Vessel Message Board

Here's Sony's indie lineup for PS3/PS4 in March, which includes games like Towerfall Ascension, Vessel, and Fez. You get a discount if you're a PS Plus member and you buy each game during launch week.Read more...

Vessel will be coming to console exclusively for PS3 on March 11th!

To celebrate this launch, we’ve created a limited edition of Vessel Turbines, a desk toy that gives you your very own “Fluro” in a bottle. Each bottle contains a large blob of Ferrofluid, a magnetic liquid that comes to life when you apply a magnet — just like the creatures of Vessel. You can buy it on our website and get a key for Vessel on PS3.

In the game Vessel, you take the role of inventor Arkwright who has created living machines made out of liquid (called “Fluros”) that are wreaking havoc around the world. You set out to solve the Fluro problem and unravel the mystery of what they’re becoming.

Vessel takes a unique approach in gaming by creating all the creatures out of liquid. Their bodies are composed of thousands of physically simulated fluid particles. This means that they’re capable of things that few other creatures in a video game are, like melting, reforming into new shapes, flowing through barriers, regrowing lost limbs, chemically combining multiple fluid types, and much more.

All the puzzles in Vessel are based on interactions with this living liquid. Exploring and understanding how to bring liquid to life will lead to success. You have the ability to create and destroy these creatures, and the story revolves around their inventor as he sees them evolve and become lifeforms of their own.

We’ve spent a lot of time optimizing the game to run the liquid simulation fluidly (pun intended) on PS3, and we’re really happy with the results. We’ve made full use of the PS3 hardware, using the distributed power of the SPUs and internal hardware to process huge amounts of liquid (both living and non-living) per frame.

We’ve partnered with electronica artist Jon Hopkins (composer of the Monsters soundtrack, and renowned for his work with Brian Eno, Imogen Heap, and Coldplay), and we’ve integrated his tracks deep into the gameplay. As you begin to unlock a puzzle, the pieces of the soundtrack will unfold and layer on top of each other, really giving the feeling of bringing the world back to life. Jon’s brand of electronica fits the dark and mysterious mood of Vessel perfectly, and we’re really excited to present it in this form.

Vessel is built on an optimized liquid simulation featuring flowing water, scalding lava and steam, reactant chemicals, glowing goo, the mysterious “protoplasm,” and more. Each liquid has unique properties and mixes with other liquids for dramatic effects. When the player creates Fluro by placing a seed and giving it liquid of any type, the creature will retain the properties of the liquid they’re made of, giving them the ability to melt, reform, absorb, explode, and more.

Users solve puzzles by combining the unique behaviors of each creature with the fluid they’re created from. Every aspect of the world is physically simulated, and all puzzles are based in the liquid simulation. Drop a Drinker Fluro and lure him by spraying goo. Create a Dark Fluro and chase him with light. Liquid and physics are not an aesthetic in Vessel, but the foundation of gameplay. To solve puzzles, you have to think fluidly about life — you have the power to bring to life (and destroy) any liquid, how can you use that to achieve your goals?

Vessel features more than 10 hours of content across multiple worlds, many types of liquids with unique properties, and many ways to bring them to life. Our focus as a studio is to use the power of modern hardware like PS3 to create new kinds of gameplay, not just better graphics.

With our liquid simulation as a foundation for all the characters and puzzles in Vessel, we’re able to make a really unique experience not yet explored in video games.

Alientrap's Capsized has finally made its way to Xbox Live Arcade today, after being announced for the platform nearly three and a half years ago. The game will be available on the PlayStation Network for PS3 later this summer.

The game differentiates itself from the already available PC version with "three exclusive levels, online multiplayer and an online multiplayer co-op mode."

Namco Bandai, which partnered with indiePub to launch the game, also reveals Storm (already available on XBLA) will make its way to PSN this summer and Vessel will arrive on XBLA "later this year."

A few of the developers with games in the rather fantastic Humble Indie Bundle 6 are hosting an AMA on Reddit right now.

In attendance is Runic Games co-founder Max Schaefer, representing Torchlight (and Torchlight 2, it seems); programmer Matt Bush and composer Terrence Lee of Dustforce's Hitbox Team; Jan Achrenius and Sampsa Lehtonen of Recoil and Rochard; Mario Wynands of Shatter's Sidhe, co-founders of MinMax Games Andrew Hume and Richard with Space Pirates and Zombies; and John Krajewski of Strange Loop Games representing Vessel.

Already the developers are discussing the likelihood of their Linux games on Steam, the benefits of being in the Humble Indie Bundle, and answering programming and gameplay questions galore. If you want to know what engines these guys use, how they handle physics or what those space pirates are doing hanging out with zombies in the first place, head on over to Reddit.

Humble Indie Bundle part six is live, and it's a good'un. The current bundle includes Rochard, Shatter, S.P.A.Z., Torchlight and Vessel for any price you pick. Paying more than the average (currently around $5) unlocks Dustforce as well. The bundle includes soundtracks for each game, excluding Vessel. Normally priced, all these games would cost $86, Humble Indie Bundle reminds us.

As always, purchasers can decide how much of their payment goes to charity, the developers or Humble Indie Bundle itself. Humble Indie Bundle 6 will be live for 14 more days; check it out here.

version 1.14
- Fixed start-up crash some users were experiencing with Intel HD graphics configurations.
- Controller support improvements for XInput devices.

Fixed a freeze that would happen occasionally, especially in the factory boss level
Fixed a small gap in geometry Fluros could trip on in the hub
You can now go back and fight the Golem a second time if you return to the level (door was blocked before)
Fixed a crash that would sometimes happen in the end game sequence

Patch Notes version 1.12

Hardware Detection:
-Failure to meet GPU requirements will result in a detailed error message at startup.

Player Movement:
-The player is no longer prevented from jumping if he is doing his land animation. Makes jumping more fluid
-Made the minimum jump smaller and the maximum jump longer.
-Made the player fall faster if he releases the jump button early.
-Ladder climb is now slightly faster
-Removed a small visual glitch when exiting a ladder
-Replaced all small cranks with smaller ones that are turned by hand, adding a new hand-turn dynamic animation.

Difficulty adjustment
-Added checkpoints in Factory lava sections
-Added lights to warn when mashers were about to strike to give the player more of a hint.
-Added checkpoints around tricky jumps in Mines
-After dying, the player will keep the liquid in their backpack, unless they had more at the last checkpoint.
-Small groups of purple reactant will no longer be able to kill you (it will still damage you).
-Made the drinker explosion more powerful, prevents problems in some puzzles.
-Added a 'gamepad recommended' icon to the title screen.

Bugs
-Players who made it to the end level in an earlier build would lose the ability to suction glow goo when they updated to current build. Fixed.
-Made some geometry thicker in the orchard where the player could fall through it
-Machine #9 in Factory was not accepting steam sometimes, fixed.
-Lever on upgrade machine would stick sometimes, fixed.
-Tweaked some buttons that Operators could slip off of.
-Clicking to close a GUI menu will no longer fire the gun.
-Releasing the fire button while the mouse cursor is outside the window will now stop the gun from firing.
-Swing animation only happens when pressing left or right now.
-Game can now be paused during the opening sequence, allowing the player to exit and change options then.
-Ladder sound would miss a footstep when descending, fixed.
-Adjusted some jump pads to work with new jump changes
-Made some puzzle doors permanently open, in case you die before you start the machine they expose.

- fixed black screen artifacts when external gpu utilies enable forced anti-aliasing.
- GUI icons will now show keyboard visuals if controller is pulled in but not being used.
- In fullscreen mode, mouse now locks to display
- In fullscreen mode, screensaver is disabled.
- added config options to force resolutions and enable supersampling

Indie developers are the starving artists of the video-game world, often brilliant and innovative, but also misunderstood, underfunded and more prone to writing free-form poetry on their LiveJournals. We believe they deserve a wider audience with the Joystiq Indie Pitch: This week, Strange Loop Games explain how Fluros flourish in Vessel, a liquid-physics puzzler for PC. What's your game called and what's it about?

Our game is called Vessel. It's about a man with the power to create life, and all the consequences that ensue. As far as gameplay, it's a liquid-physics puzzle platformer.

How would you describe the style of Vessel - steampunk? - and why did you decide to use that template?

It's a mechanical world. Steampunk is the closest pop culture reference, but we don't really call it that because steampunk brings to mind so many other connotations that aren't accurate for our game. We wanted to create a world where the machinery of the world was very exposed, meaning you could see the inner workings of all the machines, how things tick, grind and whir. The goal was to put the Fluros in this nice little mid-point, a contrast between Arkwright, the main character, and the machines of the world. Fluros are the bridge between them.

From the first video I saw, Vessel occupied a special place in my thoughts. The area it resides in is a large theme park grafted onto my occipital lobe. All of the rides and attractions that have sprouted there are based on interesting use of technology in games. Some are impressive structures of light and fury, while others are more subtle. Vessel’s contribution is a cavernous chamber, lit by lava and fluorescent goo that drips, splashes and streams. There are log flumes within and water slides, everything liquid that can be imagined in fact. Now that Vessel has been released from the faucet, Strange Loop Games have deemed fit to share some early experiments and tech demos showing how their marvelous physics evolved.

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Vessel v1.06
- Added a keyconfig option. Open 'keyconfig.ini' in the Vessel folder using a text editor to customize the keys.
- Fixed a problem with the ending not displaying the correct result (an important asset could go missing in certain circumstances)
- Removed some exploits for getting extra protoplasm
- Fixed a crash in the orchard level at the end of chapter 2 when loading a save game
- Fixed an exploit on the first orchard puzzle
- Added a missing wall allowing an exploit in factory chaser puzzle
- Altered a factory puzzle that was too easy if you got the chaser seed then backtracked.
- Fixed a wall you could fall through off a ladder in factory
- Fixed an elevator not working well if you recall from the top in factory
- Can no longer grab the big tree
- Can no longer grab seed jar bubbles out of the samplers
- Damage screen was showing at bad times
- Player emotes during intro now when door closes
- 'Finishing the Accelerator' journal entry now appears even if you don't go up and look at the chalkboard immediately.
- Fixed a crash in the factory when using seeds by the spinning fan puzzle

Brad and Vinny recklessly vivify aqueous beings of unknown allegiance and pray they remain benign.

I’ve been charmed by physics puzzler Vessel ever since I first saw its liquids in action, sloshing, spilling and trickling around as gravity intends. I wanted to be set loose in its steampunk world, to jump in puddles and catch raindrops in a bucket. Vessel had different ideas. It would let me play, but it also wanted me to think and it wanted me to think hard. Here’s wot I think about that.

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After a long development process that began in 2010, the debut title from indie developer Strange Loop Games, Vessel, has been released.

Nominated for an IGF award in Technical Excellence -- which is an award we win daily -- Vessel is available both on Steam and via the developer's own site.

To sweeten the watery deal, Vessel is available for 10% off its regular price. Purchasing the game from the developer will net you a DRM-free version and a Steam code. The promotion, which drops the game down to $13.49 from its original asking price of $15, ends on March 8. Act fast because ... uh, something, something sink or swim? Vessel is liquid-based, so the joke holds water.

Physics puzzler Vessel is looking fantastic, with its impressive fluid simulation effects and strange inventive world. Along with the cleverness of the engine’s handling of liquid, the game appears to have plenty of character and the Fluros, which are living liquid machines, remind me of goo balls in a way that makes my pleasure senses tingle. The game is now due on March 1st, landing on its lead platform of PC before PSN and XBLA, which it will drip down to at a later date. Hurrah. There’s a video with some info about the Fluros below and a more extensive developer walkthrough, explaining how the game works.

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Indie studio Strange Loop Games has been working on Vessel since at least 2010, when it was nominated for the IGF award in Technical Excellence and was a finalist in the Indie Game Challenge -- and the game hadn't even been officially announced then. Vessel is now set to launch on Steam and through Strange Loop on March 1, and it has gameplay videos showing off its liquid-loving mechanics, as seen above and here.

Vessel follows inventor M. Arkwright as he explores an altered world of his own creation, where liquid-based Fluro machines work tirelessly across all industries. Strange Loop Games was founded by three former EA employees, John Krajewski, Martin Farren, Mark Filippelli, and a veteran visual artist, Milenko Tunjic, so you can bet nothing about Vessel will appear, ahem, watered down.

Vessel, the liquid-physics based puzzler that was first announced last year close to PAX, has a release date. As of March 1st, it will be available on Steam as well as the developer's website. Want to know more about Vessel? Check out the new in-depth first look video...

You know how they say that water is the essence of life? In Vessel, water takes it one more step: It literally becomes life. Inventor Arkwright has invented what he calls Fluros, little creatures that attract any liquid around them and build them into a body. They're pretty great for doing work around his factory, especially because of their seemingly bottomless desire to step on buttons. Handily, Arkwright's entire factory seems to run on those little buttons.

Relying on the little guys probably isn't the best idea, though. If Fantasia taught us anything, it's that employing vaguely magical automatons to do your dirty work always goes awry. Soon, the Fluros have taken over the factory and start wreaking havoc, breaking down a variety of large machines that the good inventor needs to keep things running smoothly. So, obviously, he must go on a 2D-platformer adventure to solve that not-so-little issue.

It’s been a long time since we had any coverage of Vessel, Strange Loop Games’ intriguing 2D puzzle-adventure. That all changes right now. With the game due for release this winter, the team have released a new trailer to show how far things have come in the last eighteen months. Already a finalist in IGF’s technical excellence category for 2010, the game’s artwork and complex fluid physics look superb. Open your ears as well as your eyes because the music is delightful too.

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CINCINNATI - indiePub, a subsidiary of Zoo Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ CM: ZOOG), today announced plans to release Vessel, a liquid physics-based puzzle platformer for PC, Xbox LIVE Arcade and PlayStation Network this holiday season. The upcoming indie game is indiePub's collaboration with independent developer Strange Loop Games...