In this our fifth episode of CNM, our team explore the impossible, infinite architecture of Manifold Garden by William Chyr Studio. We thoroughly enjoyed our immersive free fall into this one of a kind environment.

Listen to our podcast on YouTube or Spotify.

This episode is as spoiler free as a trailer for a puzzle game, meaning we give puzzle examples but not solutions. The game itself involves no reading, but earned its warning for flashing, and there are reviews that complain about motion sickness though that was not our experience.

EPISODE NOTES:
In this episode we use the terms Euclidean and Non-Euclidean, in the gamer jargon sense. Gamer vernacular uses these terms to mean, can be built in life, or only can exist in fantasy/unreal environments like those video games can provide. The term William Chyr uses to talk about this instead is Impossible Geometry. There is a Steam Achievement for the game itself that uses this jargon also, so the confusion is understandable.

I, Giggleklutz, did a deep dive after we recorded this episode and learned a lot more about how Mathematics uses those terms. I created this YouTube playlist so you can learn more about that if you desire.

Notes on the playlist:
The first video gives the most concise explanation of what Euclidean/Non-Euclidean means that I could find.
The second is a named influence on the first, that comes from a really cool channel filled with that kind of math stuff, if you are into that.
The third through seventh videos are a series done by the Extra History channel that do a deep dive into the history of Euclidean Geometry and the development of Non-Euclidean Geometry.

I try not to do research on what other people think about a game before we record our episodes so I can explore my impressions a bit less burdened by outside influences. After the recording is finished I do a deeper dive to bring other connections here to the blog. The other connections in Manifold Garden’s case ended up substantial. Hope you enjoy this session’s….

********EXTRAS!*******

Manifold Garden Memes!

I created another YouTube Playlist highlighting thoughts about Manifold Garden, both from William Chyr and others, including the soundtrack, a play stream and more.

EXTRAS PLAYLIST NOTES:

1. The Shape of Infinity by, Jacob Geller
   This intellectual deep dive into how environments can play with the idea of infinity introduced me to a couple of artists namely Giovanni Battista Piranesi, and Roman Opalka.
   TLDW hottake: if you like the math stuff around infinity, jump to 15:20 and watch the Lego section. I found his commentary helpful when watching the full video.
2. Level Design with Impossible Geometry by, William Chyr
   This presentation given at GDC 2016 (Game Developers Conference) features William Chyr’s process in designing and developing an infinite game with variable gravity. A lot changed in the development of Manifold Garden between this presentation and the final release, most of the images he shows are completely different in the finished game. There are free games available to play with some of these concepts he talks about.
3. Manifold Garden-Art in Video Games (William Chyr)
   This video is very similar to the previous one but presented after the launch. I found it a good counterpoint demonstrating how much he was willing to change the game to get it to its final form. I’m so glad he did because I really enjoyed playing the game.
4. Manifold Garden-Architectural Inspirations by, William Chyr
   This short video is a wordless showcase of the inspirations for the amazing architecture of Manifold Garden. I link more information on each below:
   Tadao Ando
   Brutalist Architecture
   Frank Lloyd Wright
   Baoli/Indian Stepwells (Chand Baori itself)
   M. C. Escher
   Blame! (link to the Netflix movie <creepy Anime vibes and violence>)
5. Manifold Garden-full soundtrack
   Listen for yourself!
6. Engineer’s brain MELTS attempting this game… (Manifold Garden) by Evan and Katelyn
   This is a fun Let’s Play video that goes through the first half of the game.
7. The Game Is Not Enough – Manifold Garden by Sophia Daniels
   This is the walkthrough video I used to make my attempt on the “secret path”. It is presented without commentary.

Thank you for listening/following along.
-Giggleklutz