Wands are actually Guns, right?

[Vain]

Does anyone else get the feeling using the "wands" in Noita that they fire very much like you would expect guns to in a 2-D game? (well done 2-D guns, too).

I suggest that Noita was first envisioned with a gun totting, jet pack using protagonist like Doom-guy or Duke Nuke'em against similarly inspired enemies and at some point, early on, the theme was shifted to a magician (witch) protagonist and general concept.

The starting wand could very easily be a pistol like weapon, many of the fast type wands are designed to fire like 2-D video game equivalents of a submachine-guns or assault rifle etc... And many of the spells "magic missile" are just basically rockets. Many of the spells also seem like near-future/futuristic weaponry as seen in Doom like plasma rifles, BFG etc...

I realize that in games of this type there is a very parallel function between offensive magic spells and guns (what is the difference ultimately between a magic exploding fireball and a rocket right?) but even so many of the wands and spells in Noita really feel more like firearms than magical conduits of power such as wands/staffs. They have a chunkier more kinetic feel. Obviously I'm not talking about spells that create water and other effects like that.

Am I the only one to notice this?

Could be that I am right or could be that they just designed the wands like guns from the beginning or else could be I am totally crazy, let me know what you think...

[Shrinkshooter]

No. I think you're just making stuff up in your head. "They shoot like guns" half the damn spells in the game don't "shoot" anything, and the ones that do: how else would you do this? They're wands, they cast things. What, you think things need to be slower and less responsive with magical mystical charge times or something in order to be "wandy" enough?

Sorry buddy but this smells of "OMG GUIZE I just had this brilliant hypothesis based on nothing but subjective perception, let me turn it into a thread."

In MY amazingly creative headcanon, your character actually is a chick and she's heading down the levels in the search for the greatest masturbation toy! That's because her name is Mina, and you get the Hermes Bird at the end, which is an 11 minute movie about nothing but showing an erection! I'M ONTO SOMETHING HERE GUIZE TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK

[Silver Smurfer]

I actually was thinking something similar to this, so you're not crazy dude. My thought was more of that I liked the game so much, I'd play the same game but essentially re-skinned. Same idea, but instead of the witch you have a rambo-like character. I'm imagining it like Doom or Gears of War.

Would be pretty neat if the world theme were different like that, would give people more world to explore and more ways to tinker with the environments.

[Vain]

Originally posted by Shrinkshooter:

No. I think you're just making stuff up in your head. "They shoot like guns" half the damn spells in the game don't "shoot" anything, and the ones that do: how else would you do this? They're wands, they cast things. What, you think things need to be slower and less responsive with magical mystical charge times or something in order to be "wandy" enough?

Sorry buddy but this smells of "OMG GUIZE I just had this brilliant hypothesis based on nothing but subjective perception, let me turn it into a thread."

In MY amazingly creative headcanon, your character actually is a chick and she's heading down the levels in the search for the greatest masturbation toy! That's because her name is Mina, and you get the Hermes Bird at the end, which is an 11 minute movie about nothing but showing an erection! I'M ONTO SOMETHING HERE GUIZE TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK

I hear you!

That said, getting head-shots with that starter wand feels a-lot like a using a 2-D handgun, also why do many wands have recoil that knocks you back a little, seems a lot more like firearms than magic to me.

Trust me, it is not lost on me that this is a kooky theory. Still I just can't get it outta my head.

Also, I agree that the protagonist as currently envisioned is very possibly a female, though you lost me with all that rapey stuff at the end. :D

Originally posted by Silver Smurfer:

I actually was thinking something similar to this, so you're not crazy dude. My thought was more of that I liked the game so much, I'd play the same game but essentially re-skinned. Same idea, but instead of the witch you have a rambo-like character. I'm imagining it like Doom or Gears of War.

Would be pretty neat if the world theme were different like that, would give people more world to explore and more ways to tinker with the environments.

I was thinking the same thing about a re-skin, the game would totally work with a gun using protagonist and re-skinning the weapons etc... Not that I don't like magic/fantasy, actually I typically am more inclined towards magic but the fact that I can't help but seeing this game with a gun-using character instead makes me think there might be something to it.

[SilentCaay]

They are definitely gun-like. Wand slots are basically the magazine, the spells are bullets, cast time is cycle rate and recharge time is reload time. You use up all the spells/bullets in the wand/magazine, then recharge/reload and Shuffle just means that the bullets are loaded in random order each time. It's a lot easier to think of them as guns. That's how I wrapped my head around the mechanics when I started playing.

[Vain]

Originally posted by SilentCaay:

They are definitely gun-like. Wand slots are basically the magazine, the spells are bullets, cast time is cycle rate and recharge time is reload time. You use up all the spells/bullets in the wand/magazine, then recharge/reload and Shuffle just means that the bullets are loaded in random order each time. It's a lot easier to think of them as guns. That's how I wrapped my head around the mechanics when I started playing.

Exactly!

Thank you for mentioning this... Also the chainsaw "spell" seems suspiciously like a weapon that a doom-guy action hero might use and not as much like a magic kinda thing.

[Entity]

The game's files actually refer to guns.

https://i.imgur.com/7wl5r3J.png

So yeah, likely it started off as a more conventional arms themed project.

[エロ音声作品学者]

lmao @shrinkshooter flipping his lid, and it turns out the files are named "gun" and "gunshot"

[hophop]

They're basically guns. They even have reload times!

[Nerankar]

Originally posted by Shrinkshooter:

Next time, read first, and don't post if you're just going to be insufferably snide and condescending while ironically being a presumptuous idiot. Thanks.

[lexilogo]

The developers have frequently described the wands as guns, not just in the internal files. Stuff like Fireball has consistently been referred to as "a grenade launcher", not necessarily as a magic spell.

I personally believe that the wands are advanced technology that we see as indistinguishable from magic, not legitimate magic, judging by stuff like damaged technological bases in floors 3-4, the existence of robot turrets and modern oil barrels, and so on.

The alchemical elements of this game like the potions (and some of the enemies) might be the only legitimately magical elements in this game, with the technological stuff like wands coming later from the people who went out to seek the Art.

[_krzy_]

The feeling of wands being actually guns is not wrong. You can even see the previous character design and all other interesting things in this GDC conference video from March this year: https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1025695/Exploring-the-Tech-and-Design ;)

[Vain]

Originally posted by mr.krzych00:

The feeling of wands being actually guns is not wrong. You can even see the previous character design and all other interesting things in this GDC conference video from March this year: https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1025695/Exploring-the-Tech-and-Design ;)

Now I understand why I couldn't shake the image of the main character double tapping the enemies with the starter wand as he worked his way down the first level of the mines.

[hophop]

Originally posted by lexilogo:

The developers have frequently described the wands as guns, not just in the internal files. Stuff like Fireball has consistently been referred to as "a grenade launcher", not necessarily as a magic spell.

I personally believe that the wands are advanced technology that we see as indistinguishable from magic, not legitimate magic, judging by stuff like damaged technological bases in floors 3-4, the existence of robot turrets and modern oil barrels, and so on.

The alchemical elements of this game like the potions (and some of the enemies) might be the only legitimately magical elements in this game, with the technological stuff like wands coming later from the people who went out to seek the Art.

Or perhaps all magic is just science we don't understand yet!