of venturing into the unknown.
With the sun exploding, it seems much more Majora's Mask than Ocarina of Time.
posted by murphy slaw at 9:05 PM on March 18, 2015 [1 favorite]
With the sun exploding, it seems much more Majora's Mask than Ocarina of Time.
posted by murphy slaw at 9:05 PM on March 18, 2015 [1 favorite]
Oh man, this is neat. I really really like the "probe" mechanic; it lets you get a general view of an area before you venture forward, without completely removing the need to take risks.
posted by teraflop at 11:01 PM on March 18, 2015
posted by teraflop at 11:01 PM on March 18, 2015
I love love love this game. There are so many subtle design touches in it that don't bash you over the head with game design, which is really refreshing, and I suspect hard to pull off. I chatted with the devs at gdc this year, and was really happy to hear that they are going to be keeping the graphics mostly the same for the full launch. I was pretty concerned that they were going to go into full graphics mode after winning igf.
posted by jonbro at 9:44 AM on March 19, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by jonbro at 9:44 AM on March 19, 2015 [1 favorite]
This looks really interesting, I should... using an Xbox 360 controller is highly recommended unless you really enjoy flying into the sun.
Nevermind.
posted by Splunge at 11:08 AM on March 19, 2015
Nevermind.
posted by Splunge at 11:08 AM on March 19, 2015
If you stop by a Goodwill or flea market, pick up a wired 360 controller. I got mine for $10. Say what you will about the Xbox 360 or console gaming, but having a widely used, well-built controller that works with most games is really nice after dealing with serial ports and impossible to understand button mappings in the 90s.
This game is pretty incredible. I wonder what the goal for the final game is. I could see it going in a lot of directions. As it is now, I'm having a lot of fun with it. If the final version had decent modding tools to make your own planets/ships and multiplayer server support to play around a solar system of your friend's planets, that could make for a really fun community around the game.
posted by mccarty.tim at 11:42 AM on March 19, 2015
This game is pretty incredible. I wonder what the goal for the final game is. I could see it going in a lot of directions. As it is now, I'm having a lot of fun with it. If the final version had decent modding tools to make your own planets/ships and multiplayer server support to play around a solar system of your friend's planets, that could make for a really fun community around the game.
posted by mccarty.tim at 11:42 AM on March 19, 2015
Yep. Its not super tied in to the OS and working on literally everything made in the past decade that isn't like, Starcraft like it is on windows, but it works without any hackery or weird driver shenanigans on any app that wants a controller or can accept one as far as I've seen.
posted by emptythought at 3:15 PM on March 19, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by emptythought at 3:15 PM on March 19, 2015 [1 favorite]
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