Eddie Von Walt and the Infinite Bulb is a roguelike for Meta Quest where you are a bartender in a 1984 bar, playing seated and with just your hands: you grab, pour and throw, no controllers. In the last post I told you about the night events. Since then I've worked on three things: the cards, the cutscenes, and the way the game welcomes and follows you. I'll tell you everything, without spoiling the story.
Cards are now visible
The problem was simple: you picked a card, read two lines, and nothing you could notice changed in the game. I kept thinking of *The Binding of Isaac*, where every item leaves a mark and by the end you are your character, built piece by piece. So I went through every card and set a rule: every card, including the ones I'll add later, must have a visible effect, a clear description, and correspond to something real in the game.
On your hands. Every card adds an effect to your gloves, and they stack: - LONG ARMS: a blue ghost hand stretches out ahead of yours - BIG TIPPER: a gold coin spins on the back of your hand - HEAVY ICE: frost on the knuckles - FIRE WATER: sparks at the fingertips - SOAKED: drops falling from your fingers - STORM CHAIN: blue electric arcs between fingers - POLAR BEER: a cold mist around the hand
In the bar. The bar reacts when a card triggers: a green flash on the shelf when a restock arrives (QUICK RESTOCK), gold sparks with DOUBLE STOCK, a warm flash on the scoreboard with SECOND WIND, and sparks from the lamp with SURGE PROTECTOR. THE SAFE is a steel safe by the door that goes CLANG when a thief tries to steal your tokens. A little tag appears on the jukebox when you have a free song or a discount.
THE BULB SHINES, rebuilt from scratch: a bulb on the counter that slowly charges and, when full, fires a gold ring that slows the cubes. You see it filling up, so you know when it's about to go.
The trophy shelf. On the back wall, every recipe you take becomes a little plaque with its icon (x2, x3 when you strengthen it), and it lights up when it triggers. They aren't separate 3D objects, just plaques, but they let you see at a glance who you've become.
Curses
To the right of the shelf are the curses: purple, cracked plaques. Each has its own mark in the bar: purple fog on the shelf (CURSED STOCK), a grimy tag on the jukebox (DIRTY TOKENS), a clock stuck at midnight dripping purple (LONG NIGHT), purple vodka fire (CURSED VODKA), a glowing hatch in the floor (BOTTOMLESS CELLAR). DARK PACT deserves a couple of lines: it used to go pitch black like a blackout, which was confusing. Now the lamp pulses violet and the bar turns dark purple for a moment. The real blackout stays black and is fixed at the fuse box.
The gloves changed too. There are four, you unlock them by playing, and they now end in a short cuff instead of reaching the elbow: the Quest tracks your hand, not your arm, and a long forearm ended up moving oddly. Two gloves give a small advantage; the others are cosmetic.
Cutscenes
Eddie Von Walt has a story, and for a few updates now I've been telling it with cutscenes: real-time scenes inside the bar, with music, subtitles and the option to skip them. Eddie is only ever seen as a silhouette: I like that he stays a bit mysterious. So far there's the opening, when you walk into the bar, the scene where the two villains, Ben Rod and Nicolas Turbine, create the first boss, and the one where a rare enemy, the Glitch, is born. More will come. I won't say more, because it's the part I want you to discover.
They aren't perfect: in a couple of places the character clips through the stool or the hands move without grabbing anything, and some scenes lag a bit. They're on my list, and I'd rather tell you myself.
Calibration, language and everything that helps you play
Putting a headset on someone and having them play well on the first try is hard, so I put a lot of work into the welcome: - Guided calibration: you sit, pinch, and the counter and panels land in front of you. There's a CALIBRATE button in settings and one in pause. - Room limit: if you drift away from the counter the view dims gently and the bar repositions. - First launch: black screen, two floating flags, you choose your language, then the logo and the intro. The game used to start in the menu and throw you back to the intro, which was ugly. - Italian: story, messages and tips are translated. Panels, book and recipes aren't yet. - A smaller, lower pause panel, and a blackout fuse box you can now touch precisely.
Balance
I reworked the stock (it now really runs out and you have to choose), tokens and the jukebox. Testing the build on the Quest I had a blast: the spreading fire is maybe a bit too strong, but it's the most fun part, so rather than remove it I'm thinking about an enemy that doesn't burn, to balance it.
What's missing
There are still a few hitches the first time something appears, and the drinking mouth sits too high for me: I'm fixing it. Bosses for later weeks, new enemies and more weapons are planned, but not in yet.
If you've tried the game, tell me what you think, especially what feels too strong or too weak.
*Eddie Von Walt and the Infinite Bulb is in Early Access on Meta Quest: free during Early Access, 5 € at the final release. The changes in this post are in the builds I'm testing on the Quest right now.*