next »

[HiVE]

Pragmatica
Welcome to Progress

Pragmatica is a puzzle game based on logic, prediction and programming.

You feed robots with cause->effect instructions to get them to complete tasks such as reaching goals or moving and destroying stuff. Usually destroying stuff. The game is set against the backdrop of a controversial drive for total mechanisation of physical industry, spearheaded by the world leader in distributed autologistics and remote programming, Pragmatica, Inc.

Download page here

The game is more or less finished! ...except for maybe some usability tweaks, of course more actual content, and any well-observed pointers and criticisms from you good folks. The controls should be self-explanatory, but just in case:

Confirm - Mouse LEFT or Z,X,Enter
Cancel - Mouse RIGHT or C
Select - Mouse or Arrows,WASD

Quit - Escape
Insta-quit - Shift + Escape

There's also a full MapMaker in there, and we're hungry for user-created maps, so if you build anything nice, let us know. If you notice anything you don't like, make a noise about it and get it changed.

Thanks for reading. We hope you enjoy it!

P.S. TRAILER

[Widget]

The graphics are gorgeous and I'm a sucker for these sorts of puzzle games. Downoading now and I'll swing by again when I get a chance to play 

[Zaratustra]

Very nice. A couple of things though:

- Why do I have to click on the programming screen to program, then right click out of it? That seems extraneous.
- It would be really nice to have the options for a condition/action where they can be all seen at once, instead of having to click the left or right button a dozen times until I find the proper one.
- Having programs 1, 2, 3 and 4 for robot batches 1, 2, 3 and 4 is a bit confusing. Maybe change one of those to A, B, C and D?

[HiVE]

The graphics are gorgeous and I'm a sucker for these sorts of puzzle games.

Thanks, they're all hand-drawn, although it's not so obvious this time round... forgot to mention that.

- Why do I have to click on the programming screen to program, then right click out of it? That seems extraneous.

Originally because the function of the central button needs to change depending on whether you're inside the program or not, to display the selected symbol instead of the program index... it would indeed be better without this step but it may be prohibitively difficult to change now. Will have a look though...

>> On reflection, this is worth the effort. We'll try.

- It would be really nice to have the options for a condition/action where they can be all seen at once, instead of having to click the left or right button a dozen times until I find the proper one.

It's intended to ease the transition for new players, but for clever people like yourself who grasp the thing immediately... yes, we need something better. We'll look at putting in an overlay/toolbar which pops up where the tutorial texts were (docked to middle-bottom) when you edit the program. Thanks for the suggestion.

- Having programs 1, 2, 3 and 4 for robot batches 1, 2, 3 and 4 is a bit confusing. Maybe change one of those to A, B, C and D?

Yes! Good idea. Next version.

Thanks everyone!

[Fyren]

In the "coverup" level, you first get bombs but don't need to use them.  Giving every robot a see wall -> turn left command completes the level with instructions left over.  What's the intended solution?

[HiVE]

Hmm... that's true. That map was designed before the robot<->crate crash behaviour was updated to destroy the crate too, but we don't have the solution noted since we didn't design it. Will find out for you - can you find a solution by lifting the crates and crashing the robots somehow? That would be what was intended. Thanks for the spot!

Coming up: Bugfixes (lots; in-house tester = fired), UI improvements, some extra content with harder maps. Soon.

[Sean A.]

Amazing game. I love these kind of games, the audio and graphic are phenomenal. Really great game.

Edit: I just realized I said game a lot. 

[HiVE]

Glad you like it.

[HiVE]

Update! 13.03.2001

Lots of changes, and more content: two new contracts (copy your user-file to keep your progress with the old ones). The new symbol-selection box is shown above.

Download is here.

- Why do I have to click on the programming screen to program, then right click out of it? That seems extraneous.

Auto-open/close program option has been added to Settings.

- It would be really nice to have the options for a condition/action where they can be all seen at once

Also added to the Settings menu - 'advanced toolbox' option. You need to go to Settings and turn it on, but it doesn't appear for the training levels due to the message boxes etc.

- Having programs 1, 2, 3 and 4 for robot batches 1, 2, 3 and 4 is a bit confusing. Maybe change one of those to A, B, C and D?

Big change - the program/group assignment process has been removed, and the rules simplified. Now, Group 1 just uses Program 1, Group 2 uses Program 2, etc. Actually hardly any of the old or new maps ever used anything but this pattern, so we decided to remove the option to change it to keep things straightforward. Thanks for your feedback.

Other changes:

Code:

- 'Remember last-used programs' option in Settings - this behaviour is now optional.
- 'Clear program' button in MapMaker
- Fixed various robot priority/crashing errors
- Fixed a depth bug between bombs and startpoints
- Hazards, when activated, now destroy bombs sitting on them
- Status printout in bottom-left of GUI: Idle, Editing, etc.
- Different victory conditions added, mainly 'No robots from Group X escaped'
- 'TIER:' note in every contract to suggest difficulty.
- MapMaker hints for tile placement
- Fixed a bug in MapMaker with selected program changing

So, we think this is pretty much done. Any last-minute feedback or suggestions to improve the usability, especially of the MapMaker, or any user-created maps would be much appreciated!

Either way, release soon! Thanks, everyone!

[Gekko]

Interesting and fun game.

I found a bug: Devil and the Details, level 2

Objective: Guide the Group 1 robot to the exit

Instructions: (Spoiler, solution below)

Condition: See lit. Action: Continue, turn right
Condition: See wall. Action: Turn right
Condition: See crate. Action: Turn right, wait

You get to the exit, but the level keeps on running

[BravadoWaffle]

Just wanted to say this game looks amazing. It's like Carnage Heart all over again! Love it! Our own game is very similar to this and uses programming Robos to do your tasks. We focus more on the multiplayer competition opportunities that this kind of mechanic opens up, but we also have a story puzzle mode.

I think it's awesome, and I wish I had a windows box to play it!

[Spooner]

Download link is 404 for me

[Paul Eres]

me too, although i already downloaded it much earlier -- it seems to be hosted on chevyray's site rather than his site, so maybe chevy's site is down

[HiVE]

Chevy's site and ours are both fine - the problem is our own foolish inability to remember where we've put direct links to files we then update... sorry! Fixed.

Interesting and fun game.

I found a bug: Devil and the Details, level 2...

That's odd - sounds like a victory condition is missing. We'll check it out. Thanks for your feedback!

News for anyone who tried v1.1/1.0 and found the interface difficult: try v1.2. Nearly everything is different - and better.

[Spooner]

Thanks for fixing the link! I enjoyed playing the game a great deal.

I haven't played earlier versions, but I played through the two tutorials and half the first campaign. I sort of went overboard on comments; take or leave them as you like :D

* When I am programming, I'd rather have a menu (horizontal or vertical) open just by the program element I've clicked on, rather than having to move the mouse to the arrow buttons or the large menu at the bottom of the screen. If not that, moving the command menu to the top of the screen or a 3x5 box just to the right of the program window (where the code scrolly is) would be a boon.

* Scrolling the mouse should move through programming commands, just as left-right arrow does.

* Please put the description of the command in the tool-tip, since my eye is where the mouse is, not at the status description (which is currently just above the 'Exit' button).

* Having a 'cancel' command (to leave command as it was previously) would be nice or just cancelling a command change if I click somewhere else. Using right mouse to cancel is not really intuitive for me. This would also be a boon in all screens; I'd like to have the option to hit a back button somewhere, rather than only having the option for right-mouse/C to go back.

* Push the command tool-tip up if it would go off the bottom of the screen (occurs when mousing over the bottom half of the lower row of command icons).

* I found the continual flickering of the interface quite distracting, although I accept that it fits in with the art style. I'd like to be able to turn that effect off, or at least vastly reduce its frequency, in the options.

* The scrolling code window draws my attention while I'm playing. I'd like to be able to prevent that from scrolling (or make it scroll more smoothly or something) as an option.

* When playing a level, if I restart it, I can't work out how to re-read the instructions email. If there isn't already a way that I missed, being able to reshow that would be useful, in case I missed a hint in the text. Perhaps if I click on the objective text at the top right? This should also allow me to see the name of the level and campaign, without having to quit back to the menu and try to remember which level I was doing.

* Quitting a level should at least give me the option to go back to the main menu or go back to the contracts screen in the campaign I am in.

* The button-group lights might be improved if they had a progress bar (or multiple lights) underneath them that light up as each button is pressed. Not too important though.

* Clicking on one of a robot group entries on the map, should switch to that program on the left.

* 1-4 as short-cuts to the programming groups, please.

* I got a bit confused by hold buttons being upside-down toggle buttons. 'T' works for Toggle, but upside-down-T for Hold doesn't work for me. 'H' instead?

* Not really sure why on some levels all robot groups activate at the start, whereas on other levels, they only activate after the other group has exited. Perfectly good mechanics, but I just can't tell which type of level it is until I start the program. Later: Ah, I realised that groups enter at the start if they have a glowing border, after the previous if they do not have a border. Perhaps point this out more clearly in the tutorials; there are two tutorial levels call "Revelation" that show the difference, but it immediately wasn't obvious why the entrances were acting like that.