My New Obsession -- Tranquility

Michelle downloaded this game. She toyed with it for a few seconds, but didn't like it. When I gave it a glance, it seemed okay. Mildly entertaining. Then I found myself, credit card in hand, paying $10 to see more levels.
http://www.tqworld.com/

Now I find I look forward to coming home from work, just to play this hypnotic, mysterious, musical game. Breathtakingly beautiful, peaceful, and occasionally aggravating as hell. The game forces me to breathe easy and centre myself.

I highly recommend it.

Nik

says...

Did you ever try the 'Myst' series? Talk about spending TIME at it - maybe that should read 'wasting time' at it. But it was cathartic for me at the time and I didn't then think of it as wasted time. Simply as entertainment in another form.

I was always intrigued by it but never tried it. Until recently, I never had a computer up to par to play such games. Maybe I should track that Myst stuff down now that it'll be on sale for $10 in the bargain bin.

I find the Tranquility site interesting on an 'artistic-level' because of the pure colours and the way the geometric shapes flow and interact. I thought other pretentious artist types might enjoy it too.

One last time: http://www.tqworld.com

Nik

says...

I agree. OTOH, I was reacting to the 'tranquility' part of your post. The original version of MYST, and the subsequent game RIVEN, are set in 'tranquil' settings. Both games are highly praised, both then and now, for their 'artistic renderings/effects.'

These 'games' are more accurately described as 'puzzles' that must be worked out. That means mental concentration which makes the time fly when you're playing along. Frustrating perhaps to those who don't understand the 'puzzle' aspects, but great fun if you are the least bit adept at solving riddles, etc. And very satisfying if you manage to get all the way through to the end without cheating - getting 'hints' for solving the puzzle. I found myself stumped on one occasion when solving MYST and never did manage to solve RIVEN, even with a few hints. But the trying was an adventure in itself.

you might like http://www.freshsensation.com/samorost.swf its rather lovely

I love this, and have played it to the end before. But now, for the life of me, I can't figure out how I did it. Oh well.

Nik

its a beautiful game ... lemmings (as in the 80s computer game) meets myst meets that czech animator who did that Alice in Wonderland thing (which I had the misfortune to encounter for the first time whilst tripping) meets the moomintrolls...

you might also like http://www.chaotica.u-net.com/home.htm

allthough I've just been sent the link so I can't really comment on it...

As far as I can tell, he does not have it for the Mac, and so, alas, I cannot play.

Nik

I'll have a look, but since I've never made it to the end of Riven yet, and don't know if I ever will, I may have burned out on puzzle games. I didn't mention another very popular puzzle game, that had 'regular' puzzles to solve as opposed to those of Myst and Riven - Seventh

Perhaps the movement and the consuming difficulty of the game is the selling point, but the screen shots look like someone sneezed on a floor that elementary schoolchildren were cutting construction paper on all afternoon. I have Snood on my desktop but really haven't played any games since middle school (king's quest, etc.)