Le poète, le scientifique et le toxicomane

Excellent résumé du jeu. Je suis effectivement accro à Starseed Pilgrim depuis plus d'une semaine. Je viens de découvrir que, dans le monde noir, certaines portes nécessitent trois clés pour être ouvertes, mais rassembler lesdites clés n'est pas une mince affaire. Je n'y suis pas encore parvenu, ce qui explique ma dépendance à l'égard de ce jeu : que se cache-t-il donc derrière ces mystérieuses portes à trois clés ?

Le poète, le scientifique et le toxicomane

Tant mieux, content que ça plaise :) Repose-toi bien Pierrec !

Le poète, le scientifique et le toxicomane

La trad est bien meilleure que si je m'y étais collé ! Bravo et merci !
(Par contre, je peux pas m'occuper de le mettre dans la section aujourd'hui , je sors de Ludum Dare sur les rotules et j'ai juste envie de vacances)

Le poète, le scientifique et le toxicomane

On a possibilité de publier dans la section fantôme "anglais" du site, qui nous a servi pour publier des interviews en VO sans faire de doublon sur la une... Je — ou Pierrec s'il a le temps — peux m'en occuper demain.

C'est super cool en tout cas Robin.

Le poète, le scientifique et le toxicomane

Ne sachant pas où mettre la traduction que j'ai promise à droqen (avec l'accord de Pierre, même s'il n'aurait pas eu besoin de moi pour la faire !), j'ai pensé à la poster ici tout simplement... au moins, si cela génère du trafic, il reviendra à Merlanfrit.net.
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The poet, the addict and the scientist

Is the void white, or is it black ? “Black,” says the scientist, who knows that in white, there is light. “White”, says the poet, who wishes to fill the blank page with black ink. Starseed Pilgrim's answer isn't so clear-cut : its void is just as white as it is black. And, no matter what side one resides in, the void must be filled.

Playing Starseed Pilgrim requires incarnating both the poet and the scientist : on one hand, analysis, empiricism and botany (Starseed), and on the other, creativity, exploration and wandering (Pilgrim). One can't enjoy Starseed Pilgrim without giving in to the oscillation between those two modes of thought. Enter it with a Cartesian mind and the game will prove to be highly disconcerting, enter it with an errant soul and you will end up running in circles.

With such admission standards, you could be forgiven for expecting Starseed Pilgrim not to be “for everyone”, and that after the first few minutes, a player's confusion would lead to their premature resignation. But that assumption fails to take into consideration the drug that Starseed Pilgrim surreptitiously poured into our glass, initiating the process of addiction. That drug is discovery.

The element of surprises

From the outset, Starseed Pilgrim abandons its player on a small rocky island in an ocean of nothingness. Besides a tip on the keys to use (arrows, space), there is no indication as to how to go about it, but as a compensation, there is no apparent problem either. The player is free to record their first findings, planting seeds, watching - and listening - as they grow, studying the differences in their behaviours. Each seed is a new surprise, triggering a strange kind of pleasure not unlike that of opening presents in Toejam and Earl. At this point in the game, Starseed Pilgrim is a full-fledged sandbox, and one that would be engrossing enough... were it not for the dwindling of the seeds.

Seeking a new dose, the poet is now compelled to leave this Arcadia, to step through the portal and to shoulder the scientist's coat.

From one void to another

Another world opens up to the player's eyes, with an islet similar to the previous one, but a radically different void. It is still white, but gives way to a new kind of void, a black void ; far from the lack of matter, it's its opposite, a sort of antimatter that seems particularly voracious. Everything the player builds, she absorbs, and so a race against time begins. Starseed Pilgrim, the sandbox, turns to platformer with roguelike shimmers, and demands from the scientist that they build the most solid and the most efficient scaffolds, that they explore the structures' negatives, and that they elucidate how the two worlds are linked. Desperate attempts to flee from the void fail one after another, and although the process isn't devoid of delight, it would quickly prove off-putting without a snatch of method and empiricism. One must experiment to comprehend the properties of each seed, theorise and learn from past mistakes. Each discovery renews the player's addiction and confirms that « there's more where that came from ». So they carry on, until an even bigger finding allows them to bring seeds back to their personal garden, their grand work.

Cultivating the garden

As the scientist gets back « home », they find themselves aimless, and as the poet takes over again they'll err and create at once, in a world where emptiness seems immense. Is this Starseed Pilgrim ? Passing into the other world, elaborating paths, then travelling backwards along their negatives with the sole intent of fetching seeds for the original garden ? Why not ? After all, it's more than enough. The poet sees a whole creative horizon, the scientist has room to improve the method and make it more efficient. Everyone's happy. So the cycle resumes with renewed vigour : fill black with white, watch colour turn to black... and... by chance, by accident, the poet stumbles on a new discovery. And the horizon extends further.

And then it will be the scientist's turn.

And the poet's once more.

And the scientist's...

The two worlds, the two modes of play never cease to feed each other new treasures. On several occasions, you'll think that you've finally put your finger on Starseed Pilgrim's objective, you'll believe that you're nearing the goal... and you'll realize that it's just the beginning of something far greater.

As far as I know, Starseed Pilgrim is infinite, and interspersed with a myriad stars, like the void it features. If that sounds impossible, if it appears to defy logic, then perhaps one ought to think of it with the poet's mind.

Le poète, le scientifique et le toxicomane

C'est beau.

Le poète, le scientifique et le toxicomane - commentaires

Le poète, le scientifique et le toxicomane

Le poète, le scientifique et le toxicomane

Le poète, le scientifique et le toxicomane

Le poète, le scientifique et le toxicomane

Le poète, le scientifique et le toxicomane

Le poète, le scientifique et le toxicomane