A Slug's Dream

《A Slug's Dream》是一款机制挺有创意的3D推箱解谜游戏。 本作中，主角是一只蛞蝓（俗称鼻涕虫），目标是吃到关卡中的所有花朵。现实中蛞蝓喜不喜欢吃花我不知道，反正就是这么个设定。 为了达成这个目标，主角可以推动立方体形状的石头（可以理解为本作中的“箱子”）来给自己铺路。而本作的核心创意之一就体现在主角和箱子的交互中：当主角用头顶箱子时，箱子会平移，非常正常，但是当主角用它的尾巴来顶箱子时，箱子就不是会平移，而是会滚动。滚动可以改变物体的朝向，在石头不是正方体，而是长方体的时候，很显然会起到独特的作用。 本作还有一些其它的机制，比如其它种类的箱子，还有阻止主角进入某个地块的火等等。在其中，最突出的一个机制就是“传送门”。传送门也是立方体，只不过其中有一个面用来传送。顾名思义，如果进入传送门的传送面，那么就会从和它配对的另一个传送门的传送面的相同位置出来。不仅主角自己可以进入传送门，其它的物体也可以被推入传送门，甚至就连[spoiler]其它传送门[/spoiler]都可以进入传送门。而且，要想到，传送门的本质仍然是一个立方体物体，所以主角照样可以推动、滚动这些传送门。所有这些机制相结合，本作的可能性空间直接爆发，应该可以设计出很多烧脑、独特的谜题吧？ 然而，本作的谜题设计不是很出色。其中我最关注的问题是，我认为设计师的意图并没有清晰地体现出来，进而让我感觉本作的谜题设计十分松散，没有一种贯穿始终的核心的设计理念，就算有，也是一种我不太能接受的设计理念。 首先是探索机制的方面。本作在一开始还是遵从了一定的游戏设计原则，逐步引入新机制，探索新机制，然后将新机制和旧机制进行结合。同一个区域里，谜题所探索的方向是相似的，也就是说可以看得出来一个区域的“主题”。但越到后面，我就越看不出位置相近的谜题之间有什么联系，更看不到还有什么探索的方向可言。 细化到每个谜题的设计上，有些谜题也让我感觉设计师没有一个很清晰的设计思路。优秀的谜题设计能呈现出一个清晰的问题，或者说矛盾，并引导玩家发现一个清晰的解法。但本作的有些谜题并不是这样，有的谜题，感觉方法很多，并不只有一种单一的方法，甚至有的在我发现谜题的“关键点”是什么之前，我就已经解出来了。而有的谜题，在本作这些可以非常灵活的机制下，又感觉太局限了，必须要在比较狭小的空间里，按照某种方法将传送门转来转去，才能实现一个解法。谜题对解法没有明确的限制，只有一个大概的空间限制，让谜题看起来选择很多，但只有上手做了之后才发现处处碰壁，这也并不是一种好的感觉。 本作一个更让我疑惑的设计是，有时在解完一个谜题之后，游戏除了显示“Well Done!”这样的鼓励性话语之外，还会有额外的评价，比如说“你没有转动石头就解开了这个谜题”之类的。这可能对设计师来说，是对玩家创造力的一种鼓励，但对我来说，反倒加深了疑惑。我会想，既然你特地提示了这一点，那是不是意味着，“普通”的解法中，应该使用这些操作呢？那我的解法和“普通”的解法之间又有多少差别呢？如果我的解法能和设计师认为的解法有显著的差别，那我又怎么能保证我一定感受到了设计师心中所想的那个idea？ 听我叭叭了这么多，你可能会有疑问：好好一个游戏，你玩就玩，老考虑什么“设计师的意图”，或者自己的解是不是和设计师一样干什么？这不是自己给自己找不痛快吗？自己发现有创造性的解法不是挺好的吗？是，如果是在其他类型的游戏中，我可以忽略“设计师的意图”这个问题，但解谜游戏不一样。在我看来，解谜游戏一定是设计师先有idea，再将其包装成谜题，这样玩家就会在解出谜题的过程中发现这个idea，感受到发现的乐趣。我一直强调，这种“灵光一闪”，这种Eureka（顿悟），才是我心目中解谜游戏的本质。而如果设计师无法在谜题设计中保证玩家一定会发现这些idea，甚至一开始就没有明确的idea，那谁知道玩家能不能在一大片设计师没考虑到的“无法之地”中找到乐趣？我只能说，就算玩家在解这种谜题的过程中能感受到乐趣，也不是Eureka这种类型的乐趣。 在本作中，我既遇到了可以完全丢弃一些关卡要素也能解出的谜题，也遇到了必须要用十分诡异的挪移才能解出的谜题。那到底是一开始，设计师想的就是这些谜题大概能过就行，用什么方法无所谓，还是设计师有一个无比巧妙又精美的解法，但是被我绕了过去呢？如果是第一种，那我没什么好说的，理念不同，但如果是第二种，那我就要说，防止玩家绕过一些关键的发现，也是谜题设计中很关键的一环，而本作很显然没有做好这一点。 本作设计师以前的作品都大量采用了程序生成的谜题，可能有些人喜欢，但这些人中没有我。我之所以喜欢手工设计的谜题，是因为我对谜题质量的要求远远不是“能解开就行”，我想要的是一段富有逻辑又充满惊喜的思考过程，而迄今为止，能做到这一点的游戏，我都能在谜题设计中看到不说全部，起码一部分的设计意图。那种和设计师对上电波的感觉会让我十分满足，因为我心里很清楚我理解了这道谜题，以及背后的逻辑。但在手工设计的本作中，我却也没有看到太多的这种意图，自然也就谈不上对电波了。可能是设计师不太有经验所致，我也没有人身攻击之意，我只能说，继续加油吧。 总的来说，本作的机制还是挺有意思的，前期发现各种机制之间如何交互的部分也很有趣，但是后面的谜题设计就没有让我心生波澜了。 结论：[b]推荐[/b]。

You played Stephen's Sausage Roll? This is that with portals and a bigger emphasis on vertical movement (climbing up walls, flipping blocks vertically, etc.) Just like Stephen's, movement is weird and quirky, with part of the challenge being navigating yourself around the level to properly complete the puzzle. It's been a while since I played Stephen's, but I'd say the puzzles on this are harder. That or I've gotten stupider.

StephenSausageRollLike

would you still love me if i was a slug?

A very original and smart puzzle game; a true masterpiece. I was so lucky to find it. - PORTALS: Just like portal, the game uses portals but goes much deeper into this idea in ways in which the Portal games never dared to do. For example, the portals can have very long objects stuck inside them (including yourself - being a snail, your body is also a bit long); they can be moved and rotated around WITH the objects sticking out of them, and the portal's interaction with liquids makes much more sense than the one in Portal 2; causing interesting floods and rivers that can extinguish fires. BUT WAIT! Portals can even go inside other portals! You can put a portal in a portal in a portal and the game will not break! It's insanely good and answers all unanswered Portal questions in its own unique way. - RUBIK'S CUBE: Just like "Stephen's Sausage Roll" and "Pipe Push Paradise", objects can be rotated in space and their surfaces matter. For example, make the portal on a block face the ground and you have effectively blocked the portal. Objects stack and interact, allowing you to build interesting structures. - SNAKEBIRD: Some of the charm of "Snakebird" is here, too: you can slide your 2 tile long body underneath some objects, or you can block your own body if you put yourself into a situation that is too tight. This is one of those few Sokoban puzzles that truly feel 3D not just by using several floors but by really giving you more options. - ALTERNATIVES: Similar to Pudding Monsters, some puzzles have multiple solutions; the less actions you do (especially using or pivoting portals), the more "efficient" the solution is. These solutions feel very different but their existence not exposed to you so you're not told explicitly how many solutions a level has. Unlike some other players, I personally don't have trouble with this and it makes the game even richer for me. Playtime: My playtime here is just 2 hours here because I bought it on itch and actually played it there. I bought it here as well just so that I can write this review because it seems A Slug's Dream doesn't get the attention it deserves in the Sokoband community. That said, judging by the world map, it feels 1/3 to 1/2 shorter than Snakebird or Stephen's Sausage Roll but for me this is actually a plus. I don't like games that drag on too long. IMO it has more than enough puzzles to give you a wonderfully rich experience. Challenge: The game is on the challenging end but I find it slightly easier than "Stephen's Sausage Roll" and "Snakebird" (the difficult version) - but not by much. What's more important though is that A Slug's Dream never gets old and always surprises you with its ideas and the epiphanies you have. It is brilliantly designed. What is very notable is that its author just nailed it, he did this wonderful design in a way that hints at a strong natural talent.

Stephen's Sausage Roll and SnakeBird's wacky gay cousin. Really fresh and fun puzzle game with some very very tightly designed levels. a couple of levles could do with some slight refinement but I'm really excited to see what Marcus will create in the future

The best puzzle game I've played since Stephen's Sausage Roll. It doesn't quite have that game's consistency, but it's all I can think of that hits similar highs. The puzzles themselves are seriously high quality. The game is flawed, but in ways that don't really matter. The presentation isn't pretty, but it conveys what you're working with clearly. The difficulty is all over the place, but you can tackle every puzzle in whatever order you like. If you are interested in sokoban at all you should play this. If you enjoyed Sausage Roll it's a must-buy.

Very relaxing game, puzzles are just the right amount of challenging to where they aren't overwhelming. Love it! :)

A wonderful 3D Sokoban style puzzler with some extra challenges and mechanics. I 100%ed the game for a Youtube letsplay in about 7 hours, and didn't need to look anything up along the way. The puzzles don't have a single fixed solution like some puzzle games. There is an intended solution, but there is enough wiggle room to find some alternate solutions, but rarely are these alternate solves trivial ones. If you enjoy block pushing puzzles, I'm sure you'll enjoy this, I highly recommend it.

i'm only like an hour in, but this game has already captivated me like the sausages of yore once did. jaw-dropping. ok my play time is quite a bit exaggerated because i leave this game on a lot while i'm like asleep or doing other stuff. but its puzzles are compelling enough to, for instance, get me to ponder them while i drift off to sleep and then jump out of bed spontaneously to try a new approach. recommend.