I want to let you know about some of the games I play and that I find inspirational. This post is about a game with really, really nice physics: Cortex Command. The developers, Data Realms, also use an interesting business model.

What's it all about then? Well, it's not finished yet, but it's a great sandbox to play around with. It's got pixel-perfect physics. Also, you know how recent big games brag about "destructible terrain"? Cortex Command has destructible everything. Blow stuff up and watch the pixels and parts flail around, or dig a tunnel with the "digger" to get to your enemy (Worms, anyone?).

Check out the video below, it's a bit hard to see the details so watch it in full screen. Then go to the official site: Cortex Command

www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8gdIcdVkEM

There's a free demo to try out.

"But", you are probably not thinking, "What about the business model?"

Well, Cortex Command is not nearly finished and they have been charging for it for years now. The money they get from that helps them keep developing the game. And that is interesting to us. By accepting pre-orders, we could embark on making a bigger game.

But, even more important, they get valuable feedback from their customers. Potential customers might say that they would like to have this and that feature, but do they pay for it? By charging money during development, Data Realms get hard data on what customers really do like as they put their money where their mouth is.

Money and Feedback. Sweet. In Sweden, we call that "killing two marketers with one blow".

We all enjoyed a really long weekend here at Turborilla. I finally got my Braid adventure started, f'n ey that is an amazing game. As Braid our last newsletter got a fair bit of positive feedback. We share one of the articles, a short list of a few really cool games, below.

From the Turborilla newsletter:

"5 games you should check out:

Joel joined us a few weeks back. Among other things he will take care of spreading "Mad Skills Motocross" to the world. As he got to know us we ended up talking a fair bit about which games we were in to at the moment. The list was actually not as long as you would expect and surprisingly uniform. In case you`ve missed out on any of the games at the top five list we compiled below make sure you go check it out:

• Minecraft - Amazingly simple and fun concept. I'd describe it as massively multiplayer lego-building with survival mode.
• Spelunky - As an Indiana Jones like adventurer you will save the damsel on every level, which are randomly generated. Very interesting situations can arise from this game's simple rules. Windows only.
• Machinarium - Haven't played it yet? Go do it now. Gorgeous point-and-click adventure reviving the genre.
• Sumotori - The silliest man-made thing to date. Have a good laugh with it.
• Dicewars - Risk, but simpler and more fun. I've wasted hours here. There's a multiplayer version out there when you feel ready.l "

I am off to an exciting meeting with 24MX

Take Care

Joel

Me and Christian of SpeedRunGames made a deal: I review his game, he reviews mine.

Now, don't think I am going to go easy on him just because we have a deal, that would make it all pointless and ruin everyone's day. So let's get on with the review of Grappling Hook.

In one sentence: It's like Portal, but with a grapple gun instead of a portal gun.

Now that's not bad, Portal is in my mind one of the best games ever made. Enough with the portals, this is about grappling.

You get a grappling gun, and with that you can pull yourself towards green surfaces with blinding speed from far away. If you release the trigger while traveling in this manner, your momentum will keep you going. Kind of like a human rail gun, first a large pulling force and then no force at all. Not even friction.

During the level, you collect access codes. When all access codes are collected, the level can be won by entering the portal at the end of it.

Around this mechanic Christian has constructed levels of varying cleverness, where some are ingenious and some are just frustrating. Don't fret though, just do the frustrating ones and you'll have fun again in the next level.

Good points:

• Innovative puzzler
• High velocities
• Frequent save points

Bad points:

• The graphics (programmer art)
• Too much jumping on platforms (more puzzling, less timing please)
• Limited green surfaces (I'd wish you could lash onto anything, except red surfaces, and then design levels around that)

Anyway, the good points are pretty strong so go try the free demo now: Grappling Hook Demo

So what has this got to do with Mad Skills Motocross, you ask? Stop playing around and get that game finished already you lazy bum, you say.

I agree. However, I did get an idea from Braid. It has been done before, but this got me thinking about it. In Braid, you can play the next level even if you didn't manage to complete the previous. The mere action of playing a level unlocks the next one, so you are forced to try the levels in order, but not to complete them in order.

Frankly, Braid would have been unplayable without this particular feature of its meta-structure. The puzzles are really intelligently constructed, but you still get frustrated sometimes when you can't complete them. All you need to do is continue playing and bend your mind around a few other puzzles, and then go back and complete the unfinished ones.

Invaluable, because otherwise I would have shut down the game when I got frustrated. Most likely I would have returned to it later to bang my head against that particular puzzle again, but it is so much more fun to keep playing other levels than to stop playing.

So that's how we are going to do it in Mad Skills Motocross, I believe. When you play the first race the second race is unlocked, and so on. But to continue to the next division, you have to win all races in the current division. So when you get stuck, just play the next race to improve your skills.

What do you all think of this? Sounds like a good idea? We'd love to hear your feedback in the forums or by mail.