Braid for the Mac is now available.
You can get it over at Greenhouse. Soon, it will be available in a lot of places. As always, there is a free demo you can try to see if you like the game.
This is a native-code port to the Mac (not an emulation). The porting work was done by Hothead Games, the folks who brought you Penny Arcade Adventures.
May 20th, 2009 at 6:52 am
Bought!
May 20th, 2009 at 7:25 am
Thanks a lot!!
May 20th, 2009 at 8:04 am
Finally! Congrats man! Can’t wait to try it now on a mac.
May 20th, 2009 at 8:08 am
OMG OMG OGMOMGOSDFl finally. thank you so much!! I had no idea it was coming *this* soon.
so I promised to buy this and I will… in two days when my exams are over…. ahem.
I am SO excited. but… uhh, I should go study for my huge cumulative final tomorrow for which i know next to nothing… ahem.
May 20th, 2009 at 9:20 am
Purchased. Played the second world on my lunch break.
Thank you so much.
May 20th, 2009 at 9:48 am
Oh man, there’s no support for joysticks? I’ll be totally heartbroken if I can’t use my xbox controller (or any other usb joystick) for this game.
I’ve been trying the demo using the keyboard controls and it’s really not working for me, especially the “shift” button for time control.
I’m hoping I’m just wrong, and there is controller support somewhere.
May 20th, 2009 at 9:58 am
Can you confirm that this port does not utilize the Cider libraries?
May 20th, 2009 at 10:03 am
It doesn’t use Cider.
May 20th, 2009 at 10:05 am
i’m so stoked it’s finally out, unfortunately the demo crashes constantly. do i contact hothead about that?
May 20th, 2009 at 10:40 am
Yep, ask Hothead about it. They would have tested it on a bunch of different machines. For what it’s worth, the game works great on my Mac Mini, no crashes whatever.
May 20th, 2009 at 10:50 am
cool. so now that it uses OpenGL, it should be 50% easier to port it to linux, shouldn’t it? (hopefully they didn’t cocoa it up too much… unbundling really macish code for portability is even worse than for stuff written for win32)
May 20th, 2009 at 11:10 am
Where’s the gamepad support? There are optional parameters to give at game launch but I don’t see any information anywhere.
May 20th, 2009 at 11:43 am
Hello Mac users, I don’t own a Mac but with some quick googling I was able to come up with these two possible solutions to your gamepad problem:
First, to use a 360 Pad on a Mac you will need this:
http://tattiebogle.net/index.php/ProjectRoot/Xbox360Controller/OsxDriver
this is the driver to enable the 360 Controller. Next you will need a program to map the keys:
http://www.zsculpt.com/website/appsutils/hidwizard/
Install the drivers, install HID Wizard and configure your keys to your liking. Shift is rewind, Space is jump and the arrow keys should be mapped to the d-pad or the analog stick-self explanatory.
May 20th, 2009 at 11:44 am
I forgot to mention if you’re using a gamepad other than a 360 controller you only need HID Wizard to remap the keys (as long as your Mac recognizes the controller, if it is a popular brand you should have no trouble)
May 20th, 2009 at 11:45 am
Unfortunately it’s crashing like crazy on my MacBook pro too. As soon as I go a little over one screen to the right, it crashes every time.
May 20th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
Anyone who is getting crashes, email me the crash report and your machine specs. jon at number-none.com.
May 20th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
Any chance of a linux version, Jonathan?
May 20th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
Will this be “available in a lot of places” that don’t require online activation to use the game?
I’m thrilled there is a native port though!
May 20th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
It’s great to see Braid on more platforms. I’m hoping for a Linux port myself. Is there a possibility of that? Penny Arcade is out on Linux (not that that is partcularly relevant, but it shows they must have the needed developers).
May 20th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
I’ve just bought it, and works perfectly on my MacBook Pro (late 2006).
May 20th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
Ack, it’s VERY slow on my MacBook. Any hints on how to speed it up?
May 20th, 2009 at 1:46 pm
The main way to make the game go faster is to run at a lower resolution (which you pick from the initial launcher window).
May 20th, 2009 at 4:11 pm
Runs great on my Unibody Macbook (NV 9400M/2.0GHz/2.0GB DDR3). A slight bit skippy compared to my GTX 260 PC, but maximum fullscreen resolution is totally playable.
May 20th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
Does not work on my Jan. 2006 iMac (Intel). Crashes or totally freezes my computer when I move about ten steps to the right. I guess I’ll be heading over to Hothead.
May 20th, 2009 at 5:13 pm
I’ve been looking forward to this. Unfortunately, it’s freezing like crazy. Not crashing, it totally freezes my Macbook Pro. It occurs in “the Cloud Bridge” right when you drop down into the frame that is beginning to be filled with puzzle pieces and prompts you to press “up.” Upon pressing it, everything locks up. Is anyone else having this problem?
May 20th, 2009 at 6:03 pm
Awesome job!
Just curious, what kind of sales figures did you get from the PC release? I thought you were not going to release to the mac as it is niche market, but I guess you’ve made enough to make it more of a feasible choice
May 20th, 2009 at 6:51 pm
I’ll totally be buying this!…..if they then make the little extra effort and port it to Linux, that is. I’ll buy it the moment they do, though.
May 20th, 2009 at 7:25 pm
KorJax, you’re probably thinking of Linux.
May 20th, 2009 at 7:43 pm
Hey guys, we tested on a wide range of Mac hardware but not OS versions ie. We assumed latest 10.4 and 10.5 installs. As Jonathan mentioned, send in the details of the machine and crash info and we will get right on it. Thanks.
May 20th, 2009 at 7:44 pm
I have the same problem as Brian. For me, the music continues playing after the game freezes. Using a Macbook Pro with 10.5.6.
May 20th, 2009 at 8:25 pm
While I am definitely planning on picking this up at some point, I’ve seen people around complaining about the lack of gamepad support. Personally, this doesn’t bother me, but is there any support for gamepads planned in the Mac version? This seems to be one of the main complaints I’ve been seeing around, so if it’s addressed, it’ll give people one less reason not to buy it.
May 20th, 2009 at 9:16 pm
Any word on whether we can run this in 1024*768?
May 20th, 2009 at 9:19 pm
Excellent, I like to see multi-platform games
But … Linux is missing. Do you plan to make a port of the game towards this system ? Now that the Mac port is done, a big part of the work necessary for the Linux port is done too. And Hothead Games can make a Linux port since Penny Arcade Adventures is available - and works very fine - on the free system. Please consider it ! Thanks
May 20th, 2009 at 9:55 pm
Kudos to Hothead: looks, sounds, and runs great on my 13″ MacBook. Even better than the XBLA release as now I can play wherever.
Thanks, Jonathan. Looking forward to your next game, whatever it ends up being.
BTW, have you seen trailers for Zeit (zeit2.com)? Time travel applied to shmups. It was a finalist at IGF. Not my genre, but quite ingenious use of the mechanic.
Also, Blueberry Garden…drool. And Feist. Yeah, independent games still have a strongly beating heart (even if it seems the industry thinks that heart resides in the red-headed stepchild).
May 20th, 2009 at 10:26 pm
This is really great news – too bad I already purchased the steam version to play it via bootcamp. Have to think about buying it again
May 21st, 2009 at 12:00 am
Demo doesn’t work for me, keeps crashing or exiting while music is still playing etc. MacBook Pro 2GHz Intel Core Duo running 10.5.7
May 21st, 2009 at 12:55 am
Thanks Allen for the Gamepad trick, but after installing HID Wizzard nothing happened, no window to configure the keys.. in the txt it says: the software has to be coded to work with HID Wizard, maybe Braid isnt´.
Could someone play using an 360 Controller in osx?
Thanks!
oh yes and really happy to get the game on my mac
BIG thanks for this native port !
May 21st, 2009 at 3:49 am
No crashes here on my year-old MacBook. I’m thoroughly impressed.
I’ve got a question: if I recall correctly, the XBox 360 version of Braid used rippling and changes in saturation to indicate that the player was manipulating time. Why has this changed to yellow and blue in the PC and Mac versions? The new effect is less confusing, I think, but also less interesting.
The speed at which this game was ported to PC was impressive. But the speed at which it was rewritten for the Mac is astounding. There are Cider ports that have taken more time than Hothead did on Braid.
May 21st, 2009 at 4:08 am
Hey I was wondering if you guys have any plans to bring this AMAZING game to the iPhone? I am not a programmer, so I would be unaware of any technical limitations, but I think that this will do very well on the iPhone. Thoughts?
May 21st, 2009 at 4:13 am
This is the most trite comment I can fathom, but the bathroom hints at a few alternative keys to use for your actions. WASD and Z for jumping. When laying the jigsaw puzzle however, you can only use the Spacebar for rotating, and not Z, which performs the same action in the game.
May 21st, 2009 at 5:14 am
Aw, forget it. Postprocessing was automatically turned off at the start, hence the blue-yellow effect. I get it. Well done, I think Braid handles this stuff pretty gracefully.
May 21st, 2009 at 6:13 am
Purchased.
Works perfectly at 1920×1200 on my 2-year-old iMac
Long live Braid!
May 21st, 2009 at 6:54 am
Works great (at least the demo does) on my black macbook
I haven’t had a chance to buy it yet, because now I’m at work
but it looks great, and plays great at full resolution
May 21st, 2009 at 8:20 am
The demo keeps crashing in different places depending the resolution and if I am in full screen mode!
Running Late 2006 iMac with 2GHz Intel Core Duo, 2GB RAM, ATI RadeonX1600 (256MB) on OSX 10.5.7.
From what I have seen so far it is fabulous, just sort the crashes out and I will def buy the game.
May 21st, 2009 at 8:35 am
Just heard about the game. A Linux version would be appreciated!
May 21st, 2009 at 8:51 am
Crashes in Fullscreen on my late 2006 iMac (128 MB ATI X1600, Leo 10.5.7) and frezes the whole maschine in windowed mode. The freze seems to occur always after some steps to the right, the crashes only in world 5, door 5.
May 21st, 2009 at 9:41 am
yessss, purchased!!! finally … i can’t believe it. thanks for porting this great game. i already have told (and keep on telling) all my friends with xbox360 and pc to buy this gem. now it is my turn…
regarding the errors - i am tracking the mac-opengl mailinglists and i can say myself that opengl on osx sometimes is a real b*tch. but i’m sure they will patch the game soon.
can anybody recommend a good gamepad for mac? working across platforms would be even better. does this xbox360-gamepad-hackery work well enough?
May 21st, 2009 at 1:41 pm
Looks amazing! If it comes to the PS3 I’ll definitely buy it there so I can play it on a 9 foot HD projector, but if that doesn’t happen soon I’m getting this!
May 21st, 2009 at 3:08 pm
Thank you thank you thank you thank you!
May 21st, 2009 at 3:10 pm
Just to say thank you so much for this gem! As a Mac/PS3 user I was eager for a release in either of this platforms so I could enjoy your creation. Now I can play… Thanks.
May 21st, 2009 at 6:19 pm
Many thanks for bringing this to the Mac. I saw the trailer for this game a while ago and thought it looked interesting, but passed it up because there was no Mac version. Now there is! I grabbed the demo, and not too long after I bought a license and played through the whole thing. You’ve created one of the most beautiful games I’ve ever seen, as well as one of the most innovative, and it’s great to see that kind of thing on the Mac.
May 21st, 2009 at 8:49 pm
having the same problem as some other people
totally freeze my macbook pro (core 2 duo) after the cloud bridge when i press up on the puzzle piece wall thing.
really want to play!! please fix!
May 21st, 2009 at 9:59 pm
This is odd. I’m running a 2007 model macbook pro, model 3.1, with leopard 10.5.7, and I didn’t have a single crash, freeze, or any type of lockup that a lot of people are mentioning. It did on occasion seem to stutter a bit when I went for the stars, but I chalked that up to the poor heat dissipation on these macbook pros. I have similar problems with TF2 in boot camp when it gets too hot.
May 22nd, 2009 at 2:37 am
Great job with the game, and thanks for bringing this game to Mac OS X!
May 22nd, 2009 at 6:15 am
Hey guys, Joel from Hothead here.
First, for those of you that have experienced crashes and hangs we released an update yesterday which addresses them. We did test on a wide variety of Macs here, but there was a niggling bug that slipped through. Should be all good now–just download the latest version from http://www.playgreenhouse.com/game/NNONE-000001-01 (click on Demo) and install it on top of your current version. If you still experience problems after installing the latest, please let us know right away at support@hotheadgames.com.
As for gamepad support, we really had no idea there would be this much interest in it. So we’re definitely looking at adding it now. Stay tuned. In the meantime you may want to use some of the gamepad mappers out there like HID Wizard or ControllerMate. If you use the latter, you can grab a Braid-friendly config file from http://www.hotheadgames.com/_files/controllermate_braid.zip.
We had a great time working on this game and are thrilled it’s out now. Keep the feedback coming!
May 22nd, 2009 at 6:57 am
I’m also having the same problem as Brian and Jason. Running 10.5.7 on a Mac Pro.
May 22nd, 2009 at 8:34 am
Unusable on my ibook G4 1.3 GHz with ATI 9550 I get like 2 fps on every resolution.
May 22nd, 2009 at 9:12 am
Braid not working (ask for debugging) on a Mac Intel 1,83ghz with 1gb ram resolution 1440×900….
Any chance to platy the game with this machine?
cheers
May 22nd, 2009 at 10:14 am
Just got the news and bought it instantly. It looks beautiful (on a 2008 MacBook with 10.5.6)!
I’ve only just scratched the surface but I’m already hooked!
Thanks a bunch for the Mac version!
May 22nd, 2009 at 12:47 pm
Anyone know how to command-tab away from Braid? When I want to pause the game (eg., to answer an IM) I find myself having to quit the game. I don’t want to run it in a window, and there’s no cmd-F shortcut to toggle full screen mode.
May 22nd, 2009 at 12:58 pm
I just purchased the game and it works fine on my core duo macbook pro. However, in comments on the XBOX version I am finding references to being able to increase the rewind speed. I can’t figure out how to do that on the Mac version and that seems critical for solving at least one puzzle. Any suggestions?
May 22nd, 2009 at 1:02 pm
I’ve experienced this lock-up issue twice when playing Braid in windowed mode on my first-generation MacBook Pro running 10.5.7. It renders the operating system almost entirely unresponsive. Music plays and the cursor is occasionally visible, but it’s usually the spinning beach ball of death. Attempting to force-quit with control-option-escape does nothing. I can, however, connect to my laptop via SSH. Things look normal in terms of CPU consumption, but performing a non-catchable, non-ignorable KILL on the Braid process has no effect. I can’t even reboot with “sudo shutdown -r now”! My only option is to bring the system down hard by pressing and holding the power button. I have yet to encounter this issue when playing Braid full-screen.
May 22nd, 2009 at 1:56 pm
Is there any way in the Mac version to re-map control keys? I’d love to assign the right option or right command keys to be jump, so that the game could be played one-handed.
May 22nd, 2009 at 2:35 pm
R3 has fixed all my problems, loving this game, altho a few places have my brain hurting!
May 22nd, 2009 at 9:01 pm
Love it so far. I was worried that it will not run well on my macbook. Its ok but in some worlds (world 4) there is a lot of slowdown. But since this is a puzzle game, that problem is not a deal breaker.
May 22nd, 2009 at 11:14 pm
@gc: Not to give too much away, but it’s all in the standard controls.
May 22nd, 2009 at 11:43 pm
R3 runs stable and smooth in 960*600 on my made in 2001 PowerMac G4 Cube. In 1920*1200 average framerate goes down to a quite consistent ~15, so no longer smooth but still playable.
450 MHz G4, NV44A GPU, 10.5.6
May 23rd, 2009 at 2:15 am
Have anyone located the save-game location where braid saves all files on the mac ?
nice to have some backup in case something happen.
May 23rd, 2009 at 3:16 am
works finde on my unibody macbook. thanks for port!
May 23rd, 2009 at 3:53 am
Joel: Braid for Mac kind of smushes a bunch of the XBox controls onto the up and down arrow keys. I hope that the gamepad support you’re looking into will isolate these actions.
Alex: have you tried hitting Esc and then command-tabbing out? It’s worth a try.
gc: Hit shift to begin rewinding, and use the up or down keys to change the rewind rate. If you hit the up key enough times, you can fast forward at variable rates as well.
May 23rd, 2009 at 7:07 am
Just so’s ya know, Braid was developed on a PC, and the Xbox version is actually a port. So the arrow key controls are the original controls. It’s not a matter of anything being smushed; the reason that some actions (like opening doors) are bound to buttons on the xbox controller is that it doesn’t feel like a decisive action to push an analog stick upward or downward.
May 23rd, 2009 at 8:32 am
Hey there,
I bought the Windows version, because I had no idea this was under development.
Does anyone know if I can get the Mac version with the same license?
I bought it from Impulse (those bastards)
May 23rd, 2009 at 11:55 am
Any word on how (or if?) you can make the level editor go? I tried putting the universes file (from the level creation thread) in the folder Braid is in as well as ~/Library/Prefrences/Braid, but the game just opens and quits itself (which I believe you said happened if it couldn’t find the specified stuffs). Anyone have any thoughts?
May 23rd, 2009 at 1:59 pm
Hello,
I love this game, tried the PC version, and I’m going to buy the Mac version. One question: why there is not a portuguese version of the game in the Mac demo?? In the PC version, there was! Is there a technical reason for that?? I would like to know if that’s going to be fixed.
May 23rd, 2009 at 2:56 pm
I downloaded the trial but sound isn’t working. Running 10.5.7 on an MBP w/ 4 GB RAM. Smooth at full res full screen but occasionally see a slowdown at lower res when running in a window.
Looks great but I’m guessing that the game really needs sound to be fully enjoyable.
May 23rd, 2009 at 3:35 pm
I had heard good things about this game, but I didn’t know it had an OS X port, so when I found out earlier today I downloaded the free preview, and after the first world I was completely hooked. I purchased the game then and there, and I still fell blown away.
It is years since the last time a game touched me the way this piece did. I loved everything about it, the fantastic graphics, the ingenious puzzles and the spectacular music. The mood and feel of this game is so unique and so special - well, I just had to leave a note somewhere to say thanks.
I can’t wait for your next game
May 23rd, 2009 at 5:43 pm
Hey guys,
Just to say that the port ran really well on my Unibody MacBook, completed the game without a hitch at all.
Good job Hothead on the conversion, shame some people are having issues.
May 24th, 2009 at 10:23 am
Thanks so much for this, I bought it again.
Authorised version works fine on my 2004 PowerBook G4 at max resolution, although on the first attempt the demo crashed before I’d even made it across the bridge.
May 24th, 2009 at 2:32 pm
I bought this game for Mac Pro, rc3 crashes in world one if you press up to look at the jigsaw when playing the game in a window. It doesn’t crash in fullscreen. Please fix this and describe in detail how you fixed it. Thank you very much.
May 24th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
Wow! I had never heard of Braid until it was released for the Mac a few days ago. It’s genius and looks gorgeous on a 24″ monitor at fullscreen. The puzzles, artwork, ideas, solutions…all incredible, I literally said wow out loud.
I am blown away, Blow.
May 24th, 2009 at 8:07 pm
Just finished the game and loved it. Glad to finally get to play this!
The lack of controller support was a bit of a frustration at first, but then I installed “USB Overdrive” (it is shareware/nagware, but it works) and was able to play the game happily.
Warning to other readers: *DO NOT* install HID Wizard, it is not compatible with Braid and there turns out to be no uninstaller!
My one complaint about the mac port is that it does not appear to be in any way possible to alt-tab or escape the program while it is running except by quitting it (say, in case you’re in the middle of a complex level and the instant messenger chime sounds…).
May 25th, 2009 at 4:06 am
Please say that there’s a Linux version under development *crosses fingers*
May 25th, 2009 at 6:43 am
After I’ve figured out while playing Demo, that there is no post-processing at all while going back in time in Mac version, I’ll definitely stay with my PC version played via BootCamp.
I’m so unhappy with it, since running Mac version would be much more comfortable for me.
But the PC’s rippling like effect is far too stunning to ignore it
I guess the effect is DX9’s build-in one and that was the case, but I’m 100% sure there is some way to implement it in OpenGL :/
Will it ever come in some future update?
May 25th, 2009 at 7:13 am
There is post-processing in the Mac version, if the game is able to run fast enough to use it.
You might try picking a lower resolution from the launcher menu.
May 25th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
The crashes seem to be gone with the update, thanks.
May 25th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
This game has restored my faith in video games. I LOVED it. I’m completely satisfied. I feel like buying it again now that I’ve finished it just because it was so great!
May 25th, 2009 at 4:04 pm
Thank You Jonathan for fast answer.
I’ve just checked the problem once again and it turned out I’ve had to switch my MBP to work on 9600M GT instead of 9400M.
However the post-processing is working for me only in 1024px width resolutions and smaller (which are terrible), despite game can run 60fps even on much higher resolution. I can’t believe it wouldn’t run smothly even on 1280 :/
Is there any way to force post-processing? Or will be?
May 25th, 2009 at 6:13 pm
If you use a command-line option like -60fps, on the PC this will keep post-processing on. I haven’t tested it on the Mac.
May 26th, 2009 at 2:02 am
Wow! It worked! How I’ve missed it before?
With any fps forced without -no_post param I can now run it smoothly with PP even at Full HD res
Thank You Jonathan!
BTW, mindblowing game You’ve created. Congratulations!
I think I’ll buy it one more time, for Mac now
May 26th, 2009 at 3:40 am
Just completed the mac demo and I HAVE to buy the full game. I have a few questions before I do, mostly due to the fact I’m using a company Mac to play (and they don’t like us playing or installing anything!).
1, If I buy the full version and then my mac gets wiped (seems to happen a lot where I work) can I use the activation code again on the same mac?
2, I can’t do much on my mac as I don’t have admin rights (I had to run the Braid.app from the desktop as I can’t write to the applications folder). Will I be able to do the same with the full version?
3, I’d love to use a gamepad, but is there anyway of getting around the admin restrictions so I can install some drivers? I’m not optimistic about this one.
If only a PS3 version was in development, then none of these would be an issue!
May 26th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
After a bit of fiddling, I figured out where the universes folder need to go to be able to use custom levels: Right-click the app and select Show Package Contents, then put the universes folder in /Contents/Resources and you should be good to go. Just remember it’s in there when you update versions or you’ll overwrite / delete it.
May 27th, 2009 at 7:38 am
One more vote for adding gamepad support.
Everything else about the game works great on my Mac Mini, so if a new version is released that works with my usb controller, I will definitely buy it.
May 27th, 2009 at 10:29 pm
Works fine on my macbook pro. I originally played Braid on a friend’s xbox360, I’m having fun replaying it.
I did manage to get the editor to work, but for some reason most of my keyboard doesn’t work in the editor. None of the letters work, I can’t type filenames, most of the keyboard commands don’t seem to work. However the arrow keys do work, return works, a few others.
Any idea how I can diagnose this?
May 27th, 2009 at 10:34 pm
Do you think we’ll see an ipod version of Braid? I don’t mean just iPhone and iPod Touch - although those included - I’m thinking of one for people who don’t have either? I think a portable one, even on psp/ds, would be awesome!
May 28th, 2009 at 3:03 am
hey jonathan, i know people have been starting to bring the question up, but have you given any thought to porting either a full or mobile version of Braid to the iPhone/iPod Touch?
Thanks again for creating such a beautiful work of art.
Love it on my Mac.
Peace.
May 28th, 2009 at 3:15 am
+1 for Linux!
May 29th, 2009 at 5:23 am
Thank you Xyton, the sample levels work, but do you know how to get the level editor going. Pressing F11 just lowers the volume.
May 29th, 2009 at 9:17 am
Felix: It appears keystrokes don’t currently work in the editor on the Mac at all; Hothead tell me they are going to fix that soon.
1186: Probably no version of Braid on the iPod or iPhone. The main issue for me is the controls. I don’t see a way to build the game on those platforms such that the controls would not be clumsy.
May 29th, 2009 at 9:42 am
if it possible for mac-users atleast, that you can add ”check for updates” in the launcher menu?
May 29th, 2009 at 10:31 pm
On the second screen, I gave up. I couldn’t figure out how to get to either of the harder two pieces. I struggled with it for about 15 minutes, then gave up and read gamefaqs and found out I needed to use the puzzle pieces as elements I could jump on. Unfair.
It’s one thing to have challenges in a game, it’s quite another to expect players to make huge cognitive leaps without even introducing concepts.
May 31st, 2009 at 1:06 am
I would love to buy and play this game on Linux, I hope it’s possible one day
May 31st, 2009 at 10:38 am
“Unfair.”
For what it’s worth, while all the puzzles build on previously-learned rules–including requiring you to decide when to break those rules–that’s the only one that throws a total curveball in the whole game. I’d encourage you to not give up because of it.
(I solved that one by the accident of landing in the right spot, and literally screamed at the screen when I realized what happened. I don’t think it’s unfair to say that one puzzle seems out of place in Braid. But don’t get discouraged because of it. The rest of the game pays out tenfold for the effort.)
May 31st, 2009 at 12:42 pm
The puzzles were challenging without being impossible; the most difficult ones stayed with me and I often solved them while away from the computer. This was one of the most enjoyable video game experiences I have ever had — and I’ve been playing games since the days of the Atari 2600. All I have left to say is MORE PLEASE! I can hardly wait to see your next project (no pressure though, heh heh).
May 31st, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Jonathan, I’m amazed by the game! After playing world 1 and the start of world 2 in the demo, I knew I had to buy this game. $15 well spent. The satisfaction of solving the puzzles was great. Gameplay is awesomely mind-bending different. Using time like that just blows the mind!
Even my wife would watch me play and cheer me/Tim on. My wife says she is “crazy about your game and you need to make another one now!”
Just loved it. I am recommending this game to all my friends. Thank you for porting this to the mac (I’m a mac guy). Otherwise this would probably never even cross my radar.
*spoiler spoiler*
Regarding the “Unfair” comment about using the picture as a bridge. Come on, the picture looks like a bridge piece, that’s the first thing I thought when I saw that part of the picture. I expected more pictures to be incorporated into the gameplay though…
I’m glad this game makes you think about the puzzles like that rather than making it so easy like spoon feeding us solutions using a walk through would have. Satisfaction with solving the puzzles is that much greater. I think the timing of things was the more difficult aspect of the game, rather than thinking of how to solve the world’s problem. To each his own though….
June 1st, 2009 at 5:07 am
Thanks Jon!
I played the demo and wigged around for a while in the first level too. I was thinking about those puzzle pieces “surely i can get them now, this doesn’t seem like i need to bring some special power back from some future level”… I did what mikey did, literally gaped mouth open…i think it was like, what else is there to do… might as well build the puzzle, then you re-wind and jump again and boom - on a platform. it was awesome. then to figure out to use it to help that little goomba move along. just wikid.
June 1st, 2009 at 6:27 am
Linux, please!
June 1st, 2009 at 10:35 am
Can someone help me please? I played the demo and decided to buy the game, but after installing the full game, it still says that it is in demo mode, and I have no code to authorize it or anything. I don’t like the idea that I just spent $15 dollars on the demo. So can someone help?
June 1st, 2009 at 10:53 am
When you bought the game from Greenhouse, it didn’t send you a code?
The demo version and full game are the same, the only difference is that you type in the serial key to make it run. At least, I am pretty sure… double-checking.
June 1st, 2009 at 5:13 pm
Those who think the puzzle isn’t unfair because they figured it out are wrong. It might be fun for you, but that doesn’t make it fair. It’s quite likely that you’ll *never* figure that one out. There’s no hinting, there’s no give. I design puzzles for puzzle races and I know how it works.
Maybe the other puzzles in the game are better, as claimed by mikey, but I have more than enough puzzles to work on (playtesting, designing etc) without struggling with an experience that’s already punished
June 1st, 2009 at 5:19 pm
I’ve noticed that players on 360 can do a “super rewind” (uber fast rewind) in the game. Any luck with Mac users? Shift simply does a regular rewind…
June 1st, 2009 at 6:05 pm
If you hold down the shift key for a little bit you should get a prompt that shows you to use the arrow keys too.
June 1st, 2009 at 6:07 pm
Joshua Rodman: Different strokes for different folks! I designed the kind of game that I would like to play, because I find that most puzzle games don’t actually have real puzzles. If these aren’t the kind of puzzles that you like best, then hey, that’s fine.
June 1st, 2009 at 7:43 pm
I would have to say that those two puzzles are a little out of place- no other pieces require you to go back to an earlier level. All the other puzzles are excellent, though it can be a little difficult understanding the jumpman gate puzzle. It really makes you go “oh! That’s so neat!” when you get that one though, while the cloud bridge ones was more like a “oh. I was supposed to guess that?”.
June 2nd, 2009 at 3:53 pm
Bought the game, finished it twice and did all the stars already. Bring on Braid 2!
June 3rd, 2009 at 3:49 am
None of the puzzles are impossible, unless you are given to quitting early on or impatient. In games like this one, you try everything to beat it. Anyone who played Mario games on their Nintendo will attest to that.
June 3rd, 2009 at 6:27 am
@Joshua:
Just because you weren’t clever enough to figure it out, doesn’t mean it’s unfair. And just because you work doing something, doesn’t mean you’re good at it. Sorry, but that’s the truth.
It just wasn’t for you. That’s fine. I don’t have the skills or patience to play, say, Geometry Wars, but you won’t see me whining about that. “Different strokes for different folks”.
June 4th, 2009 at 5:21 pm
I’m reporting a bug here: (sorry if there is a better place for this)
In world 1-1, when you get to the top, you can really mess up the backward monstars by moving the platform as they are coming up. They can get to weird places, get stuck in the leftmost cannon, and the right cannon starts acting up and sucking in giant bursts of air…
June 4th, 2009 at 8:11 pm
I’ll buy a copy when it comes out on Linux.
June 5th, 2009 at 5:08 am
Can I purchase the windows license and use the same key on my mac?
June 5th, 2009 at 8:32 am
Linux? The OS used by people who think that you should release the source code of your program even when they will NOT read it? The OS used by people that call you a fucking retarted because you don’t give them the source code? The OS that needs a package for every package system?
It is very normal that just a few people is releasing native Linux games. Who wants a email full of rants about “privative” software?
June 5th, 2009 at 11:13 am
I’m not really a gamer… But, man… This game is made by a genius!!!
I am so addicted to this game…
I want more of this!!!
(Still need seven pieces of the puzzle… So… Bye bye!)
June 7th, 2009 at 1:15 pm
One of my friends had shown me Braid a while back, and unfortunately spoiled the ending, etc… I’d always loved playing puzzle games, and knew that this one would both provide a source of joy and frustration. Playing through it, I simply could not get enough. This game was pure brilliance, and well worth the purchase. Thank you so much!
Ironically enough, I was just googling “Mac games” a while back and the Apple site for them came up, and I was looking right around the time Braid had been released for Mac, so needless to say, I was ecstatic.
I finally completed the game, and am looking forward to more.
Wonderful game!
June 7th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
Hi Jonathan!
Thanks alot for the port!
Playing it for a week now and can’t get enough of being bashed by its “pure genius” experience! I’ll be buying the full version this week
Keep rockin`
June 8th, 2009 at 5:09 am
Cool!
Is it possible to transfer the PC save file to the Mac version?
June 8th, 2009 at 7:30 am
Unfortunately the Mac version uses a slightly different save format (not for any good reason, that’s just how it happened) and they aren’t compatible… there may be an update to fix this in the future.
June 9th, 2009 at 9:27 am
Nice to see another indie game becoming more of a multiplatform title. Like a few people before me I’d like this to become available on Linux, but I noticed that there has been no reply to the previous requests, so I won’t get my hopes up. Still if it’d be coming I’d be yet another customer
June 9th, 2009 at 10:24 am
Strange bug or does it belong that way?:
I managed to ‘use’ a key in front of a door but the door wouldn’t open. The key was useless after that and I couldn’t pick it up anymore. I had to restart the level and do it again (and it worked then).
This happened already the second time.
I don’t think it’s on purpose. But it seems very ‘natural’ for a bug. Something which will annoy players definitly.
Any ideas on this?
June 9th, 2009 at 3:04 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqfkFOtvD1I
¿Bad copy of braid ?
June 9th, 2009 at 4:54 pm
What a great game; thanks for creating and also bringing it out for the Mac!
June 11th, 2009 at 5:37 am
I must say, an original game, but it renders no faster then 2 frames per second on my GMA950 2Ghz Core 2 BlackBook ( OSX10.5.7). The game is stable though unplayable as we all know the 950 is not exactly known for its stellar OpenGL performance. Perhaps CPU Rendering?
Their will need to be some optimization in a future update, I would love to purchase this game. Until then SuperTux is all my laptop can manage.
June 11th, 2009 at 6:11 am
I’ve seen some people mention the PS3… is there ANY WORD on if Braid for PS3 is ever going to happen?
I paid to download the PC version and then find that even though all my machines exceed the specs it’s still unplayable (gogo 3fps!). I don’t have a mac or X360, but I do have a PS3, and I know it has the horsepower. But will it ever come? Is it in any stage of development for PS3 at all? If not, are the reasons technical or contractual? IE, is the XBLA version under contract to be the sole console release? Forever or for a specified time period? Or is it just a case of the PS3 being to difficult to code for?
June 11th, 2009 at 9:42 pm
To anyone wondering where saved files are stored (took me forever to figure it out):
/username/library/preferences/braid
June 14th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
*ahem* .oO(maybe I’m not yelling loud enough..)
Jonathan, please, I would if possible very much like to avoid paying double the price for this game.
I’m not saying you don’t deserve it, it’s just a matter of general principle.
Is it really really really not possible to get a serial no. for the Mac version if you have already bought the PC version?
Thank you in advance
June 14th, 2009 at 7:05 pm
If you bought the PC version from Greenhouse, then that serial will work on the Mac version.
If you bought it from a different reseller, then probably not. The authentication systems are just different. For example, there is no shared key between the Steam PC version and the Greenhouse Mac version.
That’s unfortunate but it is just how things are at this time!
June 14th, 2009 at 9:41 pm
+1 for Linux version.
June 16th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
Wow. I bought this game yesterday, and finished it the same day.
I wish I could rewind my memory to play it again. It’s really very beautiful, in all aspects.
Also, 1000 thanks for porting it to Mac Os.
June 17th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
Great great game, best i have played in years!
Keep up the great work.
June 18th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
Hey Jon,
You’ve got a lot of fans, and a lot of them check this blog fairly regularly hoping for some news on what you, the man, the myth, the machine, are up to. Even if you’re not actively developing anything, we’d love to hear from you.
So feed your fanbase! A weekly or bi-monthly update could go far to make sure your next project has the same (or better) fanbase which made Braid a success.
Trying not to sound like a pathetic fanboi,
Connor
June 19th, 2009 at 7:07 pm
Jonathan, I just downloaded a copy of Braid from Greenhouse this week, and there was something I wanted to mention. I noticed that the 5-3 puzzle does not appear to have a name. Is that intentional, or an oversight? I’m running the Windows version on Vista, if that’s at all relevant.
June 19th, 2009 at 8:40 pm
This is entirely unrelated to the thread, but as I couldn’t find any contact info for you anywhere after fairly extensive detective work (aka googling) I decided I’d just comment here.
I just played the braid demo and I wanted to say that this is without a doubt the most creative piece of gaming masterpiece I’ve played to the best of my lifetime memory.
So few developers understand the priorities of a good game, but I feel like you’ve hit all the key points and then some; gameplay, music, theme, mood, artistic design, strategy, mental stimulation (pretty much completely obsolete in the gaming world of today unfortunately). All of them fused into a perfect seemless blend.
I love the insightful quasi poetic musings at the beginning of each level, and the way the “princess” is described leaves me with the feeling that you’re using her as a metaphor. I can’t say that for sure as I haven’t completed the game, but I appreciate the layered thinking it exhibits.
Anyways, I guess I’ll wrap this up, its a bit wordy for an off topic comment :P.
I just wanted to give you my utmost appreciation and respect for making something all developers should look up to and praise. I seriously haven’t had the same giddy feelings and satisfaction this game has given me since I was about 4 years old playing my NES. Thanks for doing what you do
June 21st, 2009 at 6:49 am
Finish the game. Post back here when you do
June 24th, 2009 at 2:48 am
Hey jonathan, may I ask you for a favor? I bought the game on steam and am stunned by the quality of this game.
Would it be possible to upload the beta version of Braid? I’d love to see what changed besides the Art-style.I’d really appreciate it
June 24th, 2009 at 6:05 am
When will we expect Braid 2 to Mac ?
June 27th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
I beat it. no words… (or too many to convey to be more accurate)
unrelated sidenote: raspberry has potential I really like it. the only criticism that stands out to me is I feel like the cursor object/”character”/whatever is a bit too slippery and ethereal if you understand what I mean by that. It feels like it should be… heavier? or more solid I guess is what I mean. Maybe if later in development a visual aid was added to the part where you have to separate green and blue balls, ie a bit of a glow on the edge of them that is being forced, or on the edge of your spinning cursor (or on both) to indicate that force is being applied, maybe have the indicator become more opaque the closer the object or something. im sure you have plenty of your own ideas though, just my feedback after a playthrough of the prototype
I like the challenge of adapting to its changing gameplay, all with an identical means of interfacing (mouse movements), giving it a cohesive gameplay with entirely different gameplay goals/mechanics.
I hope you refine and make that game (or atleast learn something critical from the process). It really has potential to show corporate hack games like guitar hero/rockband what it really means to feel music through a game, or even one step further to show an interpretation of what music really means
unrelated second sidenote: Braid left me with a lot of ideas about what you were going for. I’d love to email you my interpretation (or ideally in my fantasy world sit down and talk about it in depth :P), not really for purpose of like “hey did I get this right?” but I guess, well for me I love when people actually get what I was going for, or when I inspire thought.maybe you might be the same.
I feel like this isn’t the right place at all for that kind’ve discussion though. I mean… this is a comment on a post about porting the game to mac, hardly anything relevant to that
June 29th, 2009 at 10:07 am
OT
Jonathan:
Hi, I’ve just finished (more precisely got through last level) the game. Thank you for so enjoyably spent time.
July 2nd, 2009 at 8:49 pm
Hi Jonathan,
First THANK you for this awesome game ! I have bought the full version for MAC, the price is very friendly
Thank to have spent many time to process this game. ( how long ? )
No bug for the moment on my macbook ( 2008 ), the game run fast with 1 GB memory, 2.16 Intel Core2Duo and Intel GMA 950 graphic chip.
July 5th, 2009 at 1:46 pm
Hi Jonathan,
thank you for this wonderful gem. I bought Braid on GamersGate the very day it was available for PC. However I hate booting Windows on my sweet Mac. Not that your game wasn’t worth it - it really is (I am an aspiring game designer (for iPhone games) and I really think that this game stands out besides few). Is there any chance to get the Mac version too? I can forward you the order receipt from GamersGate if it is necessary.
Btw. why isn’t Braid on the iPhone? This new “console” could use a great puzzle platformer. Please tell me you are working on it - if not contact me
Stefan
July 8th, 2009 at 4:27 am
Braid everywhere - just the way it should be
http://fiddler.over-blog.de/article-33592479.html
Never getting tired of making Braid famous the world over!
July 8th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
The Xbox 360 wireless controller works great for me. This is the one that I have:
http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Xbox-Wireless-Controller-Windows-pc/dp/B000KA5T6A/
I just installed Colin Munro’s Xbox 360 controller driver for OS X:
http://tattiebogle.net/index.php/ProjectRoot/Xbox360Controller/OsxDriver
Then I plugged the receiver into a USB port, configured the buttons in Braid’s gamepad config, and it works perfectly.
If the configuration launcher doesn’t appear when you run Braid, do the following:
1. Right-click on Braid.app
2. Select “Show Package Contents”
3. Navigate to Contents -> MacOS
4. Double-click “Launcher”
July 14th, 2009 at 9:47 pm
Please let us know do you plan to develop this jewel for PS3? Thanks!
July 17th, 2009 at 6:10 am
I know it isn’t MAC related, but Impulse has Braid for 9.95 right now to anyone that’s interested.
July 18th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
Stefan: If you are getting that TODO error, it is an old version. I would recommend bugging them to update it (or making sure you really are installing the right file, if they claim the new version is up).
July 29th, 2009 at 12:13 am
Here’s +1 for a linux port too! Would love to buy and play it natively
August 5th, 2009 at 10:09 pm
Even if Linux port will cost $50, i will buy it. Crossing fingers. You are genius.
September 5th, 2009 at 11:13 am
I upgraded to Mac OS X 10.6, and I’m now getting a crash when I get to the world selection room in a full-game speedrun. It previously worked on the same computer in 10.5.8 (MacBook Pro early 2008, 4 MB RAM, GeForce 8600M GT). Here’s the stack trace on the thread that crashed:
Exception Type: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (SIGSEGV)
Exception Codes: KERN_PROTECTION_FAILURE at 0×00000000bf000008
Crashed Thread: 0 Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread
Thread 0 Crashed: Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread
0 GLEngine 0×17510d20 gleLookupHashObject + 55
1 GLEngine 0×17510bad gleBindTexture + 43
2 GLEngine 0×17510b37 glBindTexture_Exec + 232
3 libGL.dylib 0×939b9567 glBindTexture + 35
4 Braid 0×00109a0b Catalog::get_by_name(char*) + 3435
5 Braid 0×00109ee9 Catalog::get_by_name(char*) + 4681
6 Braid 0×00107a89 Catalog::get_by_name(char*) + 2601
7 Braid 0×000d2aa7 std::vector<Isolated_Heap_Pool::Page, std::allocator >::_M_insert_aux(__gnu_cxx::__normal_iterator<Isolated_Heap_Pool::Page*, std::vector<Isolated_Heap_Pool::Page, std::allocator > >, Isolated_Heap_Pool::Page const&) + 5927
8 Braid 0×000b5233 Catalog::get_by_name(char*) + 183139
9 Braid 0×000526e5 Catalog::get_by_name(char*) + 53749
10 Braid 0×00071291 Catalog::get_by_name(char*) + 179617
11 Braid 0×000744c0 Catalog::get_by_name(char*) + 192464
12 Braid 0×000d7bd3 Catalog::get_by_name(char*) + 15555
13 Braid 0×0011372c Key::~Key() + 5228
14 com.apple.Foundation 0×986c02fc _nsnote_callback + 345
15 com.apple.CoreFoundation 0×968a5c29 __CFXNotificationPost + 905
16 com.apple.CoreFoundation 0×968a565a _CFXNotificationPostNotification + 186
17 com.apple.Foundation 0×986b5120 -[NSNotificationCenter postNotificationName:object:userInfo:] + 128
18 com.apple.Foundation 0×986c24fd -[NSNotificationCenter postNotificationName:object:] + 56
19 com.apple.AppKit 0×977457f6 -[NSApplication _postDidFinishNotification] + 125
20 com.apple.AppKit 0×97745706 -[NSApplication _sendFinishLaunchingNotification] + 74
21 com.apple.AppKit 0×9789c45d -[NSApplication(NSAppleEventHandling) _handleAEOpen:] + 274
22 com.apple.AppKit 0×9789c07d -[NSApplication(NSAppleEventHandling) _handleCoreEvent:withReplyEvent:] + 101
23 com.apple.Foundation 0×986f546c -[NSAppleEventManager dispatchRawAppleEvent:withRawReply:handlerRefCon:] + 511
24 com.apple.Foundation 0×986f5230 _NSAppleEventManagerGenericHandler + 228
25 com.apple.AE 0×98b82de6 aeDispatchAppleEvent(AEDesc const*, AEDesc*, unsigned long, unsigned char*) + 166
26 com.apple.AE 0×98b82ce5 dispatchEventAndSendReply(AEDesc const*, AEDesc*) + 43
27 com.apple.AE 0×98b82bf2 aeProcessAppleEvent + 197
28 com.apple.HIToolbox 0×92f9a381 AEProcessAppleEvent + 50
29 com.apple.AppKit 0×97715dd6 _DPSNextEvent + 1420
30 com.apple.AppKit 0×9771540e -[NSApplication nextEventMatchingMask:untilDate:inMode:dequeue:] + 156
31 com.apple.AppKit 0×976d75fb -[NSApplication run] + 821
32 Braid 0×00113ec0 Key::~Key() + 7168
33 Braid 0×00008cb2 0×1000 + 31922
34 Braid 0×00008bd9 0×1000 + 31705
September 5th, 2009 at 7:43 pm
Okay. Forwarding this to Hothead, seeing what they have to say.
September 18th, 2009 at 6:43 am
Hi,
I wish I’d known that Braid was available for the mac, I’ve just bought the win-version off Steam, but it’s annoying to have to reboot to enjoy some quality time with your amazing game.
Keep up the great work though!
September 23rd, 2009 at 11:33 am
I already emailed Hothead support about this, but I’m playing the demo on 10.6, and with post-processing enabled, whenever I go into and then leave a puzzle board screen, the pieces stay full size on the screen and the rest of the screen goes black, making it unplayable until I relaunch the game. =(
October 6th, 2009 at 9:00 am
Hi,
great game - one thing:
you should add a link to the mac version to the front page. right now, i could not see, whether it is available or not.
thanks and have a great day!
October 8th, 2009 at 6:49 pm
Great - but we still lack that Linux version we heard of…
October 13th, 2009 at 5:04 pm
Braid is the best game ever. It is not just a simple 2D platformer, but a full mindblowing experience. I can’t stop thinking about all the subtle references in the game. I’m still wondering if the Princess is a nuclear bomb or not.
Will you ever release it to the Wii? I would buy it for sure. I know that the problem is the game size, but I would love to own this game.
Have a nice day,
October 20th, 2009 at 7:09 am
Thank you so much! I am a multiplatform user and it is great to have my license key from Greenhouse work on both Mac and PC even though the saves do not interoperate (yet?). The Mac version runs just as smoothly as the PC version and has all the same graphical bells and whistles, with the added convenience of a launcher for passing in command line arguments.
The Mac port should _definitely_ be advertised on the main braid website as currently it only advertises “XBOX Live Arcade and Windows PC” even though a link to Greenhouse is provided.
November 2nd, 2009 at 11:28 am
Braid is the best game ever. It is not just a simple 2D platformer, but a full mindblowing experience. I can’t stop thinking about all the subtle references in the game. I’m still wondering if the Princess is a nuclear bomb or not.
Will you ever release it to the Wii? I would buy it for sure. I know that the problem is the game size, but I would love to own this game.
Have a nice day,
December 9th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
On the system requirements* page it says that Braid for Mac requires an ATI Radeon 9500 or better GPU. This excludes millions of Macs with earlier chips that meet the system requirements in every other respect. However, many of these systems which supposedly cannot run Braid will run other recent 2-D games like “Aquaria” and “World of Goo” which appear to be more demanding on CPU / GPU resources. I wonder if maybe the publishers were just a bit too aggressive in limiting what hardware Braid can run on–and I suspect that supporting the rest of the ATI 9000 series would only involve minor modifications.
* http://playgreenhouse.com/php/public/games/sysreq.php?code=NNONE-000001-01
December 9th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
I’m not sure why you would say that Aquaria or World of Goo appear to be more demanding. Braid is actually far more demanding, graphically, than either of those games (for the most part simply because Braid has a high depth complexity — it overdraws each pixel on the screen many times to generate its scenes — whereas Aquaria and World of Goo have lower depth complexities).
You can probably run Braid on lower-end hardware configurations on the Mac, and it may just work, but it is not recommended or officially supported.
December 11th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
I’d left a bug report earlier, and I solved the problem by not enabling the ‘vsync’ option when starting..
December 11th, 2009 at 3:13 pm
ugh, I meant.. my issue (getting locked in the puzzle manipulation screen) was solved by not selecting the ‘postprocess’ option.. the vsync is fine. sorry for the confusion
December 11th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
Hmm, that is a weird bug, but I am glad the game is working for you.
January 1st, 2010 at 1:06 am
Wow, absolutely stunning! I’m so glad I discovered this, and I never would have if it wasn’t for the Mac port! Thank you a million times! Braid runs flawlessly on my MacBook Pro and Mac Pro. Amazing port of an amazing game. I’m a sucker for refined perfection, which this is. All my friends will be buying this game!