#brawsome

[linuxgamenews]

Warp Frontier play the Aussie cop drama on Linux

Warp Frontier 2D point and click adventure game releases Linux and Mac support, plus a discount with Windows PC. Thanks to the ongoing efforts of developer Brawsome. Available on both Steam and GOG with 100% Positive reviews. Brawsome has just launched Warp Frontier on Linux and Mac. This also includes a 10% re-launch week discount on Steam and GOG. So that players that already own the PC version now have access to the two new platforms. The Warp Frontier marks Brawsome's first game launch on Linux. All made possible via Unity, which also enabled the release on Switch. Brawsome used beta branches via both Steam and GOG to beta test the new platforms with players. Which were welcome new features not available during the development of Jolly Rover or MacGuffin's Curse.

Warp Frontier Teaser

Warp Frontier is a 2D point and click adventure set in the year 2215. All taking place around humanity's newest extrasolar colony. Warp Frontier is an Aussie cop drama following war hero turned cop, Vincent Cassini. Along with his robot partner Mac. While he races to prevent the coverup of a war crime by an old enemy. Doing so before the stories of thousands, including his wife and best friend, are erased forever. Solve puzzles in point and click adventure style. Work your way through Vince’s relationships with his family, allies, and enemies. The decisions you make and the order in which you undertake tasks have result. All with varying outcomes each playthrough. Which could also cost the lives of thousands. Your actions ultimately decide what type of father, partner, friend, officer, and saviour Vince will be.

Features:

Make decisions that affect the lives of thousands of people. Decide the relationships between family and friends

A 2D point and click adventure in HD

6-8 hours of gameplay with branching decisions. Also resulting in many unique ending sequences

Authentic Australian feel. All voiced by a mainly Australian cast

An alternate timeline of humanity branching from a single fatal event

Original Soundtrack by Thomas Regin

Explore space in your own ship. Ranging from the planet surface to the outer reaches of the planetary ring

Warp Frontier the 2D point and click adventure game releases on Linux and Mac. The 10% discount also applies to Windows PC players as well. The games priced at $13.49 USD until November 23rd. Available on Steam and GOG.

[linuxgamenews]

Warp Frontier adventure working its way onto Linux

Warp Frontier point and click adventure dev leaning strongly towards a Linux port with Windows PC. Thanks to developer Brawsome who is gearing up the games release. Due to make its way onto Steam this year. Brawsome's first adventure game release in over 10 years, will be this year. Warp Frontier is a sci-fi cop drama taking place in the year 2215. All taking place in orbit around humanity's newest extrasolar colony. The game also has a uniquely Australian feel. While featuring a mainly Australian voice cast. Warp Frontier was developed entirely remotely from Andrew Goulding's home in Melbourne Australia. With most of the development taking place during the pandemic. Offering up a cool 6-8 hours of gameplay, with nearly 30 characters, and fully voiced. Which equates to about 4,000 lines of dialogue. Asking about a Warp Frontier Linux port via the Discussions post shows interest. Stating that it's not terribly difficult. Likewise, I reached out to Brawsome via email regarding Linux and an ETA.

TBH I still haven't fully committed to it [Linux], but I'm leaning strongly towards it.

The game engine that is used for Warp Frontier development, Unity 3D. As a result, it's the custom shaders created by Brawsome that still need testing. Which could start as early as July, but it may be more like August. Which means that Linux support is going to be in progress.

Warp Frontier Teaser

Warp Frontier is Brawsome's first departure from the comedy of the award winning Jolly Rover and MacGuffin's Curse. Both games only have Mac and Windows PC support. Now working to offer a more serious drama, with a light sprinkling of puns and dad jokes. Warp Frontier takes inspiration from realistic sci-fi such as The Expanse, and Altered Carbon. With 2D art hand painted by Matt Martin. And also a soundtrack by Thomas Regin. Warp Frontier follows the story of Vincent Cassini, a decorated war hero. Although still just a Captain in the police force he started. Vince is patrolling the orbital slums of his home planet Cetus, when he stumbles across a lead in a war crime. This results in the mysterious vanishing of thousands of Cetans. Including his first wife and best friend. Captain Cassini and his robot partner MAC, must ally with morally questionable characters. All due to stop an old enemy before their crimes are erase forever. Players solve puzzles, in point and click adventure style. At the same time work through branching stories. While managing Vince’s relationships with his family, allies, and enemies. Decisions players make in conversations and the order in which they undertake tasks result in outcomes that could cost the lives of thousands. Player actions ultimately decide what type of father, partner, friend, officer, and saviour Vince will be. Warp Frontier point and click adventure is due to release on Windows PC. However, a Linux port will be in testing soon. In the mean time, feel free to Wishlist the game on Steam.

[paulabbamondi]

Jolly Rover's got a sea's worth of canine scallywags and spiritual magic

Through the power of Gmail and its determination to never truly delete anything from your inbox, I have discovered exactly when I got hold of my copy of Brawsome’s Jolly Rover, a comedic pirate-themed point-and-click adventuring starring literal dogs of the sea. It became my treasured booty back in March 2012 when it ran as part of “The St. Patrick’s Day Bundle,” which was the ninth bundle from

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[steamgameaday]

MacGuffin's Curse (2012)

Genre: Puzzle Developer: Brawsome Price: £6.99

A MacGuffin is (according to TvTropes, the leading repository of stupid-sounding terms for things that happen regularly in narrative) an object or element of a narrative that only exists to drive forward the plot. The term was popularised by Alfred Hitchcock, having been coined by one of his screenwriters, but the use of MacGuffins in fiction goes back much further than the early days of Hollywood, and the concept of an item that must be quested for, generally for entirely nonspecific purposes, is one that permeates throughout human culture. True MacGuffins can be identified by whether or not they are entirely interchangeable with other similar items: for example would Ancient Greek mythology be so different had Jason and his Argonauts spent their time seeking a small statuette of the god Dionysus instead of a Golden Fleece? Would Pulp Fiction have been any different from a narrative perspective had the glowy briefcase instead been a Hello Kitty lunchbox?

Ironically the game's plot-token artifact is not, in fact, a MacGuffin, as it serves more purpose than merely being an object of desire to pit the characters against each other; TvTropes specifically classifies it as a 'Clingy MacGuffin' (an inverted MacGuffin situation where the protagonist desperately wants to get rid of the item), but as it serves a very specific purpose I would personally dispute the title (I also read TvTropes entires for both 'MockGuffin' and 'Egg MacGuffin', after which I simply put my head in my hands and waited for the entire internet to disappear). Instead, the game's literal MacGuffin is one Lucas MacGuffin, former conjurer turned mildly incompetent sneak-thief who, having stolen the famed Lupine Twine Amulet the night before it was to be the centrepiece of an exhibition at the local museum, has found himself affected by rather... lycanthropic tendencies. As the wearer of the stolen and more importantly cursed artifact, Lucas can now (under the gaze of moonlight) transform himself into a large and imposing werewolf.

Unfortunately having stolen that amulet, Lucas has accidentally put the entire city into lockdown. Each sector of the city (conveniently the size of a single screen) has found itself locked down and isolated by the dystopian setting's rather overzealous security system. In order to remove his curse, McGuffin needs to be able to move around the city, talk to NPCs and gather information and items, and he can only do this by re-activating the locked-down doors by moving massive batteries into the correct positions in each sector. The result is, in effect, a Metroidvania Sokoban hybrid in which the player is given reasonably free reign to explore the world but must gain extra upgrades and collect certain items in order to unlock specific routes at a later point.

The basics of the game's craze puzzles are simple enough. Whilst in his werewolf form, Lucas can pull and push crates and batteries (or just push in the case of metal containers), and is heavy enough to activate floor-mounted buttons. As a werewolf, however, he cannot cross water or climb through small holes. As a human Lucas has a better range of movement, alongside the ability to press control-panel buttons and open already-activated doors. Puzzles are designed with switching between the two forms in mind, and players will ofen find themselves wandering back and forth between sources of moonlight in order to alternate between the two. The game being Sokoban inspired, however, it often becomes very easy for the player to get into a position where a puzzle can no longer be completed, at which point they can simply reset the room and begin again from the start.

For the most part I was quite impressed by MacGuffin's Curse, but there are a few serious problems with the game that detract from the experience. Firstly, the game's graphics are awful in a way that is mildly disappointing. There's certainly talent and artistry in the creation of the game's environments and each sector or room is full of colour and detail, but the whole thing is drawn at an odd and sometimes nonsensical mix of perspectives, and is locked at a resolution that upscales awkwardly on my 1080p monitor. The fact that puzzles can only be restarted rather than (as seen in many other modern puzzle games) rewound step by step is also an annoyance, as the solutions to puzzles can take quite a number of moves, and getting most of the way through a complicated puzzle only to find that you've made a mistake towards the end results in the player having to backtrack over parts of the game they have already long solved.

But lack of graphical fidelity and mild annoyance aside, MacGuffin's curse is a particularly strong crate-pushing puzzle title with a scope and setting not usually associated with the genre. It's full of hidden content, needless collect-a-thons, ludicrous quests, and mildly amusing jokes (generally at Lucas's expense). Whilst it's a shame that the otherwise smooth animation and quite often excellent art is seen through a filter of dodgy upscaling, the game itself is an enjoyable romp that is more than strong enough to hold up on the rest of its merits.

How long did I play? - 1.7 hours Did I finish it? - No Would I finish it? - Yes

[brawfood]

Test Tube Burgers

Scientists at Maastricht University have unveiled the first ever ‘test tube burger’ made entirely from lab-grown meat. 

The burger isn’t cheap – costing around £250,000 to develop, however creator Professor Mark Post says his technique could revolutionise the meat production industry, offering solutions to problems of sustainability and even reducing the number of animals slaughtered for food. Cultured from the stem cell of a slaughtered cow, think we’ll pass on that one. 

The reputation of the meat industry has notoriously garnered negative criticism for producing harmful greenhouse gasses and using up natural resources at an alarming rate. The recent horsemeat scandal has made it difficult to trust what ingredients processed meat products contain. While the test-tube burger reduces some of the problems associated with meat consumption, it isn't everyone’s idea of fresh, natural nourishment. 

Choosing to incorporate more fruit and veg into your diet is a great way to do your bit for the environment. Buying seasonal plants and trying to source products locally is a good way to reduce our impact on the planet, and choosing natural products gives you more control of what you are putting in your body. We wholeheartedly subscribe to eating less meat and plenty more veg.

Eating a balanced diet containing a wide variety of fruit and veg is essential in maintaining optimum health.  Braw bars contain absolutely no additives, preservatives or synthetic ingredients, there are neigh horses harmed in our bars!

[hiroshimishima]

In case my article wasn't to your palette, or you just like getting alternate opinions, here's the "Rock, Paper, Shotgun" review of it. They did say a lot of similar things that I did - and much more eloquently, I might add.. - but it was interesting for me to see what they said just on a personal level.

You know, cause when you enjoy a game or think it has issues, you like to see if others have said the same thing, so you don't feel so alone.

EDIT: If it isn't obvious, I'm kinda trying in my own quirky way to give a little support to Brawsome, cause I'd like them to get a bit of success considering their previous game didn't sell very well.

[hiroshimishima]

MacGuffin's Curse cont.

Hmm.. I don't think I wrote the MacGuffin's Curse well enough to really call it a review. My apologies, sometimes articles don't turn out quite as organized as I had planned.

If it is a bit ambiguous, I was trying to say that while MacGuffin's Curse is a good game and certainly people should get it/play it, I do think there was room for improvement. Jolly Rover did not overstay its welcome, nor did it grate the nerves as MG's Curse started to after a while. Perhaps it was the length, the pacing, or the gameplay itself, I cannot really be sure.

One gripe I would have leveled at the game is that there was more puzzle than adventure a lot of the time. Developer commentary mentioned they had done most of the puzzles in a relatively short time before they'd even completed the alpha stage, but that the adventure aspect was longer and more difficult. It could be that what bothers me about MacGuffin's Curse is the ratio of puzzle, adventure, and dialogue not being balanced enough.

One of the things that got changed during development was boss battles. These would have been more action-based and they felt it clashed too much with the puzzle and dialogue elements of the game. As the games, I think there's too few boss encounters and only one of them actually involved puzzles.

I am, however, quite glad they opted not to have enemies because puzzle games with active threats roaming around tend to turn me off. If it had played up like straight Adventures of Lolo on the NES, I'd have been very disappointed.

[hiroshimishima]

Indie Review: MacGuffin's Curse

In production for roughly a year, this is by the folks at Brawsome (an Australian group) who made the classic Pirate-Dog adventure Jolly Rover; one of my favourite Indie games, ever.

There is little similarity between the two, except perhaps the writing style and humour since they were developed by the same people. This is labeled as both an Adventure title, with plenty of places to explore, items to find, and people to interact with.. and a Puzzle game, seeing as nearly every room is a puzzle. In fact, there's about 150 such rooms, though I'm not sure if that includes the NPC rooms and some transitional ones just there for atmosphere and smoother progression.

The various people you meet, and there's a decent amount, will have several quests for you to undertake. Most of them will be related to the main story, but plenty are just side quests and the game conveniently tells you which they are in case you want to save them for post-game content. I actually suggest that you do this, as it will give you a reason to keep playing a bit longer. Buy the Computer when you can! It changes all the in-game music to SID tracks, which is what the Commodore 64 used; this was a very enjoyable bit of nostalgia for me.

Every room you complete, save a few*, has developer commentary you can read to learn more about what went into the game's production. It's really quite interesting, but do be thankful you don't have to replay the game for it. Even before I finished it, I was in no hurry to go through it a second, as I had done with Jolly Rover (3x in fact); largely due to length, but also because the puzzles wore on me after a while.

Do not misunderstand me, I had a lot of fun with most of the game! However, I cannot deny that there was a certain inconsistency with puzzle difficulty. Many of the puzzles I could finish quickly and fairly easily, though certainly some required a decent amount of thought. The ones I'm referring to felt needlessly convoluted or tedious with far more moves, no room for error, and could easily take over 30-50 minutes to figure out. With several resets, possible swearing, and muttering "why can't we have a limited Undo feature?"

The one pictured above was from a help thread on Steam because the player thought it was unbeatable, but I had completed it only like an hour earlier so I gave some help. The commentary for this room reveals that later puzzles in the development stage were done by Andrew Goulding's brother, including this room which took the lead developer 30 minutes to solve. I think this is why some rooms feel extremely hard compared to the rest of the game. About 5-6% of the puzzles gave me problems - not counting the ones I got frustrated with cause I was tired, which I solved in a matter of minutes the next day.

As I said, there's a love of love and hard work that went into this game. I can feel it, I soak it up, I love it. References to everything from Ghostbusters to Psychonauts, if you examine everything you come across and I recommend you do. Even a few jabs at other people; I'm almost certain the depicted conversation about fans and art is aimed at George Lucas of Star Wars fame.

That starts bringing me to actual commentary by the developers. You've probably seen those * marks at certain points where I needed to elaborate but doing so then would have gotten me off topic. Here is where I will cover them.

*Space Constraints* This was brought up several times, that they wanted to limit how big they let game get. I'm not entirely sure why this was necessary because right now it's only about 358 MB which is maybe twice the size of Jolly Rover, but still a drop in the bucket compared to other adventure titles I've played by Indie Developers.

These limits they imposed on themselves saw them cut back on character portraits, comics (beautifully done scenes and backstory without words), and tiles to be used in rooms .. in order to get the user interface implemented when it turned out to be 4x bigger than they'd planned. On the other hand, I'm glad they at least managed to get the Developer Commentary in at all, I love this feature in games and don't see it often enough.

*It's Not Perfect* Normally this goes without saying because perfection is a nigh unobtainable. However, what I'm referring to is that there's problems. About five of the puzzle rooms have no commentary because it literally doesn't unlock, there's several threads on Steam about it. It's also possible to Reset a room after you've completed it, because the switch to "finished" only occurs if you go through the new door. Sometimes when loading a saved game it will place you in a strange position requiring either resetting the room, reloading a second time, or warping to another section of the map. One of the achievements does not always "pop" for people.