The game’s creator, Kim Swift, who also co-created Portal, explains how an advertisement for toilet paper inspired one of the realities in her latest game.
For artists, visionaries and creative minds inspiration can come from any source, in any place and at any time. Such is the case of Kim Swift, who is the brains behind the recently released title, Quantum Conundrum.
After watching a television commercial highlighting how a particular brand of toilet paper was so fluffy, the creator of the game thought of applying that particular characteristic in her latest game.
“It sounds horrible, but they were trying to advertise how plush this toilet paper was, and everything was all fluffy and extra cushy. I was like, that looks like fun, that might be interesting…”
Before anyone gets on her back and starts calling her anything nasty, it should be pointed out that her opinion and ideas are highly rated, especially since she changed the game of puzzle-platformers with the now cult-classic title, Portal.
The physics based game blew gamers away with its complicated simplicity and gamers actually had to use their heads for a change and wound up liking it. Portal 2 was voted by many review sites as the ‘Game of the Year’ for 2011, which shows just how big the series has become.
Moving back on to the topic of Quantum Conundrum and toilet paper, Kim Swift’s latest game is also a puzzle-platformer, where instead of focusing on creating portals to bend reality, gamers can now alter the state of reality itself.
The world can be made fluffy or heavy and the effect of gravity can be decreased or inverted altogether. These are the four ‘powers’ made available to the player, although they are unlocked one after the other over time, much like how Portal introduced various elements as the player got familiar with the game’s mechanics.
Swift continued by explaining how she wished the ‘fluffy’ reality could be implemented in the real-world as well. She said, “When I’m doing chores, and I need to vacuum under the couch, I really do wish I had fluffy dimension. I could just pick up the couch and move it all by myself. There are definitely instances in my life where I think, man, I wish I had that ability in real life.”
At the same time she also admitted that she has no single great source of inspiration and explained that the idea for Quantum Conundrum came as she was “walking down the street to get breakfast”. When asked if something happened during the walk that inspired her she responded, “No, I was just hungry.”
Quantum Conundrum is available on PCs and is set to rival some of the most popular games on the platform, much like Portal did when it first came out.
Sony to focus on digital content for the Vita 
Dark Souls PC requirements and release date revealed 
Sony executives take massive pay cuts after record losses
Sleeping Dogs to feature voices of Emma Stone and Lucy Liu
Dishonored developer voices concern over lack of variety in industry
PlayStation Vita getting Gran Turismo?
Zynga’s Bubble Safari runs at 60-fps on Facebook