Stage of Development | William Chyr (Manifold Garden) - The Hermit of Hyde Park

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Stage of Development explores the human side of the world's most interesting video games. The passions, the drives, the lives, and why making games is the only thing they can imagine doing, even in the face of failure.
Episode 2, Chicago | The Hermit of Hyde Park
William Chyr is a physicist, game developer, balloon artists and juggler, and the creator of "Manifold Garden." William describes it as a physics-based puzzle game about architecture and the first 100 years of physics. "As if M.C. Escher made a video game."
Our first season focuses on Chicago's growing scene of indie game developers, featuring Young Horses (Octodad), The Men Who Wear Many Hats (Organ Trail), William Chyr (Manifold Garden), Culture Shock Games (We Are Chicago), Trinket Studios (Battle Chef Brigade), Greg Wohlwend (Tumbleseed), Chris Wade (Sausage Sports Club), and more.
Thank you to all of the Stage of Development: Indie City backers on Kickstarter for making this episode possible!
Let us know what you think in the comments, and subscribe to help us grow!
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Chainsawsuit Games is home to numerous shows that run the gamut from wildly informational with a hint of wackiness, to wildly wacky with a hint of information. We do it all, and also something you probably weren’t expecting.
Credits
Produced & Directed by: Russ Pitts
Director of Photography: Christian Cicerone
Editors: Russ Pitts & Christian Cicerone
Music: Ian Dorsch
Sound: Austin Bledsoe
Executive Producers: Mikey Neumann, Gordon Nelson, Rhianna Pratchett

[@soheilbm9308]

Sir, I’ve played your game, and it’s outstanding!!

[@jcamjcam]

It would be a tragedy if William never returned to game development. This game is every bit as brilliant, polished and mind-expanding as Portal and I absolutely loved every minute of it!

[@ianmitchell5979]

I see what you mean, but remember that this was a game he made cause' he wanted to. But he may only have wanted to make one game, and not a whole line of games. After working for 7 years on this passion game, he'll probably want to move onto other stuff, and it's important to respect that.

[@ad_kk16]

@@ianmitchell5979 If I can remember he did mentioned he may never do this again but who knows in the future. It was very hard for him to do it and that only that it took him years to finally put it out there. I do watch his twitch streams here and there. He was creating something different, not sure if he's doing that for fun or working on another project. But the chat would help him if he doesn't know anything or gets stuck.

[@ianmitchell5979]

@@ad_kk16 I saw a steam of that, where he was testing a time-based mechanic. I think it was rewind. He told me he was just playing around with stuff, and that this wasn't exactly a new game he was working on.

[@ad_kk16]

@@ianmitchell5979 Ah okay, I wasn’t sure. I couldn’t stay for too long in the stream and ask for myself

[@ianmitchell5979]

@@ad_kk16 He may make a new game. If he's still interested with testing ideas/playing around with things, he may work on a full new game. But if he decides he's good with one game, we should respect that decision.

[@emimonsterlicious]

It seems a common trend that ppl vastly underestimate how much goes into making a video game. Kickstarter is a good example of ambitious projects that did not even begin to properly project what they were getting themselves into.

[@chuangjudy7614]

:) thanks for making the game! it's released on steam on 10/20/2020.

[@Brunoenribeiro]

Just finished the game. And just found out there's an alternate solution to all stages. I'm blown away. This game is nuts

[@Ludwighaffen1]

This game is simply the most mesmerising game I ever played! I am amazed to see that it is a one-man project. Thanks for giving players such a good time!

[@adamheeley285]

HOW IS THIS GAME NOT ON A VR PLATFORM!!!!!!!!!!!!! Like consoles VR headsets should be shipped with this game.

[@memes_gbc674]

might be because the game requires so many resources that using vr would strain it more but i get it, its possible and id love to see it in vr

[@linkers2293]

This was a nice discovery. I had never heard of this game, and now I'm waiting for the release date.

[@chuangjudy7614]

It is released now on steam on 10/20/2020. :)

[@McSquiddington]

It turned out to be the exact type of game I needed for a specific time in my life. I spent quarantine juggling between Animal Crossing and a bevy of shooters - mostly anything so I didn't have to confront the pandemic - and now, I've been needing something that would actually let me confront the wider issues unfolding around us while providing a kind of intellectual buffer. I guess you could call it "mental busywork that staves off and contextualizes anxiety prompts", but that sounds less high-brow... I've always gravitated to brainier stuff like this, from Myst to Antichamber to, well, Manifold Garden. I like having a selection of games that have a clear aesthetic but a very opaque delivery, but it's a tricky tightrope to navigate if you also want to steer clear of pedantic delivery or preachy content. Antichamber felt earnest and personal, so I gravitated to it without any issue, whereas something like Jonathan Blow's The Witness feels like it's over-engineered over and across a single mechanic. I'm sure The Witness is transparently clear to some, but I remember finishing my first playthrough and just standing there, blinking dazedly. This, though? It's a lot closer to Antichamber; the personal hooks are present in the design's obvious simplicity, and its construction is so transparent you can spot the commonplace hacks put in place to effectively simulate infinity. It just presents itself to you as-is and asks for nothing except some of your time. You can be having a great day, mentally, and happen to breeze through eight puzzles in a single sitting or you could be trudging through the intro because of a lack of caffeine or focus; and it'll work just as well.

[@scylk]

Hey bro, check out NaissanceE on Steam. It's free and was one the inspiration for Manifold Garden, you might love it :) Also Kairo

[@manvendra0310]

Watching it now feels absolutely surreal!

[@AnonymousMaykr]

Hell yeah you did it right. Manifold Garden is awesome!

[@aphixe]

@5:44 wow i guess i was in his stream a lot in the past. I now and then go in. its just interesting i was in this video in a way.

[@ximonwhhatt3796]

Personally one of my all time favorite games

[@V_y-r_e]

Wait, he had legs the whole time?!! WTF!!!!! My mind has been blown.

[@saulgonzalezditotto8549]

A documentary like this will probably be seen by a lot of other indie devs, and it should tackle the question: How is the creator sustaining himself during the FOUR YEARS it's taken to build the game?

[@More_Row]

Saúl González Di Totto Something called saving up money and the *Indie Fun* .

[@Samakain]

This was great. Really looking forward to more. :)

[@KaiSong-vv7wh]

I d be curious about the technical stuff: Does unity support the kind of physics and rendering that are needed? How are they technically realized? How were the levels designed?, as there is a lot of thought into intuitive solvability (i.e. sufficient simplicity in level solutions even when level architecture is outrageously complicated!!).

[@xxDESENTxx]

When it came out at e3 I was mind blown! I looked up every video possible! Lol

[@NunSuperior]

4 1/2 years... and counting. The game looks a lot better in the last year.

[@yanhpitan]

Hey Nun! I remember you from back a year or so ago when William's was playing The Witness. I'm xSoLiDSurge18x on Twitch. Haven't kept up with William's streams but have kept in contact with him!

[@aryansk2435]

Amazing game!

[@rahmanr112]

This game is fking mind blowing!!!!

[@djay_popping2793]

This dude so smart I dont even understand his games steam description T-T

[@NihilistGhost]

Escherian euclidean world puzzle game.

[@FuutennoSenshi]

I'm making a game right now, with an a priori time frame of only two months. Luckily, I did watch enough Extra Credits to know you need to stave off scope creep and keep your game small if you want to finish it (I would not have the stamina for 4 years, I think; I only have these two months off from work, everything else will have to be done while working). (You can follow along at www.saffronstreams.com, if you are so inclined)

[@thiagosakurada2385]

9:12 He is using white mode on discord Jeez