Swedish indie devs Ludosity Interactive made waves with Bob Came in Pieces. After reading and listening to gamer feedback, Ludosity has been hard at work improving different aspects of the game and adding new content. On May 12th, the developer released some free downloadable content, packaged with six brand new levels created in a “VR-Theme inspired by Metal Gear Solid.”

“We have listened to the gamers and with this free DLC we are adding six more levels and creating a better experience for everybody. In the new levels you will play Bob Came in Pieces in ways you didn’t think was possible before.”

- Björn Öjlert, level designer at Ludosity Interactive.

The patch, which is downloadable on the Ludosity Interactive website but also automatically for Steam users, contains the following:

*Six brand new levels (a total of 20 levels)
*New graphical theme
*New GUI updates
*Bug fixes

Bob Came in Pieces is available for $9.99 on Steam, Impulse Driven, Direct2Drive, GamersGate, Mac Game Store and from Ludosity’s Homepage.

Press Release:

Skövde, Sweden – May 12th. Swedish indie game company Ludosity Interactive, the creators of Bob Came in Pieces for PC and Mac, have released six additional levels for free with the upcoming free DLC today! The additional levels are created in the brand new VR-Theme inspired by Metal Gear Solid.

About Bob Came in Pieces
Bob Came in Pieces was released 21st of January and is available for Windows and Mac for 9,99USD through the major digital download platforms. Bob Came in Pieces is a 2.5D puzzle adventure game with a lot of great puzzles and rebuilding capabilities of your flying ship. The game has unique rebuilding possibilities where you collect ship parts and modules throughout the whimsical levels.

Indie Sales, for the people. As we’ve been forced to in the past (fortunately!), we must highlight the stand-out of the group: Sleep is Death, two copies, pay what you want (min. $1.75). This is a whole different kind of experience that is at least worth what you’re willing to contribute to give it a try, it’s not for everybody but give it a chance to sweep you away with the possibilities.

While far and away the best sale out there, SiD is not the only offering of Indie discounted goodness this weekend; oh no, not by a long shot. Oh and remember, if for whatever odd reason you haven’t come across and donated to The Humble Indie Bundle, it’s still on until midday tomorrow, Saturday May 15. The rest of the offerings from across the web:

Sales

AI War: Fleet Command, its expansion The Zenith Remnant, and an already discounted bundle of both have been slashed in half on GamersGate as part of the distributor’s Space Battle Week promotion.

Come to think of it Gratuitous Space Battles (along with its ‘Complete’ bundle), Flotilla, Armada 2526, Light of Altair and Evochron Legends and Renegades are all half-off with the promotion with other smaller discounts offered up as well, check out the full list here through the weekend.

Bob Came in Pieces is 50% off on Direct2Drive, bringing the ship rebuilder down to just $4.95 as the distributor’s Deal of the Week. The sale runs through May 21, check out Peter E’s review.

Both Steam and D2D are offering Torchlight for 50% off. Note that’s $10, not the $5 which the game has been discounted to before and probably will again.

Gamerizon’s puzzle game Quantz is 70% off on Steam, bringing the title down to just $3, you can check out my review if you wish.

Steam is offering The RailWorks Glasgow Airport Rail Link add-on at $10 off its standard $40 price (25% off), with those who have purchased the Class 380 add-on for the train sim title receiving a much better discount at nearly 75% off.

Mode 7′s (The guy’s working on the much anticipated Frozen Synapse) sword-fighting multiplayer title Determinance is $11 down for $17 on Impulse.

Pre-Order Discounts

Frictional Games’ upcoming survival horror Amnesia: The Dark Descent is being offered for 20% off on GamersGate for those who purchase before its release on August 15. The title will run $20 but can be had for both Mac and PC for just $16 prior to launch.

Other Offers

Impulse is offering up Quantum Flux Games’ Make Something Unreal Contest stand-out Prometheus for free, as in no munnies.

Vote for Your Favorite Indie Game!

We here at DIYgamer.com have started our very own bracket-styled tournament to find the best indie game, as voted on by you, the gamers. So head on over to our tournament page to vote on your favorite games!

The Tournament
Cave Story vs. Torchlight
Braid vs. Runman: Race Around the World
Spelunky vs. 5 Days a Stranger
Dwarf Fortress vs. Trine

One of my complaints about Bob Came in Pieces, from my review, was that it gets repetitive. It looks like Ludosity Interactive may have had the same thought.

Ludosity Interactive never stopped working on the game. So coming later this month are several new additions to the game, free to current owners of the $9.99 title.

Here’s what the patch brings:

*Six new additional levels (a total of 20 levels)
*New graphical theme
*New GUI
*Bug fixes

The new levels sound interesting as they are “created in the brand new VR-Theme inspired by Metal Gear Solid.” I’m picturing wireframes and stealth, though knowing this game, probably no stealth.

The update is coming out later this month.

Contest

Did you know we are running a kickass forum contest where you could win one of two copies of the hilarious, robot-ninja infused multiplayer game: Plain Sight? Well now you do… check it out at our forums!

A big update has been released on Steam for Ludosity’s adventure game Bob Came in Pieces, now available for owners of the game.

The patch is in fact all of the updates the game has received up to v1.3, along with a trio of Steam additions: Cloud, which allows players to save their game and call it up on any computer, 58 Achievements and leaderboards.

To get the update you need simply restart the Steam client, provided you already have the game downloaded. A demo is available here for tryin’.

From the change log:

VERSION 1.3

• Keyboard shortcuts added to all menus
• Save Location for ships and profiles moved to new directory to prepare for coming features
• Fixed a rare issue in the Steam version where some players would get stuck in the Main Menu
• Prettier landscape and increased performance in the Main Menu
• Fixed an issue with textures when switching to desktop
• Wind areas should now work better at low FPS
• Countless small bugfixes
• Level 4 – The player now start on-top of a ship builder
• Level 4 – The background has been made darker
• Level 6 – Some grass moved to improve visibilty in the seesaw puzzle
• Level 7 – Performace no longer drops when the burnable in the last puzzle has been destroyed
• Level 8 – The last puzzle have been compleatly redesigned. The new puzzle should be more stable and easier to understand
• Level 10 – Moved the large wind area slightly up to prevent leakage into the corridor below
• Level 11 – The “5kg puzzle” is now less likely to fail
• Level 11 – Improved stability of the “Wind Cannon” puzzle
• Level 11 – The portal gate has been made more stable
• Level 12 – Fixed an exploit in the last puzzle
• Level 13 – Some graphical objects added to make some puzzles easier to understand

VERSION 1.2

• Repaired the last puzzle on Chapter 8
• Made windpuzzle on Chapter 10 clearer
• Fixed a benign bug in Save As dialog

VERSION 1.1

• You are now awarded Medals for fast clear times
• Hundreds of stability improvements
• Minor changes to puzzles
• Improved interface
• Improved tutorials
• Remastered music and sounds
• Chapter 6 – Large rocket replaced with Medium rocket
• Chapter 7 – Medium rocket replaced with Large rocket

ADDITIONAL FEATURES FOR STEAM VERSION:

• Cloud save file
• Achievements
• Leaderboards

First and foremost, Bob Came in Pieces is about the titular character’s horrible commute to work one day. Our many-tentacled hero crash lands on Earth, and is tasked with finding the parts to his ship before he’s able to leave the pull of the planet and head home.

Developed by Ludosity Interactive, the game features a colorful game world and great physics. You traverse 14 different chapters, and within each level must hunt down up to five different pieces of your ship that have gone missing. Each new element of your ship helps you solve new puzzles, so it’s beneficial to track down as many as possible, though it’s not required to get them all. Offhand, I’d say I collected about eighty percent of the pieces in my play through of the title.

Gameplay

The game is setup like a two dimensional platform title, which is bordered by walls of stone and ice, and capped at the top with bridges, trees and other barriers. Using your ships’ thrusters, you pilot your way in all directions to help find the exit point.

As you encounter new puzzles, you’ll discover “build” areas marked by a crossed hammer and wrench. You can then enter the build screen, to rearrange your ship as needed for the next puzzling section of the level. The area also serves as a check point if you get stuck and need to reset to the nearest area. You can’t die in Bob Came in Pieces, just get annoyed.

While the idea of collecting pieces to your spaceship makes it sound like you’re building up an arsenal of weaponry, Bob Came in Pieces is first and foremost a puzzle game. The pieces to collect include three varieties of thrusters, a pull beam, a push beam, and a multitude of different pipe-like pieces to help lengthen and twist your main elements around. The circular body of the ship has eight inputs, to which you can attach these pieces. You’re tasked with assigning keys to each piece of function, which simplifies your ability to get around. But I’ll admit it took me several levels of using the pull beam before I realized I could assign it to the spacebar and not have to pair it with my “up” thrusters (which can be a frustrating experiment in physics). Each build area has you reassembling your ship so that you can fit a tractor beam in a particularly tight hole, or set flame to bushes which are hiding beneath a skinny well. While the build system is intuitive and enjoyable, the constant need to rebuild your ship, rather than enjoy your latest design, grows tiring. I lost interest in toying with ship design halfway through the journey. But luckily, the game features a template save feature, so that you can come back to your most useful designs, or favorite combo of pieces when needed. I must admit it was disappointing not to be able to stick with a particularly clever design for longer than a few screens.

The main gameplay surrounds several types of puzzles: using your thrusters to set fire to bushes hindering your path, using your speed and weight to smash through different kinds of barricades, using your pull beam to either lift weights or move switches, or using your push beam to shoot objects into designated areas that will snag you another useful element. There are variations of these, and later levels introduce gears and other complex machinery, but the main puzzles remain relatively similar. It’s a completionist’s game, because there were puzzles too trying for the average gamer, who may be dissuaded by the unusual challenges within. But knowing that there’s one more hidden piece in a level, or finding that impossible secret passage is sure to delight the kind of player who likes to go above and beyond.

The physics are a particular strength to this title. Your ship goes up and down in what I can only assume are a realistic way (we are talking about a spaceship, here) and lugging boxes and poles with your pull beam are incredibly dependent on how you weighted your ship. So as much as I want to complain about the frustration of dragging elements around the game world, it’s really the players (my) fault for not balancing my ship properly. If your thrusters aren’t evenly balanced, or if one side has a stronger thruster than the other, you’re going to find yourself tipping over and difficult to control. But the build feature gives you the power to fix it, so it’s up to you to learn the basics of rocket science (which aren’t really rocket science).

While there are a lot great elements at play, I did find the repetitive aspects of the puzzles and building to be a huge detractor from the overall pace and enjoyment of the game. You must know that you’re getting into a puzzle game and not expect a more adventurous pursuit. While adult puzzle fans will like the title, I can see it being more popular with children. And for the kind of player that likes to complete a collection, or face time trials, then this game is definitely worth its price of admission.

Style

The cartoony graphics are well executed in the game. The grass looks lush, the ice cold, flames dance about as you inevitably ram yourself into different lantern holders. But perhaps it’s because the ship is alien to the world, but it never looks as good as its surroundings.

Certain elements have a three dimensional appearance, such as depth to caverns and size to metal gates, despite the game’s function in two dimensions. This stylistic touch adds polish to this exercise in physics puzzles. I ran the game on the highest settings throughout, and enjoyed its smooth edges and beautiful details.

Story

It’s about an alien trying to get to work, who doesn’t quite make it (unless you put your ship back together). It ties up nicely with inspirational words about always trying harder at your job, but in the long run, the story isn’t an important element to the game. It’s simple and only serves as a framework as to why this alien is on the planet in the first place.

The story frames appeared hand-drawn and did not fit stylistically with the rest of the title. Frankly, I felt they were a weaker graphical element, and it would have been better to keep the story hinged on the 3D looking two dimensional world. But as I already mentioned, the story is not a critical element of this game.

Everything Else

The music and sound effects were two other elements that ended up being too repetitive. Clinks and thuds from running into things, and hearing the same tunes over and over again just made them feel as they were tacked on late in the development process. A more subtle soundtrack could have aided the overall experience, but its current abundance of high pitched ditties just aren’t adding positive elements to the title.

As I’ve said several time, it’s a puzzle game. Different parts will make you scratch your head in frustration and then smile once you figure out its clever little secret. Players looking for an adventure will be disappointed, so it’s best to know what you’re getting into.

Bob Came in Pieces is available directly from Ludosity Interactive or can be downloaded through Steam, GamersGate and Direct2Drive for $9.99. Keep your eye out for sales, because it’s already been discounted on several occasions since its release.

Steam is holding an Indie Games Midweek Madness sale that offers seven lesser-known titles (no Braid or World of Goo here) for $2 each.

You can choose from Altitude, Bob Came in Pieces, Bullet Candy, Galcon Fusion, Gridrunner Revolution, Space Giraffe and Super Laser Runner. Or you can pick up the whole package for $10, which is what more than half of these games normally sell for.

Before you buy, you can read the DIYGamer review of Gridrunner Revolution. And if you’re just eyeing Bullet Candy, you can pick up the update, Bullet Candy Perfect, from Charlie’s Games for whatever price you’d like to pay.

[via Slickdeals]

Ludosity Interactive has released a new update for its recently released adventure game Bob Came in Pieces, now available for download via Steam.

The patch brings a few fixes and improvements dealing with some gameplay elements specifically dealing with Chapter eight and ten.

For owners of the game the update can be accessed by restarting the Steam client. The game is currently on sale for 25% off, but that deal ends tomorrow, so hurry!

From the change log:

Bob Came in Pieces

• Repaired the last puzzle on Chapter 8
• Made windpuzzle on Chapter 10 clearer
• Fixed a minor bug in Save As dialog

Ludosity Interactive’s puzzle-platformer Bob Came in Pieces is launching via Steam today.

And to boot Steam, Direct2Drive, GamersGate and Impulse are offering the game at 25% off its normal $9.99 price point. That means you’ll get this innovative title for just $7.49.

We haven’t yet delved into the title, but its assets so far look great. Check out the title while you can snag it for a deal.

On the 21st of December, Swedish indie developer Ludosity Interactive released Bob Came in Pieces for the PC. The game, which features a physics-based gameplay system, requires players to upgrade and rebuild their flying ship in order to solve puzzles. By doing so, this puzzle-adventure title focuses on the use of creativity when trying to solve puzzles in-game. Originally, Bob Came in Pieces was planned for a beta release; it would take the feedback attained from the beta and complete the project. However, in light of the holidays, CEO Daniel Kaplan and the rest of the team decided to put all their energy into completing the project before Christmas. Wow guys, congratulations on setting a goal and sticking to it! We all know this would have been much harder if it were simply a New Year’s resolution…

Bob Came in Pieces is available on PC for $9.89 at this location. Additionally, Ludosity Interactive is planning to distribute the title through Steam, Direct2Drive, Gamer’s Gate and Impulse. Mac users can expect their own version soon.

Read on for a trailer!