Hi! I forgot that I have to update this blog often enough or people will start to flood me with questions about how the development is going.
As I said before all the puzzles are done and you can play the game from start to finish and get to the ending, watch the credits, etc… I do still add a puzzle here and there sometimes, if it is really awesome.
After shipping 4D toys I went and inserted all the dialogue I had written into the game, so it feels almost done in that sense as well. The “story” of the game is very exciting to me. I would like to talk about it a lot more but not yet. I did talk about the very basics in this post.
Then these past few months I have mainly been taking the “Main Game Mechanics” and making them look finished. By Main Mechanics I mean things you interact with beyond the Basic Mechanics such as jumping, rotating your view in 4D, and pushing blocks. There are about six of these main mechanics, but it’s approximate as they’re sometimes more like big categories covering related concepts.
A few of these main mechanics were very simple looking, but clear enough that you could play and understand what was happening.
So I went into graphics programmer mode and made them look amazing. But also as usual with this game there were a lot of game design considerations to keep the game understandable. I am sometimes jealous of video games that have simpler gameplay that lets them build any sort of crazy-looking stuff they want, but on the other hand when a beautiful thing also has gameplay it becomes so much more awesome! It’s just much harder to make. This freaking game is hard to make but so worth it.
Anyway I am done with all of them except one, which I am working on now, and it should be done within a month or so. (Edit March 2018: Done!)
After that my programming tasks will be small things like fix collision bugs, and I will keep placing props in levels and program the occasional cool 4D thing. We still need a bunch of 3D modelling done.
For 4D Toys I added a bunch of shapes that people had suggested over time, with more stuff to come. The trailer has a almost a million views (and the channel hit 3.1 million views and 20K subscribers) and the top comment says “this is the best description of 4d I have ever come across on the Internet.” So that’s cool.
I still believe!
This is great news 🙂
Thanks for the update
That’s really great news. I can’t wait to play this.
One thing with 4D Toys, though: would it be possible to add some visual effects such as shadows or depth of field? It would really help those without VR see the 3D nature of the shapes.
Yes, shadows will come at some point.
I know you had a VR prototype for Miegakure, is it still something you are considering?
I loved 4D Toys by the way!
It’s not a lot of work so probably, but I would recommend playing the normal version first anyway.
Thank you for your response, I’m so glad to hear that!
I’m quite curious about your advice, how playing it first in classic version would enhance the experience?
I could imagine it would help in imagining the 4D geometry, to have a birds-eye view of everything. also putting a central perspective would probably add a layer of confusion as you’d have to remember where you are in your 3D slice as well as remember where you are in the context of the greater 4D experience.
Cool! And I’m still here, waiting patiently for your promising game to be complete : ) Keep it up!
So excited to here it’s nearly done after waiting so long! Thanks for the update. Is Linux support still going to happen, do you think?
Yeah, at some point. I can’t guarantee it will work for everyone.
I agree with the commenter you quoted, this is one of the best explanations of 4 dimensional objects that I have ever come across. I’m helping to teach a grad level class on space, time, and motion for teachers right now and I’ve posted a couple of your videos, and recommended my students, who are teachers in training, to play with 4D Toys. I’m very excited to see the finished game! Keep up the great work!
I love updates!
Can it be true? Has our faithfulness finally come to fruition? You’ll be done in a month?
I weep with joy.
About 4DToys. Any chance you could add the ability for us to rotate the objects in 4d space as we’re holding them? That’s the only thing that it really needs.
Oh. I didn’t read correctly. You’ll be done that part in a month, and there’s still more to go.
Ok.
…okay…
*wipes away tears*
I am so excited for this game. I have been watching this game since it was announced. I love the creativity and the idea of making a 4d game. It looks awesome. I also love how open you are about the development process and also answer questions people have. Thank you for all you guys do!
Thank you for being nice!
It’s a little bit surreal to see a project I’ve watched for nearly a decade now approach this closely to the release date. All the best for the last stretch of the development cycle, hopefully the project is well received and the release goes smoothly 🙂
How exciting! I feel like I’ve been waiting for this game for such a long time now, it’s so nice to see it getting closer and closer to release. Really looking forward to playing it, I hope it all goes well!
Been following your devblog for a few years. Always been super interested in your take on a 4D game.
Take your time and make it perfect 🙂
Can I ask you something more personal?
How do you afford to be developing the same game for 8 years+?
Do you have a full-time job in addition to this?
Or simply large savings or some other means to keep your needs taken care of?
As a hobbyist game-maker I’m curious.
Thanks, Jonathan.
A mix of things. I don’t have a full-time job in addition to this.
This is an emotive moment for me, I remember getting interested in this game in high school, flash forward way too many years after, and I’m here, working as an independent developer, and your game’s progress feels like a landmark to track the changes in my life. Keep up the good work.
Great!
Will your 4D engine be useful to make other puzzle games, or is it too ingrained into Miegakure?
It seems fairly general.
Congrats !
You enjoying the development is one of the most important parts to making the final product feel and seep fun too.
Speaking of which, isn’t there anyone you’d entrust a PSVR port of 4D Toys to ? Or take a break with it yourself or borrow/sit with someone’s devkit for testing.
At a 2Million+ install base it seems a viable enough market and would also provide a most accessible path (in terms of hardware cost, think teachers lugging it into class, or conspiring with their students if they bring their own ps4. [and media molecule’s dreams])
Giddy 😀
p.s.: also, in the future, ..could You and 3Blue1Brown maybe have a baby ? As in a project together ..
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYO_jab_esuFRV4b17AJtAw/videos
Really glad to see this is still going on, I believe in you!
I’m also curious as to whether there’s any possibility of Klein bottle-like structures in either one of these games of yours
There is a Klein bottle in Miegakure, and I will add one in 4D Toys, U just need to add something else first.
Hi =) just another faceless web denizen, checking back with your website every few months over the years. Soooo excited, still.
This ranks up there with the Aurora Iwinks, the lucid dream induction device, which I am also still waiting for.
Gooooood luck! Gooooood fortune! Godspeed!!!
Looking forward to playing this. I’ve been into 4D since 6th form college, when I read Flatland and the Planisphere novel. My visualisation method is to imagine the 4D shape unfolded in a 3D net, then try and fold it up in my mind. Also rotating the shape in and out of 3D along a plane. I found your visualisation method extremely fascinating and can’t wait for the game!
Is there any Linux or Android version of ‘4D Toys’? Will Miegakure be available on these platforms?
4D Toys: Not yet.
Miegakure: Linux probably yeah.
So, since you didn’t include any new pictures can we start flooding you with requests to see new pictures now? 😉
You still need to publish an Android app for 4D Toys though. ?
Thank you for all the effort in making this amazing game! Do you have any plans on allowing early access for streamers to get the game a lot of exposure? I love streaming and would love to help in any way I can!
Hey Marc, thanks for the update!
I know you’ve been asked this before, but I couldn’t find whether you commented on it further, so I’ll just ask myself: do you have any plans to include the Nintendo Switch in your platforms? I will buy this when it comes out on computer, but I’d happily rebuy it if I could play it on the go (and it seems like the perfect kind of game for that, too).
Maybe? Seems easier than ps4 actually.
That’s cool! The Switch is on my list to buy.
It sounds so close!
I’ve been waiting for this game for SO LONG. Seriously, I swear I’ve been following this since at least as far back as 9 years now. I can’t wait to play.
This is awesome news, glad to hear about the progress!
I still think it’s vaporware.
Here’s a feature idea:
You could have achievements, but not just any achievement, for completing a level or a section or a random challenge of the game, the game could present a player with a 4D object that they can then ‘slice’ off a 3D piece that could be exported and then 3D printed if the person desired.
Despite the fact that the player would have to pay for the 3D printing it would be sort of like receiving an actual trophy for the game.
Some of the objects could be just the geometric objects, but others could be buildings. Heck this would even be cool without the 3D printing if the object just ‘lived’ somewhere, like your desktop, or profile page.
Have you considered making a webpage with progress graphs of what is done or not, with timestamps? Because otherwise, I may consider doing it from your blog 😀
Did you ever do this? while development is slow I’d love to see a graph of it.
Half life 3 confirmed 😉
best of luck!
Marc,
Thanks for the update.
I’m tracking your progress since many years, eagerly waiting for this gem to appear.
Did you consider to reduce the 3D modeling etc. work by making your game _procedural_?
Cheers,
Dan
Hi, I cant wait for the game so I already bought 4D toys, I just hope miegakure gets released soon (and maybe a little discount for those who bought 4D toys 😉 )
You knw there’s something about this concept art style that makes me think of the flintstones, not sure why.
As most fans I can wait as long as it takes for you to say: It is ready. That said I would love to get any update in these first months of the year. I passionately believe in Miegakure.
Happy new years.
I still check your blog every day.
I’d love to see an update any time soon, even if it’s just some words about the current state of the project! Anything is fine 🙂
You owe us nothing, of course. But many of us are eager to see progress.
Happy Belated New Year Paul-Simon!
I check very nearly every day as well. Comments less often so I didn’t see your comment.
Alive?
I wonder… but I believe it is safe to say that we won’t be playing this game before 2020…sadly. I do hope someone is still working on this though.
Hey Marc,
I haven’t been following the development of this game as long as others, but it’s been a while (probably about 5 years). This is my first time commenting, though. I love this concept for a puzzle game, man. And the way you pull it off is genius. Like some others, I couldn’t visualize 4D very well until I saw the demos you put out of the game.
This and Goragoa (which is finally out!) have been my most highly anticipated games, ever. Based on the updates I’m seeing, I’m super excited to play. I’m happy you’re taking the time to make the game as flawless as you can, even if I’m slightly frustrated because I’m impatient to play. 😛
Hope things continue to go well for you and Miegakure.
Marc, don’t forget: an update on progress is due by Friday, Aug. 9th, 2019, at 3:00PM your time.
(OK I made that up. But if you could pretend there is some kind of deadline, and urgently type out a progress report, all of us who have been waiting >1yr would be pretty thrilled.)