Hi!
Miegakure is coming along great. All the puzzles have been done for almost a year now. I have polished many parts of the game, in areas such as graphics and sound, but a few more remain.
As an example of polish, I recently improved the lighting, which was difficult because the game is so dynamic it is not possible to precompute in advance where the light bounces, as most games do. I came up with with a novel way to do it and looks amazing and I can’t wait to show it soon.
The largest task for me personally now is to go through the remaining levels and place objects and generally make them look as pretty as the levels we have shown so far. I get to make more cool 4D objects too, which I also can’t wait to show. I have a few videos planned on them and other things.
By the way, I recently noticed the Miegakure videos have been viewed over a million and a half times! This makes me happy because even though the game is not out yet it has already done a lot of good for the world, with hundreds of people saying the above video is “the best explanation of 4D they have ever seen.” Not many games have trailers that stand on their own as useful things. It’s also good because a lot of what I say in the videos cannot be said via the game, because games should mostly teach non-verbally, so they are complementary.
To the people who have been waiting for a long time, thank you for your patience. I am making sure the game that comes out will be accessible and beautiful so that more people can experience how amazing the concept of 4D is.
I will do a bunch of blog posts in the next few weeks, talking about the lighting, the world building we have been doing, etc…
I am so glad to hear you are in the polishing phase of the game’s development — hopefully this means we will be able to play it before too long! I cannot wait! You are doing some truly great work.
Thank you!
I have been following you for well over 3 years now. Very excited to see your still roll in.
Thought you let it slide or was onto something else by now… lol
As an entrepreneur myself it is rewarding to see others sticking with it and cranking out their vision and dreams, even if it takes a while. Kudos Marc. Cant wait to play.
-Vandy
Yayy!! I can’t wait to see the lighting.
Nice! Keep up with th great work Marc.
I feel we wont get the whole picture when playing, especially with the scenery and objects; the way 3D slices deform is mind blowing to me.
Good job!
Woo! Been waiting for a new blog post. I check in almost every day.
Can’t wait for your further posts about your improvements 🙂
Wooh! I’m excited. Do you have an ETA? Later this year, next year, etc?
He’s not going to give an ETA
A room littered with Klein bottles would be stellar, thanks!! : D
BTW in all seriousness this is probably the most important game in development by human civilisation at this moment in history… no pressure or anything. It doesn’t have to be perfect of course, but once you decide it’s ready it will become a de facto milestone marker in our level of visualisation and interaction with / manipulation of higher-dimensional space. So I think of this project as a gift you are generously giving to the world. (In Batman terms: Marc ten Bosch is the hero Gotham doesn’t deserve and doesn’t know it needs right now.)
Klein bottle room, or maze would be fantastic… Klein Maze has a rather nice ring to it.
Would that work though? because while a klein bottle is a 4D, it feels more like a 3D shape that is stretched into the 4th dimension, like the mobius strip, a 2D surface rotated into 3 dimensions, but if you take a 2D slice of the mobius strip would be a line…. so would a 3D slice of a Klein bottle be a circle?
There is another shape, I think that would work, I can’t remember what the name of it was.
A Klein bottle is also a 2D surface:
Take a square. To get a Möbius strip make a half twist before connecting two parallel edges. Then connect the two other edges without twisting to get a Klein bottle.
That’s right! Thanks for the correction
It is people like you that help push the game medium to the next level.
Thank you and can`t wait to play the game!
Thanks for the update, looking forward to the next update and/or the end result!
Lookin’ forward to the updates, and still just as enthralled for release as I’ve been for all these years. That said, there’s a weirdly offputting romanticism from you and others about this game, deeply clever and original as it may be. Flowery comments about “beauty” and sublimity that I think are beginning to sound a little starry-eyed. I hope you’re not getting high on your own supply here. I feel like this may be a uniquely bay area cultural thing…
I want like hell to finally get to get my hands on this puppy but I admire your resolve in withholding it until the result completely satisfies you. Take your time, but consider teasing us a little more often!
Awesome !
utterly impressed by the whole dedication, care and mathematics (& programming) wizardry, super looking forward to the next posts and final product since I first heard about it years ago, hype is increasing by the day.
Best of winds for the work still ahead Marc !
Salutations depuis Casablanca 🙂
I know you’re not going to give any kind of time frame for an expected release, but can you give us some idea of how much work is left to do? You’re just making the levels prettier at this point, right? Can you tell us how many total levels there are and how many you’re satisfied with?
There are more than 150 levels (I won’t give the exact count to avoid spoilers). I am satisfied with all of them. There may be a few adjustments needed. I might need to add a few that are not puzzles, just nice looking, but these are very easy to make.
That was more than less clear and satisfying. I am simultaneously at ease that the game will be released soon AND worried that it’s going to be another year
Hmm. The “nice looking levels” remark made my mind wander. it made me think of a crisp morning in a hilly environment, where there is fog in the valleys, and just a few hilltops poke through the mist. That grand feeling, when you emerge from the murky depth and are suddently hit by this flash of brilliant, warm light. And the tentative but curious anxiety, when the path on the other side of the hill is dropping back beneath the veil. It is a game of hide and seek with the right path allready…. I wonder how you could create the same imagery while chasing a trail through a 4D sunrise?
Mmm, chasing a trail through a 4D sunrise, I love that mental imagery.
I could just imagine what that might look like, each slice towards the sun getting brighter and brighter, and 4D shadows cast in the fog looking like floating dots of dark clouds, and wave like shapes betraying the landscape ahead.
When I started following your development I was in highschool, now I’m almost an engineer. I really love all the dedication you have gie to this, I have learnt a lot thanks to your trailers and blog.
I’ve never been this excited for this many years about anything other than the Promethean trope. Keep it up, Marc!
Me too… in fact I can’t think of anything else that has not only been in the works this long, and also that I’ve maintained excitement about. (except maybe advancements in technology like 3D tv and 4k resolution)
Hi Marc, the game look great.
Do you have any intention to release the game on the Nintendo Switch? I would the the ability to play the puzzles while commuting too and from work – it’s the only time I get to play these days!
Keep up the great work.
Jon
I saw the trailer and was instantly hooked as I am a fan of mathematics in higher dimensions. The platforms listed for this game were PC (both via steam and as a download) and Playstation 4. I would love for this game to be on the Nintendo Switch if possible. If not I will enjoy it on PC. I hope to see this game soon and good luck with the development!
Would be cool if it were on the switch. I don’t have a switch, but both that and this are on my goals to buy so that would work out.
But where can we find this excellent game? Could you leave out a website or something else that can help us check it out?