next »

[saimo]

Hi all,

to celebrate the end of the year that has seen the birth of BOH, the collection of expansions grows with a brand-new, claustrophobically oppressive theme: "underground".
The theme can be downloaded for free from the DOWNLOADS page of the official website.



This is also a good occasion to present the Instant Reward Initiative: graphic artists have the chance to get a free copy of BOH! For details and to take part to the initiative, please surf to the official thread on Mod DB.

Happy New Year!

[deathtotheweird]

Downloaded/played and loved it! Very awesome theme, I like it a lot.

[saimo]

Downloaded/played and loved it! Very awesome theme, I like it a lot.

* saimo feels happy and satisfied

[Eclipse]

same here it's my new favourite one just next to Castle

[saimo]

same here it's my new favourite one just next to Castle

* saimo feels even happier and more satisfied!

[chischis]

I have one request, and this is currently stopping me from buying the game:
I realise this is supposed to be "old-school", but not being able to restart a mission from a specific phase is just a "d*ck move" as far as I'm concerned.  I got stuck behind an auto passage that wouldn't open in phase 3 of "tricker and tricker" (or whatever that demo mish is called), and when I pressed ESC then a button to restart, only to find I had to start the whole mission again...

Quit.  Sorry.

[saimo]

Hi chischis,

first of all, thanks for playing the demo
I won't argue your preferences (of course, you're totally entitled to them), so I'll just give you my point of view.

A key concept of the game is: you can start any mission at any time, but once the choice is made, you have to complete it in one go. No partial/temporary state saving of any kind. As you correctly note, this is part of the oldskool mindset (and still it's nowhere close to the challenges that gamers had to face in the good ol' times). This forces the player to always think twice, to always pay attention to every little detail, to stay constantly concentrated. It's demanding... and rewarding

Another thing to consider is the reason why phases exist. Their point is to give the player a break and to introduce a feeling of progression, which is otherwise impaired by the fact that the mission choice is totally free. But still they're part of the bigger scheme of whole missions, which obey to the logic described above. There's nothing more to phases than this.
On the other hand, if it were possible to restart from the last phase the difference between missions and phases would blur too much.

That said, please consider also that:
 * missions have been designed taking into account all the elements the game is made of, including phases: this means that multi-phase missions are not automatically hard/frustating (there are multi-phase missions easier than single-phase ones and viceversa);
 * although, at first, the thought of having to play again the previous phases might be discomforting, usually it's not that demanding (and can be also useful, as it allows to improve one's performance and to arrive to the next phases in better conditions): f.ex., relatively to "tougher and tougher" mission you're referring to, returning to exactly the point where you got stuck only requires about 2 minutes and a half (less than half a minute for the first phase, and about 2 minutes for the second one);
 * currently the full version has 33 missions of all degrees of difficulty, so there's plenty to have fun with, even if certain missions might seem/be impossible (by the way: there are guys who managed to finish all of them - and, for some missions, they did need to resort to oldskool tools like pencil and paper ).

As a closing note, let me say that, more in general, BOH is not a game to be afraid of: yes, the "no pain, no gain" rule... rules (), but the final experience is definitely pleasing thanks to the feeling of accomplishment that modern "enjoy for free" lifestyle/phylosophy cannot give.

[anosou]

Well this game certainly looks tasty. I love that there's an option for a physical copy, I tip my hat to you 

I'll try out the demo and come the 15th I might pick a copy up

[chischis]

Saimo, I appreciate the reply, in fact I didn't expect anything so detailed and eloquent, so thank you!

I shall attempt the level again when I'm "fresher", but leaving aside the "starting from scratch" argument I'm now perhaps more miffed at the possibility of doors locking me in a room without a method of exit (because I shouldn't be in that room yet?). I've encoutered a couple of stages where I thought this was the case and had to start again... is there something I've missed?  These "automatic" doors need another method used to open them?  It was in the final demo mission where, on stage 3, I reached one of these and it forced my hand.

If anything, it's the thought of having to start an entire mission from scratch due to an unwinnable situation that bothers me the most...

[deathtotheweird]

It's not impossible. And you're not alone with hating those darn one way passages. The way I deal with them is to NEVER enter them unless I am damn sure I do not need to go back. And once you do a phase it's not too difficult to do it again.

[chischis]

Is there some trick to knowing pre-emptively which are one-way doors?  I'm sorry but this is a very "dodgy" game mechanic if you ask me, and it's a thin line between being old-school and just being backwards and frustrating.  Which is a shame, I love the concept of the game, otherwise.

[saimo]

Well this game certainly looks tasty. I love that there's an option for a physical copy, I tip my hat to you  

Thank you, thank you

I'll try out the demo

Enjoy!

and come the 15th I might pick a copy up

That would be wonderful, of course

[saimo]

Saimo, I appreciate the reply, in fact I didn't expect anything so detailed and eloquent, so thank you!

You're welcome!

I shall attempt the level again when I'm "fresher",

Yes, that's a good idea - indeed, one thing that I forgot to add to my previous answer is that the fact that missions can be played in any order allows players to temporarily forget about that last damn mission without having to stop playing altogether: this not only washes away the feeling of frustration, but also makes for a good training (at least as long as the player isn't expert already)
Of course, this can't be experienced with the demo due to the limited number of missions.

but leaving aside the "starting from scratch" argument I'm now perhaps more miffed at the possibility of doors locking me in a room without a method of exit (because I shouldn't be in that room yet?). I've encoutered a couple of stages where I thought this was the case and had to start again... is there something I've missed?  These "automatic" doors need another method used to open them?  It was in the final demo mission where, on stage 3, I reached one of these and it forced my hand.

The automatic passages remain shut forever. So, the right way to deal with them is the one suggested by allen in his reply: never cross them as long as you haven't explored the rest of the maze as extensively as possible and you haven't done all that you could do first.

If anything, it's the thought of having to start an entire mission from scratch due to an unwinnable situation that bothers me the most...

I must say, I had a feeling that this was the true "problem" and that's why I included a general note in my previous reply. The answer is connected to what I have already said - please excuse me if I simply quote an entry of the FAQ, but I'd end up saying the same things just in a different way:

Q: Sometimes making the wrong choice leads to a no-way-out situation, forcing the player to abort and retry: this is unacceptable, especially when there are no elements to take a decision!
A: One of the key components of BOH is puzzles. More precisely, exploration mixed with and based on puzzles. If one was allowed to always find the way out no matter the choices, what would be the point? Where would be the real challenge? The gameplay would only become much less rich - again, BOH is not a shooter.
That said, most of the times there actually are clues (maybe just not so obvious) and/or maps are laid out according to a certain logic: by paying attention to these aspects, the player can make educated guesses.
It is true, however, that sometimes (most commonly in the missions labelled "very hard") it is just a matter of trial and error: that is acceptable thanks to the fact that the player can freely retry whenever he/she feels like or ignore the missions that contain such aspect and enjoy the other ones.

[saimo]

It's not impossible. And you're not alone with hating those darn one way passages. The way I deal with them is to NEVER enter them unless I am damn sure I do not need to go back. And once you do a phase it's not too difficult to do it again.

Totally correct

[saimo]

Is there some trick to knowing pre-emptively which are one-way doors?

No, no trick... or better, no need to resort to tricks, as each passage has its own unique aspect (f.ex., check out page 16 of the user's manual)
Moreover, automatic passages (which are a different from one-way ones, although there are functional similarities) are the only ones that are already open (whereas all the other passages need to be opened, first). It all boils down to learning how each kind of passage looks like.

I'm sorry but this is a very "dodgy" game mechanic if you ask me, and it's a thin line between being old-school and just being backwards and frustrating.  Which is a shame, I love the concept of the game, otherwise.

Well, the core of the game concept is puzzles and the various kinds of passages are key elements to it. If I removed or simply did not include any of them the gameplay would be less interesting - and, if I removed puzzles altogether, BOH would be just a poor shooter. It's just a matter of learning all the basic aspects of the game: it isn't that complicated and requires just a little of practice.
The real difficulty doesn't come from the game mechanics themselves, but from the layout of mission maps (that's why missions are divided into 5 levels of difficulty).

By the way, here are a couple of suggestions:
 * since each theme depicts the passages, power-ups, etc. in its own distinctive way, play the "tutorial" missions (those numbered from 0 to 4) with the various themes to find out the theme that you're most comfortable with;
 * unless you've already done so, read thoroughly the  user's manual - it illustrates some important aspects that might not be that evident.

I hope this helps.

[chischis]

Saimo, thanks AGAIN for the extensive replies (!), I guess it's just one of the "mechanics" of the game that has to be learned.  I did realise that the game identifies every door as you approach it, so it IS easy to tell which type of door you're about to enter.  So I've definitely revised my opinion.  I'll have another go at the game later.

BOH's mechanics aside, I'm really pleased to see here in 2010 someone like yourself put so much effort into a game, right down to the case/manual art and such.  I haven't had many chances to buy "truly" independant games any more, and this makes a refreshing change.  (I'm just about old enough to remember the days of Amstrads and Commodores and £1.99 for a cassette... blimey)

[saimo]

Saimo, thanks AGAIN for the extensive replies (!),

I'm glad you appreciate them, but - believe me - I'm doing nothing special: your questions deserve an answer and I do know that my game requires some effort to come to grips with it.

I guess it's just one of the "mechanics" of the game that has to be learned.  I did realise that the game identifies every door as you approach it, so it IS easy to tell which type of door you're about to enter.  So I've definitely revised my opinion.  I'll have another go at the game later.

That's just great
Of course, if eventually BOH turns out not to be your kind of game, well, no problem: I don't have the presumption to have made the right game for everybody

BOH's mechanics aside, I'm really pleased to see here in 2010 someone like yourself put so much effort into a game, right down to the case/manual art and such.  I haven't had many chances to buy "truly" independant games any more, and this makes a refreshing change.

I'm absolutely happy you appreciate also such aspect.

(I'm just about old enough to remember the days of Amstrads and Commodores and £1.99 for a cassette... blimey)

Ah, great, than you definitely know what playing hard games, without saving and with huge loading times means - /me thinks of Last Ninja 2 and feels the warmth of pleasant memories flooding his veins

[saimo]

Hi all!

Could 2010 be devoid of surprises for BOH players? Of course no

Today sees the release of update9, which:
 * adds secret missions, i.e. missions that remain hidden until one or more other missions are completed;
 * reworks hidden passages so that they follow the orientation of barriers and are / can be perfectly unified with them;
 * re-adds trembling to fixed lights;
 * improves video modes suggestions by indicating also the optimal zoom factors;
 * forces recalculation of global time also when 0:00;
 * retouches themes;
 * improves missions "getting started" and "unequal alternatives";
 * fixes mission "watch your step!" (it had been left in a test/altered state);
 * fixes pits near barriers (in some cases they may have looked weird);
 * adds two new missions;
 * adds the latest expansions;
 * updates the manuals;
 * applies various other changes.

The update can be downloaded for free from the DOWNLOADS page of the official website.
The demos have been updated to reflect the changes.

Please also note that, on this occasion, all the other update packages have been reworked: besides better installers/updaters, they now include also all the expansions, so that it is no longer necessary to install the latter manually.

[CiroContinisio]

I played this game a lot last year... it's very good and very challenging! The good old challenge of the good old days!
Good old awesome. 

[saimo]

I played this game a lot last year... it's very good and very challenging! The good old challenge of the good old days!
Good old awesome.