One of the designers of the innovative Portal, Kim Swift, is at Penny Arcade Expo to illustrate that she is not out of intelligent game ideas.

Swift and her group at Airtight Games will host a PAX panel and provide followers the first sign at Quantum Conundrum, a first-person, physics-based puzzle game arriving next year for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.  Followers of Portal will discover the downloadable game to be comfortingly recognizable, from the idiosyncratic humorousness to the intelligent puzzle design.

Wired.com saw a lenient demonstration of Quantum Conundrum to be published by Square Enix on Friday morning. You play as a young boy at the house of your uncle, which would be a dull situation if it were not for the reality that your uncle is a foolish scientist who is discovered an inter-dimensional glove.  You shortly find that you could utilize this glove to right away jump back and forth among different dimensions, all of which have special properties.

At the moment in the clarification “I feel like I’ve played things like this before.”  As it turns out, the measurement they illustrated us was the “Fluffy” dimension.  In this measurement, everything is completed of cotton balls.  Thus was right away confirmed incorrect.

Everything weighs 10 times less in the Fluffy dimension. So the young hero could simply get a serious iron safe and move it into a more benefits status and utilize it as a stepping stool to an otherwise unreachable ledge. Swift said, he can jump on the cotton safe at this point but because it weighs less it might obtain knocked around. So it is greatest to change back into the normal measurement to do the platforming.

A characteristic situation prior to the game will have you puzzling over how to utilize the entire variety of “dimensions” to resolve a puzzle.  In addition to”Fluffy,” there are “
Slow Motion” and “Reverse Gravity” dimensions. Therefore let us say for instance that you had to traverse a huge unlimited pit.  You perhaps:  1. Throw the safe;  2.  Switch to slow-motion while the safe is still close to you;  3. Jump onto the now barely-moving safe;  4. Switch back and forth between reverse gravity and normal so that the safe, with forward momentum, floats in a sine-wave pattern towards the exit.

This last effect, changing back and forth among gravities to reason something to float along, occurred impulsively as an outcome of existing game physics of Quantum Conundrum, according to Swift and her team right away executed puzzles utilizing it onto the game.

Portal, a game that had its sources in a student project that Swift worked on when she was still in school, was a shatter hit not just because of its intelligent gameplay however because of its well-written, humorous characters and situation. The demo of Conundrum was mute, and perhaps for better motive, having the game described by a snarky disembodies voice perhaps would have been a small on the nose.

Airtight Games is instead going for visual comedy.  Photos of your uncle and his pets line the hallways of the mansion, and they alter when you turn over dimensions. Change to “Fluffy” and everyone has bunny suits on.  Switch to “Slow Motion” and everyone is painted to be appearing at their watch, counting the goldfish if you whiz in on it close enough.

If Portal 2 this year had an Achilles’ heel, it’s that it’s hard to surprise players with a continuation.  There is a huge possible for Quantum Conundrum to perform that which is why I’m hoping we do not listen too much more concerning it after Saturday evening’s panel.