This is not necessarily Braid news. If you don’t do any Linux programming then you may want to skip this posting!

I’m trying to do some basic game stuff under Linux and don’t really know what a reasonable way is to do them, and the cost of experimentation is very high. So I am hoping someone out there can just answer these basic questions…

• What is a reasonable way to read mouse input? Reading X11 mouse events is not sufficient since (a) it’s had GUI acceleration applied to it, and (b) it clamps at the edges of the screen. libGII seems to be one way to do this — is it reliable and useful? Can I “ship” a game with it (to the extent that anything is shippable at all under Linux)? Are there alternatives?
• Under X11, is there a way to constrain the mouse pointer to a window without other undesirable effects (such as stealing the focus and locking the GUI)? Last time I tried this (a couple of years ago) I couldn’t figure out a way to do it.
• For audio output, should I be using ALSA or something else? In a past project I used SDL but the SDL audio API seemed quite lacking for serious game programming.

Thanks!

David Hellman has put together a very nice collection of Braid graphics called the Braid Graphics Briefcase. This collection contains a bunch of icons you can use as forum avatars, or program launch icons, or … anything! It’s also got some screenshots and a giant desktop wallpaper. And more.

Here is a small taste of what’s available on that page:

This complete set includes all of the Xbox 360 Gamer Pics that shipped with the Xbox Live Arcade release of Braid, and many images that were not included in those. (For fans of the dinosaur, he’s included this time.)

It’s always troubled me how willing people are to accept in-game advertising. Advertising in general bothers me deeply, but whenever I try to explain the problem, I never feel satisfied with my explanation.

Perhaps a little bit of ranting makes all the difference. This week on their podcast, Jeff Roberts and Casey Muratori explained the situation very well. (Both Jeff and Casey are in the credits for Braid, for those looking for a Braid connection here).

If you are interested in the future of games, and for some reason you don’t think advertising is bad, please listen to the following excerpt:

(Yes, David Perry, you too.)

Here’s a direct-download link if you want to save the mp3.

Early in this discussion, Casey refers to Sut Jhally’s lecture “How TV Exploits its Audience”, which is available for a small fee at this link. Or, here is a Sut Jhally web site with some free clips.

If you liked this discussion, you may wish to visit: The main page for The Jeff and Casey Show, where you can download any of the episodes (28 so far!).

As a special bonus, as mentioned in the excerpt, here’s David Lynch’s opinion on the matter:

Paul Arzt conducted this interview with Jonathan Blow in late 2007 at the Montreal International Game Summit. Due to the unpredictability of Web-based freelancing, the interview never found publication until now.

The interview discusses some of the design philosophy behind Braid, why innovation in game design isn’t so important, life as an indie developer, and ideas about where we can go when pushing on the boundaries of game design.

(Note: The MMO project hinted at, at the end of this interview, is not the post-Braid project any more. Since then I had an idea for a project I am much more motivated to pursue.)

Ryan Davis of GiantBomb.com has done a video review of Braid. He does a great job of explaining the game, in just 3 minutes. If anyone out there is still saying stuff like, “That game just looks like a Super Mario rip-off”, point them at this video!

(It looks like this video is going to overlap the sidebar of this blog, but hey, I’ll embed it anyway.)

(Link to the original page, with user comments, is here).

(This is the bug that happens if you try to run Braid from a different console than the one you bought it on, and it thinks it’s the free version instead of the full game).

As comment poster Seth said:

SUCCESS!!
Using Infininja’s advice, I used the license migration tool on xbox.com. Once that was done, I booted up Braid but it was still a demo, well, you have to delete the game and re-download it. Now it runs in full/bought mode!

Wooohoo!

Also, Rob Crippin says:

I have another workaround for the bug…

Let the game start up normally then hit the start button to go to the menu. Go down to “Unlock Full Game,” press A, then just hit B (doesn’t have to be done quickly) to back out of the Dashboard menu. The “Unlock Full Game” option disappears. After that, go to “Exit Game” and then to the sign-in screen to get your save back.

It sounds complicated but it’s safe and only takes a few seconds. It works for me, anyway.

We’re still working on a permanent fix, but that will take some time; even after I fix the problem locally, we need to go through another certification process.

Braid has now been out on Xbox Live Arcade for an entire week, and the week has been a good success. The wave of highly-positive reviews took me by surprise, but the unexpectedly good sales show that this isn’t just a game for critics: a lot of people out there are playing Braid and getting good things from it.

I want to thank everyone for their support over the past week: whether by buying the game, telling friends about it, or just posting here with thoughts about Braid, it has all contributed to a successful launch. I hope this will serve as a useful data point for other independent developers: we can make games that are unusual, experimental, or personal, and there’s a substantial audience out there who will play and enjoy them.

Here are some numbers:

As I write this, there are 62,242 entries on the main leaderboards. I don’t have official sales numbers for the full week, but I would guess about 55,000 people have bought the game so far.

18,141 have completed the game (or at least gotten 60 puzzle pieces, since that is what the leaderboard shows).

528 people have completed the Full Game Speed Run. Of these, 238 have beaten the challenge time, and thus gotten all 200 Achievement points that you can get from Braid on Xbox Live.

Thousands of people have been playing the single-level speed runs. There are 5,098 people on the Leap of Faith speed run leaderboard, for example.

Sales are now slower than they were on launch day, but not too much: the sales didn’t just die after the first few days, as they do with some games. As a result, it looks like I will be able to make the next game, without needing to get a job that would interfere with that. (The estimated sales so far of 55,000 are not enough for this, but extrapolating into the future, the situation looks safe). Thank you, once again, for making that possible.

An open question now is whether sales will drop more steeply now that Bionic Commando: Rearmed is the new game on Xbox Live Arcade. I hope not, but we’ll see! If you have any friends who you think may enjoy Braid, please do let them know about it — perhaps while they are playing Bionic Commando, they can also try out the Braid demo.

Inevitably with software, problems happen. There are (at least) two bugs in the current version of Braid available on Xbox Live; I am talking to Microsoft about how to fix them.

The first bug is that, if you play the game on a different console than the one you bought it on, the game may get confused and think it is the free demo instead of the full version. (This might happen, for example, if you unplug your hard drive and plug it into a different Xbox). While playing the free demo with a profile that bought the game, you may be able to get the game to realize that you bought it, but then you are in danger of erasing your saved progress. (This can happen because when a game starts up in demo mode, it is not allowed to load your saved game; if, then, it comes out of demo mode later, it starts saving based on that fresh game). I’m not exactly sure how to fix this, since really Braid is just asking the Xbox operating system whether it should be in demo mode or not; but there might be some nuance to that function call, or some workaround that I can do.

The second bug is that sometimes puzzle pieces can get stuck together when you are in the puzzle screen. This seems to affect only a small number of people; but when it happens, it is pretty bad, since there is no way to fix this problem except to restart the game. I haven’t yet reproduced this bug; if anyone out there knows how to reproduce this and can make it happen at will, please leave a message here. Knowing how to reproduce this would help me fix it quickly.

Thanks, and I apologize for the problems that people have had due to these two bugs.

Giant Bomb: 5 stars (out of 5). “The game’s final payoff is terrific, but it’s the ingenuity of the mechanics that makes Braid so engaging.”

Gamefocus: 9.9/10. “If you like games don’t bother to read the rest of the review, just go and buy Braid.”

GamerNode: 9.5/10. “What you get out of Braid is determined entirely by what you put into it.”

Only the Games: 5/5. “Braid is an intrepidly personal game.”

dietwaltz.com: 10/10. “Honestly, it’s the closest thing to a flawless game I’ve ever seen.”

Destructoid: 9.7. (Average of 3 reviews: 10, 10, 9). “Braid is… a true work of art. Simple as that.”

British Gaming Blog: Must Buy. “On one hand it expertly dishes up inspired puzzles and amazing feats of logic, and on the other it draws you ever closer with an enigmatic narrative and a forlorn tale.”
(Thanks to James for pointing this one out.)

Gamers Universe: 96%. “Enchanting. No other word better describes the awe-inspiring experience that is Braid. From the addictive puzzle-based gameplay to the charming audio and beautifully artistic visuals, this game is a pure delight from start to finish.”