The Puzzle of a Lifetime | Hacker News Reader

The Puzzle of a Lifetime

kotaku.com

120 pointspcestrada19 comments

“The fact that Annapurna could bring a dedicated marketing budget felt important.”

This article sounds like a result of that marketing, although it does sound like an interesting game. The best part is the mention of inbflat.net that I hadn't heard of before and is awsome.

This is an inspiring piece of modern art. Btw, www.inbflat.net is the work of http://www.darrensolomon.com who has made a number of really cool projects that melt your mind a bit.

I played through this last night and it was interesting, surprising, weird, and very artistically and technically competent. I think it's the most interesting game I've seen this year, and I play a lot of games. The only thing that was slightly disappointing was that it's short, which I mitigated by playing it through twice.

The piece was too long. Could you please TLDR; where one can play this game?

Steam.

Also iOS and Nintendo Switch.

Thanks. Just played it... It does look artistic but there are too many missing playable elements. Things only interact in certain way and exploration involves only few free actions. I guess I'm too spoiled by games like Monument Valley to appreciate it.

Have you played Edith Finch? I’d say that’s probably been my most interesting game this year, but I’m really keen to try this one.

> He’d saved up a bunch of money before leaving his job, and figured he’d have the game out by the end of 2013. Two years later, he had spent all his money, and Gorogoa wasn’t finished.

That's the dream, followed by the nightmare

Marketing or not, I got the game and played in one sitting. Initially I did not realize how it was getting solved. Soon the creator’s puzzle techniques started becoming evident (repetitive) and then it was enjoyable. Became easier though.

I played the demo some 3 years ago, maybe 4, and loved it. I can barely wait to get it (but I will, I'm gifting it to my wife for Christmas).

This is a fantastic and inspiring game. It's short but worth it, very unique. It's a masterpiece of it's game mechanic.

I love the idea behind this game. It's like a point and click puzzler with less random clicking guesswork.

I think this is just a game advertisment.

Maybe it's somewhat promotional, but there's a meaningful and interesting story here.

What do you want? For-profit stuff can never show up on Hacker News?

Of course not. But it's extremely clear to me that the primary focus of the article is promoting the game, and the story is secondary.

After having seen a lot of these articles, it becomes easier to distinguish the real story ones from the "ad" ones. And thats why they do it, its effective, so many people can't tell its a paid advert.

It’s positive coverage, but that doesn’t mean it’s paid. When game journalists like things, they write positively about them.

I sincerely doubt this is a marketing piece. If anyone's to blame here for that feeling that some may have, it's Kotaku. Jason was one of the most genuine and wonderful people I've met while working at the same co-working space. In fact, all of the people I met in my time at the Gamenest co-working space were quite memorable.

He means that this seems like a submarine PR piece (http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html). Journalists on a deadline will frequently publish what a PR firm sends them, and it's worth being on the lookout for articles that probably started that way.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com