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[slarti88]

This is a fantastic decision. Manifold garden is mysterious and beautiful. Some of us (me at-least) who don't know our physics very well will look at Relativity and think, "Oh didn't Einstein have a theory about that? Which must mean this game is about time-travel!" So yeah the name manifold garden enhances the beauty of your game manifold

[Anorak]

What sort of price and system requirements will this game have?

[valrus]

"Manifold Garden" is much better.  Even aside from the other reasons, I couldn't keep straight the arty first-person puzzlers with one-word abstract-noun names.  I would be saying "Which one is Relativity?  Is the the one that wraps around?  Or is that Perspective?  No, I think it's Parallax.  Or Polarity?"  (At least it didn't start with "P".  Almost all of the FPPs in my library start with P or Q

[ProgramGamer]

Woah, when did the name change happen, I've been away from this thread for a while! O_o

[William Chyr]

It's a much better name! It also works because it can be read as a garden of manifolds, as in rose garden, or a garden which is folded in on itself (manifold as adjective vs noun).

I'm just missing the "William Chyr's" : (

Yep! Garden folded in on itself is actually really appropriate. There's still one more mechanic I haven't revealed which would make it make sense.

Sorry to hear you didn't get into IndieCade. This looks amazing though! I look forward to playing it someday! :-)

I'm not too concerned about IndieCade. Would love to hear what you think of it one day!

This is a fantastic decision. Manifold garden is mysterious and beautiful. Some of us (me at-least) who don't know our physics very well will look at Relativity and think, "Oh didn't Einstein have a theory about that? Which must mean this game is about time-travel!" So yeah the name manifold garden enhances the beauty of your game manifold

Yep. Everyone associates relativity with Einsteins' theory. It didn't really make sense to fight that.

What sort of price and system requirements will this game have?

Don't know about price yet. We're still working on optimization so will get back to you on system requirements closer to launch.

"Manifold Garden" is much better.  Even aside from the other reasons, I couldn't keep straight the arty first-person puzzlers with one-word abstract-noun names.  I would be saying "Which one is Relativity?  Is the the one that wraps around?  Or is that Perspective?  No, I think it's Parallax.  Or Polarity?"  (At least it didn't start with "P".  Almost all of the FPPs in my library start with P or Q

Ah yes! Excellent point. That was actually another count against Relativity. There are sooooo many single word abstract names. A  lot of people thought my game was 'Perspective. So ya, Portal, Perspective, Parallax, Polarity...

Woah, when did the name change happen, I've been away from this thread for a while! O_o

It only happened last week!

[Logicscream]

Very beautiful game. art itself makes me emotionally attached.

[William Chyr]

Very beautiful game. art itself makes me emotionally attached.

Wonderful!

It makes me so happy to hear that, especially since during the early days, so much of the feedback I received was that the game looked too generic.

[William Chyr]

Devlog Update #248 - 09/23/2015

Development Timelapse - So far

I've taken close to 10,000 screenshots over the course of Manifold Garden's development.

Here is all of them in a timelapse video:

[William Chyr]

Devlog Update #249 - 09/24/2015

Comparison of SSAA and SSAA + SMAA



The SMAA shader I'm using is this one from Chman: https://github.com/Chman/SMAA-Unity

As you can see, it actually works quite well, and makes a better line than SSAA alone.

[deab]

Is that the Unity included SSAA? Are you now running both? I recently switched to the very same SMAA, but I removed the Unity SSAA.

Must admit I didn't try running both together, your use case is somewhat more demanding.

[William Chyr]

Is that the Unity included SSAA? Are you now running both? I recently switched to the very same SMAA, but I removed the Unity SSAA.

Must admit I didn't try running both together, your use case is somewhat more demanding.

It's not the Unity included SSAA. It's one I got off of the asset store. I might switch to another SSAA though.

[troyduguid]

Hey Willy, I've been lurking your devlog for a while, but it never occurred to me I haven't posted, so just saying I am a big fan of your project and your devlog has been of great inspiration to me.

I particularly like how your background as an installation artist is so present throughout Manifold Garden, and something I've found interesting is how dedicated you've become to game design and mechanics - is this something you thought about in your previous artistic work at all? Was Manifold Garden at any point going to be less goal-orientated, or were you always enthusiastic about creating puzzles for your audience?
Anyway, hope you are feeling a bit less down then your post a week or so ago.

- troy

[Ninety]

Might have missed this William, but is Manifold Garden now using Unity 5? If so, how did you find the transition?

[William Chyr]

Hey Willy, I've been lurking your devlog for a while, but it never occurred to me I haven't posted, so just saying I am a big fan of your project and your devlog has been of great inspiration to me.

I particularly like how your background as an installation artist is so present throughout Manifold Garden, and something I've found interesting is how dedicated you've become to game design and mechanics - is this something you thought about in your previous artistic work at all? Was Manifold Garden at any point going to be less goal-orientated, or were you always enthusiastic about creating puzzles for your audience?
Anyway, hope you are feeling a bit less down then your post a week or so ago.

- troy

Thanks so much for letting me know! Really appreciate it. As an indie dev, all of this support really means a lot.

I actually had never thought about game design in my previous work, though I did think a lot about systems. I think it's because I had studied physics and had worked in several research labs, so my brain is just kind of wired that way. It wasn't quite in the context of game mechanics, but I think on an abstract level, they're sort of the same.

The game was always going to be centered around puzzles, but my philosophy towards them have shifted quite a bit. The puzzles exist primarily to highlight moments of discovery, and not necessarily to test the player... if that makes sense.

Was I feeling down a week ago? Game dev, it's a roller coaster!

Might have missed this William, but is Manifold Garden now using Unity 5? If so, how did you find the transition?

I actually switched to Unity 5 at the beginning of 2015. There were a few key issues, especially early on, when Unity was still ironing out things. The biggest hurdle for me is getting used to the new UI, but I the performance is much better.

[William Chyr]

Devlog Update #250 - 09/28/2015

Back from TwitchCon. Very eye opening experience. Will write about it some more soon.

In the meantime, here's the early stage of a tree generator that David has been working on:

[TinyAngryCrab]

Devlog Update #250 - 09/28/2015

Back from TwitchCon. Very eye opening experience. Will write about it some more soon.

Are you finally ready to let twitch copypasta into your heart?

[dukope]

Just dropping in to say that A) looking good, as always, and B) "Manifold Garden" is a great, great name. A thorough homerun.

[YaW]

Manifold Garden is a fantastic, evocative name. Great change and great game. Congrats!

[William Chyr]

Just dropping in to say that A) looking good, as always, and B) "Manifold Garden" is a great, great name. A thorough homerun.

Thanks so much, Lucas! That means a lot!

Manifold Garden is a fantastic, evocative name. Great change and great game. Congrats!

Thank you YaW! Really glad to hear that. I like that the name already conjectures an image in your mind, even if you didn't know anything about the game, whereas 'Relativity' doesn't really set the right image.

[de11ed]

Holy moly! This looks so damn good! No, no need to worry about it looking to generic. It sorta reminds me of it being a beautiful painting actually. And the name, which someone here already pointed out, is great. Feels very mysterious and intriguing.

Will be following this very closely!