Prominence

I've played a little of this now - and am liking it - but I find navigation "difficult" in that I get lost VERY often

I hope you'll get used to it the more you play, Mad. It's a great game!

I hope so too, BrownEyedTigre

Slideshow navigation has always been tiresome for me. Playing Myst, for instance, was a huge problem - because, just as in real life, I have very little sense of direction.

Dump me in the middle of a strange city and it could take me months to find my way out !!

I wouldn't say "Prominence" had "slideshow navigation" because it has panning and forward movement. It's point-and-click, with no control over the movement, but that's not what I think of as "slideshow."

"Slideshow" navigation can be done well, so the gamer doesn't get lost, but it often isn't.
You need to be able to tell where you're going from how the destination looks from the current location. It's best not to have nodes too far apart. It also helps to have distinctive locations, which can be a problem with locations that tend to be "samey," like on a spaceship.

If you've ever played (or attempted to play) Riddenhurst, you know how important it is to have distinctive locations. I've yet to get past the first area (outside the castle) because each location looks so much the same as others -- all shades of blue with leaves, and once in a while you manage to find a building. The situation is made worse because the screens are partially panoramic. You can't pan a full 360 degrees, but you may have to pan a bit right or left to access an exit for the next screen. It's easy to miss exits and you end up going in circles. The developer's previous game, The Haunt, didn't have the partial panoramic screens and didn't have such an issue with navigation. I have to wonder if the game was actually play tested by anyone other than the developers.

Myst was actually less a problem for me than some other "snapshot style" games.
S.P.Q.R. was one of the worst because you could click somewhere and end up at a location that looked nothing like where you'd clicked.

One big advantage of "slideshow navigation" is that it doesn't cause motion sickness. However since Prominence does have panning and forward movement (automatic movement after clicking) it can cause motion sickness.

Is there a demo for this game? I don't want to pay $19.99 unless I think I will like it.

No, probably not "technically" slideshow, I have to agree, Jenny100.
But until I get really used to moving around in this type of game, everywhere is so "same-ish" that I continually find myself in the wrong place and have to backtrack a LOT. And for me, that can take away much of the pleasure of playing

I haven't tried Riddenhurst. In fact I've never even heard of that one !!
But I did attempt S.P.Q.R. many years ago and had to give up on it because of the awful navigation. It was horrendous

Fortunately, I'm not one who readily suffers motion sickness.
And I feel really sorry for those who do

Urukat, no, there is no demo available.

Ana

Thanks. Sometimes those type of games give me motion-sickness.

I got dreadful motion sickness with The Vanishing of Ether Carter and can only play the Talos Principle for 15 minutes at a time. I was fine with Prominence though-no head bobbing. Super game-I even went back and played the other ending.

I haven't played any of the games you mention so I don't really know what "slideshow" is.

I do have a navigational problem with the Carol Reed games for some reason. I often can't find my way out of a house or an office. And sometimes there's an area in a room that I know is there but I don't do the right combination of zoom and pan to find it. Do you know what I'm talking about? Is this "slideshow" motion?

Incidentally, I'm a great fan of the Carol Reed games, despite this minor problem.

It means a single image at a time, like in Myst.
You can't zoom or pan. You can get close-ups or turn to the side, but it's an instantaneous switch to the next screen, and doesn't display the in-between motion that can cause motion sickness.

Oh I see.
I don't think i've ever played a game like that.

And SPQR had that funny machine you did all your exploration through - plus it controlled time.
I had forgotten all about it.
I like panning and free motion, and thankfully don't get motion sickness. I remember though being blown away by Morpheus which is the first game I played that had transition from point to point. It seemed amazing.
Unless of course I remembered that all wrong

You said you've played the Carol Reeds.
Games that use real photos tend to be "snapshot/slideshow" style.
Most of the "snapshot/slideshow" style games are from the 1990's though. After that most node-based first person games had panning.

Once you get off the starting floor things improve, BUT that room that you come back up through the ceiling will make you a little frustrated since you will end up there whether you like it or not only to do nothing in there.

Yes. I found that, BubbaJake, and having progressed from there now I'm doing much better with getting round and about

But for me, those early stages of the game were really "off putting" because of my constantly getting lost and I definitely blame that on the navigation system

I am catching up with some older games I never had a chance to play, and this is one of them.
The navigation is a bit clumsy, but I am enjoying the type of puzzling I need to solve. There are more areas opening up to explore, and the SF aspect is a fun change after playing Myha and Quern back to back.