I don't get it

[Three Day Beard]

This seems to be the type of game I would love, but...

I don't know how to work it!

As near as I can tell, there is no tutorial. That's already a bad idea.

I start the game in "adventure mode" and after a scene about the indie game devs, I am taken to "in the lab."

Is part of the game trying to understand how to play it on my own? That's a little more indie than I'd like.

I have NO idea what the controls are... I have to go to the keyboard configurator to read what they are supposed to do. Another bad idea. The player should not be forced to do that.

I can't find a link to a manual or any kind of instructions on the steam page.

So, after 10 minutes of frustration, I have the robot now moving, and jumping.

No other key does anything except W-- which blows me up when I hold it down. I supposed this is a "reset" switch.

But the control list says "drill" -- but when I press the D key, nothing happens. Ditto with F, and E, and anything else. The trailer showed all sorts of stuff going on, but all I can do is move and jump.

Without any directions, the player is left hung out to dry. Not much fun here.

[Druneau]

Don't give up its a great game.

basics are:

Left arrow
Right arrow
Up arrow (jump)
Spacebar (jump)
E - enter "edit mode" (where you will be able to place blocks at some point)
F - Drill (once it's activated during first level)
W - press once in edit mode to remove placed block, Hold to restart level (must not be in edit mode)

R and T in edit mode to change currently selected block type

Two ways to mine/drill blocks, hit them from underneath like mario, or drill them from the side.

For drilling, you must be grounded (on a surface) and then you hold F

I also found the first level not so clear. But they do a good job after in explaining new available features (with the scrolling text in adventure mode)

[Three Day Beard]

Thank you!

I can't believe I missed the whole "hit the block with my head" mechanic.

After I did that, the rest opened up ok.

I guess they figured that people would just wander until they noticed they could break blocks with their head, but for some reason I didn't notice that.

I just wandered about, growing more frustrated by the minute.

[Krilekk]

I feel your pain, that was exactly the same problem I had when I first tried the game. The game does not do a good job at explaining the game mechanics (or that they don't work in the first couple of minutes), nor does it feel like something special in the beginning. In fact I would say it's one of the most underwhelming game starts I know. Which is probably why it only sold so few copies on XBLIG. First five minutes you stumble around, wondering why the controls don't work. Second five minutes you run around wondering why it is called a puzzle game when all you do is take blocks from point A to point B. And after that you are annoyed that the game teases you with level passages you simply can't reach, because you need more advanced abilities. The game doesn't tell you that either, you have to manually figure out that the chest that lies behind two obsidian blocks can't be reached until you've finished level 15 or so and go back to level 1.

If you make it past the first level you are rewarded by a very charming and at times mindmelting puzzler, but I can understand everyone that just deletes it after a couple of minutes.

[gazonokosil]

Seems like I'm the only one who understood the controls at the beginning of this game)

[thynth]

Seems like I'm the only one who understood the controls at the beginning of this game)
No, surely not. I understood as well.
But what confused me most is him talking "the trailer showed..." which implies he's really seen it and I can clearly see in the first trailer that Tetrobot uses his head to clear blocks... :rolleyes:

[Sheepdude86]

I was also confused at the very beginning - I knew you could drill things from the trailer, so I pressed Z X C V, the typical keys, but nothing. Then I tried WASD to move around, but W kills you, which I thought was supposed to be a joke for PC gamers who are used to WASD, but clearly not. Then I found that F makes you run fast and your feet shuffle around, but since I didn't collect the drill yet, it seemed pointless.

Then I jumped through the blocks and figured out what to do. But on the fifth level, where you have to jump across the sleeping Big Mama, I ran into problems because the game wouldn't recognize F, Left Arrow and Up Arrow at the same time with my keyboard, making it impossible to jump across, at which point I changed the control scheme to use my xbox controller and never looked back.