Today, when you open the tenth door on our Advent Calendar, you’ll be greeted by what appears to be a web of shiny jewelry connected by glittering silver chains. A very expensive gift! But when you take a closer look, you’ll see that the black background isn’t the inside of a velvet box. No, that’s space, and it’s not jewelry…
It is the connected planets of Slideway!
Matt Cox: I suspect that most humans, in the right context, prefer to arrange things. The joy of smashing order out of chaos, wondering about the optimal position of an object, makes me feel like something universal. It’s a great way to show off your influence on the world, to demonstrate that you can demonstrate the necessary ability to take something and make it better. Slipways is about growing and organizing an increasingly interconnected empire of space marbles, and it’s glorious.
You start with a blank slate, the planets that will become your toys are just shadows in the air. Each must be explored, taking care to catch as many as possible in the oscillating circle of each probe. Polls cost time and money, and you’ll soon be short of both. The transducer is a welcome exposure of light resistance, some friction before real thinking begins.
Your goal is simple, really: every planet has certain resources it wants and certain resources it exports. Your job is to join those planets in a way that doesn’t make the world wobble, while also avoiding drawing yourself into a cosmic corner – because once you’ve connected the two planets with a slide, no What’s lacking in extremely late game technology that will allow you to push that line.
It’s all about making the most of what you have and what’s on offer, order it and profit from a self-woven tension net. If you leave a planet with no imports, its inhabitants will drag your empire into unhappiness in terms of scores, or even into a cross-screen game. If you expand too quickly without the healthy core of interplanetary trade, you will go bankrupt. If you ignore the missions set by the space council (colonize different types of planets, establish specific trade routes, produce half a dozen robots) you will waste valuable rewards. values can propel you to further success. And if you don’t take the time to pursue all the important tech trees, you’ll never have a chance to thrive before 25 years have passed and your reign is abruptly over.
That time limit is important, as it prevents the game from bogging itself down. Each run takes anywhere from 45 minutes to three hours, depending on how long you like the marble crushing. I like to hover over every decision cluster for a while, experimenting with different possibilities using an exemplary and forgiving user interface that allows you to reverse unwise decisions – as long as you No new information has been found. Then, once I’m satisfied, I find not only a good solution, but a suitable one, I dive in.
Jumping down a final slide, one that makes your empire explode into bounty-abundant platinum planets along a satisfying chain of reactions, is one of the most gratifying achievements in history. video games. It’s like watching one of those videos full of things that match perfectly with other things, or find a confusing test friend. It’s better than doing a Tetris, even an artfully designed one with a saved length. I implore you to meditate on some spheres.
Ollie: The slide is extremely elegant. Not only in its presentation but also in the organic problems and solutions that arise as you expand your interplanetary empire. So many times during my various hours-long gameplay, I feel as though I’ve slipped myself into a corner. I look at my tangled web of planets and their desperate cries for more water, bots or biomass, and I wonder why in the world things are going downhill so quickly, and How can I prevent the complete demise of my once-economic growth.
But in most cases, the solution will start appearing within the next few clicks. I will send a probe that can reveal a nearby planet with exactly the right import and export goods to solve the crisis, or I will research a technology that will allow me to destroy the useless planet. blocked that important thing. the sliding path between the two worlds is much more important. Figure skaters often tiptoe toward the line between challenge and disappointment but never really cross it. You may not always see a solution immediately, but there is rarely a solution waiting for you for several turns.
