The new update solved some problems for some people, but apparently it created new problems for other people. So I am rolling back the main version of Braid to the old one until all problems are solved. Among the problems introduced in the new update: * The game no longer worked on Windows XP (this was caused by the updating of the game to the new Visual Studio 2013 compiler; Visual Studio now breaks XP compatibility by default). * The mouse got stuck on the puzzle screen for some players, making puzzles unplayable. * The game sometimes cannot find a good display mode for some players, whereas it found one before. I apologize for the inconvenience. It's very hard to know what a Windows game is going to do when released to a large number of people, these days. Developing for Windows now is basically a giant disaster (Windows has become very complicated). The strategy with new versions going forward will be to minimize the amount of Windows functionality that they rely on for the game to be playable (for example, the next release will no longer attempt to go into a fullscreen display mode; it will just render to an offscreen buffer and then stretchblit that to a fullscreen window). Also, I'll test the next update much more thoroughly before releasing it as the main version. The new update is still live on the beta branch and the password has been taken off the beta branch to make it easy for everyone to get at. New updates will be published on the beta branch until such time as they are determined to be working very well. Expected features for next update: * Fix XP compatibility for new version * Render 'fullscreen' without attempting to switch display modes * Change the way the game interfaces with the mouse, to minimize problems Thanks for your patience and again I apologize for any inconvenience. If the old version of the game doesn't work for you, you might want to try the beta in the meantime and see if that works better.

[ 2013-12-25 15:39:30 CET ] [ Original post ]

Braid is a puzzle-platformer, drawn in a painterly style, where you can manipulate the flow of time in strange and unusual ways. From a house in the city, journey to a series of worlds and solve puzzles to rescue an abducted princess. In each world, you have a different power to affect the way time behaves, and it is time's strangeness that creates the puzzles. The time behaviors include: the ability to rewind, objects that are immune to being rewound, time that is tied to space, parallel realities, time dilation, and perhaps more.
Braid treats your time and attention as precious; there is no filler in this game. Every puzzle shows you something new and interesting about the game world.
Key features:

• Newly added Steam Cloud support
  Save your in-progress game to the cloud, then play where you left off from on any Steam connected computer.
  
• Forgiving yet challenging gameplay:
  Braid is a 2-D platform game where you can never die and never lose. Despite this, Braid is challenging — but the challenge is about solving puzzles, rather than forcing you to replay tricky jumps.
  
• Rich puzzle environment:
  Travel through a series of worlds searching for puzzle pieces, then solving puzzles by manipulating time: rewinding, creating parallel universes, setting up pockets of dilated time. The gameplay feels fresh and new; the puzzles are meant to inspire new ways of thinking.
  
• Aesthetic design:
  A painterly art style and lush, organic soundtrack complement the unique gameplay.
  
• Nonlinear story:
  A nonlinear fiction links the various worlds and provides real-world metaphors for your time manipulations; in turn, your time manipulations are projections of the real-world themes into playful "what-if" universes where consequences can be explored.
  
• Nonlinear gameplay:
  The game doesn't force you to solve puzzles in order to proceed. If you can't figure something out, just play onward and return to that puzzle later.