I had this just last night and didn’t realise. Everything else was working fine, but then I glanced at my phone and realised that it was 2 hours later than the computer was showing.

Actually, they seem to be launching into a new phase of compatibility, with a version 2 component set being discussed on their website that has much broader capabilities.

And then suddenly ceased to exist.

I still haven’t played 2!

I’d also recommend The Talos Principle and The Turing Test for similar itch scratches.

If you remember the “glory days” pre ubiquitous constant internet connections, you had to enter a big long code when installing any software. I think the principle is that the license key is some sort of decryption key that unlocks a core part of the software which would otherwise prevent it running.

I wonder how many obstacles there are to running the CD ROM that OP got? (Apart from my obvious one of not having a cd drive!)

That’s funny, I’m doing the exact same thing. Got credits on BP and then started into CO. I don’t think I’ll go for the full puzzle experience with BP, I’ve had my fill.

I watched a bit of Michael Alm’s video on this, but noped out when I saw all of the little boxes of consumables appearing. If regular printer ink is already exorbitant, I can only imagine what these proprietary cartridges will cost.

I feel like making that comment earlier broke my run of bad luck and I “completed” the game. (There’s obviously a tonne of additional puzzles to work out, but I think I might take a break from this for now!)

What have you been playing?

Blue Prince! I’ve been trucking away with this for a while because it’s very possible to play using the controller while holding a baby - no quick reflexes required! I’ve hit a bit of a wall with progress in it though and have reached a point where it feels more like luck than skill/puzzle-solving is needed to tackle my current objective.

The auto-complete in VSCode is one of the few AI use cases that I actually find useful. Passing a whole bunch of args in a python class function call to set instance variables just becomes that little bit less tedious. Lots of little things like that add up to nice time savings.

The “ask copilot” features are absolutely terrible though.

Thanks for the link! Now I’ll never miss one of these very well put together posts!

How do you access an RSS feed of a user’s posts? I’d love to do this.

Right up there with you! This sounds great.

Unlike the others here, I would argue that this is supposed to be this way - it’s a mind bending puzzle after all.

Stranger still to make the headline about one small paragraph in the middle of the piece that was clearly an aside.

Great post. The personal touch reminded me of the articles on Rock Paper Shotgun.

Since the site keeps getting the hug of death, here’s a transcript.

We are joining a lawsuit will challenge the President’s unchecked authority to impose tariffs. We will not stand idly by while our livelihoods–and the livelihoods of thousands of small business owners and contractors in the US, along with the customers whose pursuit of happiness we hold dear–are treated like pawns in a political game. Like many tabletop publishers (import code 9504.90.6000*), we started print runs of products before the President took office, and now we face an unprecedented $14.50 tariff tax for every $10 we spent on manufacturing with our trusted long-term partner in China. For Stonemaier Games alone (a US based company in which all 8 employees are US citizens), that amounts to upcoming tariff payments of nearly $1.5 million. If the tariffs are damaging your business as well, please contact me at jamey@stonemaier.com and I will connect you with the law firm. There is no cost to join the lawsuit. I try to lead with compassion and empathy, so legal action is very low on my list of ways to handle difficult situations. But with this new norm of a 145% tariff imposed by the President on all exports from China to the US–including products that have been in the manufacturing process for months–we are compelled to take action. Of course, this isn’t the only action we’re taking, as we have 200,000 units of reprints and 50,000 units of Vantage (plus 57,000 other Vantage accessories) ready to ship out of Shenzhen in a few weeks. Here’s what else we’re doing in regards to these fully manufactured products: We’re selling to other countries: Around 35% of our annual sales are to distributors, retailers, and consumers outside of the US. We ship directly from China to those distributors and fulfillment centers, so the tariffs will not impact our prices in those regions. We’re storing the US quantities in China: For now, we will pay for warehousing in China store most of the US-bound products in the hopes that the tariffs will decrease by the time we need that inventory to replenish our supply in the US. We’re sending out-of-stock US quantities to the US: Finspan is out of stock in the US, so we are proceeding to send the restock as scheduled. We will eat most of the tariff cost (which more than doubles our costs) to minimize the impact on distributors, retailers, and consumers. We’re sending direct-sale Vantage to the US: I’ve spent too long trying to make this game affordable that I’m not going to let one person with unchecked power get in the way of me serving my customers. The tariffs may have a slight impact on the US price, but the plan is to largely keep our direct price the same and give customers the option to cover the tariff cost at checkout. The plan to release Vantage to US distribution and retail may need a delay–the lack of margins there have a bigger impact on a new game than on reprints. Again, these strategies are focused on products we have already manufactured, as the tariffs did not carve out a grace period for such products. We are fortunate to have a buffer at Stonemaier Games to weather this storm, and my heart goes out to the many other small businesses–in the US and beyond–who invested their resources in products that they can no longer afford to bring into the US. *There is an article circulating that states incorrectly that tariffs on tabletop games are only 20%. The (unfortunately) correct number is 145%.

NacMacFeegle wahey!