Well, that was something else. I found two endings, the false one and (presumably, since I saw the credits) the real one. I feel like there should be a third one.

I have to say, I've never had a game end quite like in the false ending.

Nice premise and style about the whole thing, but what I played of it seems like just another frustrating platform game.

Wow I had a blast playing this platformer. I don't know why but I felt a very cool vibe from the premise of this game. Great music, challenging, nice graphics. Just a great experience for me.

I only got one ending, and I'm guessing it's the wrong one since I didn't see any credits. Can anyone clue me in on how to get the good ending?

Wow, I like this a lot! I'll have to go check out the rest of Virtanen's stuff.

So why is "Passage" and its bipolar sequel deeply moving art and not this game?

Julius: The false ending tells you exactly what you need to do to win.

etaoin: haha, I was going to try that but that would take a while.

Game delivers an interesting point although it's all too short and brief. Such messages are better suited for short "sayings" but I suppose you can't really go wrong with a 7 minute game.

I enjoyed it in any case.

The visual style created a fitting tone and atmosphere for the game.

Only thing I have a problem with was the terribly out of place music. It's like you have 7 minutes left to live and you're exploring this spike infested maze and then it's all fucking TECHNO RAVE WOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

oh, since I owe it to be nice. While the music was just plain off, the sound effects were very suiting.

Game sent chills up my spine.

get out ugly face!

Up-arrow to jump = epic fail...

Such a basic mistake that takes away so much fun. :-(

Uh, and repeating jumps while key is pressed and insta-quit Esc...

Well - other than that the game was OK. =)

Unlike alice I enjoyed the music...

I have also seen both endings - to see the real one I just spent my time on making scrambled eggs. I guess that's another way of spending the last 7 minutes of the universe. ;-)

Lim-Dul = epic fail

THE ULTIMATE POWER

I HAVE THE POWERRRRRRR!!!!

Lim-Dul: What's wrong with up arrow for jump?

[spoiler]He is the castle.[/spoiler]

Is he the castle? really?
wow.so am I in his body.

Lim-Dul: What's wrong with up arrow for jump?

It's harder to steer when jumping if you have to press all the buttons with one hand. The reach and flexibility of the fingers and the sinews affect the jump precision. It's just not ergonomic.

That's the first reason.

The second and maybe weaker reason is that jumps are usually treated as "actions" - same as e.g. shooting - not movement per se (like, climbing up ladders), hence are easier to perform "conceptually" with two hands - like jumping and shooting by simultaneously pressing some kind of A and B button. In fact I hooked up my pad and used JoyToKey to play the game because the feeling when I have to move my middle finger while keeping my index and ring finger on the left and right arrow keys is very unpleasant to me - you feel how the sinews are moving. =)

It's not my personal opinion: just look at the control layout on ANY arcade or console platformer - there's a reason for this. ;-)

I noted this because I'm actually not the first and only one to complain about such simple design mistakes. Somebody mentioned this in the comments section of another game over at TIGSource.com, I think and I've been paying very close attention to jumping in indie games lately. =)
There's really not much to mapping the jump to another button - potentially even leaving the up-arrow functionality intact if someone happens to like it for some unknown reason.

Also, repeating jumps unless the jump button is depressed is not the way to go, especially if the time you press the button affects the height of the jump. It's also very easy to code - THAT I know. =)

The insta-esc should be fairly obvious unless it's meant to be a kind of "boss-key".

There you go. Even if you have a good game don't make such simple mistakes, especially since they are easy to avoid and have been resolved a looong time ago - this will make your game feel much more polished.

P.S. Did anyone find the "stair jump" bug? I call it that way because it apparently functions much like the stair jump in the Quake series. You can jump off corners of blocks to rise to great heights.

Allow me to demonstrate:

http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/8047/jumprl1.jpg

I honestly found this to be much more meaningful than Passage or Gravitation. Not to mention the fact that Seven Minutes is actually fun.

I honestly found this to be much more meaningful than Passage or Gravitation. Not to mention the fact that Seven Minutes is actually fun.

Precisely - there's more of a game and less of a barely playable "piece of art" here. =)

The thing badly needs a third ending... I mean, after I heard "Don't touch it" I didn't want to grab the first orb. But you can't jump past it and nothing happens if you just stop there. Nah..

Here's a video of the bad ending - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evyPdpfrisc

Lim-Dul, thanks for explaining. While I did agree with you on the jumping issues in Psychosomnium, I'm not so sure about this. Specially for games where there's no other actions than running/ jumping(/entering doors with down? etc..) I feel very comfortable using just one hand. You may have a point though, I think you're right about the fact
that most games use a separate key for jumping. If people feel so strongly about this I won't mind allowing both options in my games.

Yeah, exactly - two options would be nice - everybody would be happy. =)

Seven Minutes didn't have the jumping/flying physics problems of Psychosomnium.

personally i had no problem with up arrow being the jump key. The entire game short and simple so any downsides of the up arrow being jump really aren't all that important. Plus I play tons of fighting games so that might have something to do with it haha.

I can't say I found this more meaningful than passage or gravitation though if were judging meaningfulness here. Passage and Gravitation both convey something incredible subtle and deep and use highly symbolic detail that quite seamlessly blends into the gameplay. The level of care gone into that is worth a lot on its own. 7mins is more like this sensitory experience that thematically tackles the story of adam and eve and curiosity and futility in life. It conveyed itself very comprehensibly (which is more than I can say about a lot of other 'sensitory' works of art) but there was little substance for me to grasp onto which I tend to appreciate more.

Moreover, while the depiction of 'God' call it did wonders for the tone and atmosphere of the game, was highly implausible so I couldn't really buy into the game's message.

To me, Passage was neither "subtle" nor "highly symbolic," nor did it "quite seamlessly blend into the gameplay." I found it okay at best, very blatant at worst. Plus, I felt like it wasn't as much a game as other artistic and experimental pieces I've played. But that's just me...

Gotta disagree that it's more symbolic than Passage or Gravitation. While i don't really think they entirely conveyed what the creator set out to do, the ideas behind the game were integrated into the gameplay.

Seven minutes, other than a few tricks, traps and hints, it might as well just be a face ranting at you while you play a fairly standard platformer. It doesn't really affect you other than adding some atmosphere to it.

I didn't particularly like this game for one main reason: What makes the good ending good? I'll try not to spoil it here. It seems to be trying to express the idea that the choice that leads to the good ending is somehow more wise, but is it? In contrast to the path to the bad ending, it seems to be just plain boring. Life is change, and to get to the bad ending, you accept that change. I found nothing enlightening about getting the "good" ending aside from the accomplishment of gleaning a small bit of what the designer wanted from you.