Does anybody remember rock-falling puzzles?
Our first PC, back in the late 80s, was an Olivetti M20. It didn't have many games: Battle Chess, Crazy Golf, Solitaire, Digger and this weird little falling-rock puzzle game called Felix. This last one seems to have been completely lost to time, so I thought I'd try and recreate the mechanics as best I remember (it was like 35 years ago). The garden theme was added after.
It would be interesting to find out if there's a reason these type of puzzles died a death.
The game is tricky, but I assure you it can be completed. (My PB is 437 steps)
Update:
-Added clarification if keys are used in the wrong door
-Added extra checkpoint near beginning
-I think I've fixed badgers (and worse the player) leaving the play area
-I tried adding a speed setting but it got a bit janky since all the objects speed is linked, so I've sped it up a little bit. It feels smoother to play, I'm happy with that for now
(New PB is 397)
Finished in 896 moves, and it's the first of it's kind I finished from start to end :) would be nice if moving was faster, and if the game acknowledged if you tried the wrong key for the house with something like "the key is too small"
Thanks for the feedback :) I think it wouldve benefited from an undo feature to make up for the speed but I'm not sure how to program it in tbh.
That second point is a good one, I hadn't thought about that, I may update it soon
That was fun. Grid based puzzles with falling blocks are far from dead, but mostly restricted to the niche free/indie puzzle genre. Check puzzlescript if you want to play more turn based grid based puzzles with falling boulders.
About this game :
controls felt OK for the most part, with the exception of trying to chainsaw a tile without entering it that requires a super light tap. I can understand Verb's desire for faster speed, especially when replaying to beat your score (mine is 3000+, but most of that was spent out of bounds circling the map), but it felt right to me for a 1st play-through, so ideally a speed setting in the pause menu would be welcome.
Dying after grabbing the chainsaw brings you back to the previous checkpoint, but still carrying the chainsaw. Not sure if that's intentional.
Encountered a wild badger strolling outside the map, and was able to follow him out of bounds :
Got crushed by rolling tumbleweed a lot. Somehow, the rolling boulders I anticipated much more, maybe because the movements are similar visually and in movement to the boulders from boulder dash?
I'm still wondering why dig-dug logic feels OK in video games. You can walk up because the player is top down, and get crushed by a "falling" boulder that is side view... Maybe once you've accepted being chased by badgers wearing top hats, falling boulders feel comparatively normal, even in a top down context ?
All good points. The chainsaw cp was intentional, I didn't want people doing it twice. The screen edge bug is, I think to do with me using 16x16 tiles, I had the same issue on the left edge. That's an easy fix.
My partner also suggested adding a couple more cps near the beginning, which is fair.
Originally I intended for the creeping vines to act the same way as standard grass but it was a huge faff at the time, I figured: why have a bug when I can have a feature? But hey I'll probably get that fixed, if not in an update then in a sequel, maybe.
Thanks for the feedback. Playing any game to completion takes a certain amount of dedication, for that im most grateful. Kudos
I've tried every move I can think of, but the way is always blocked. Fun game by the way.
@Divine Gaming,
You can't lose turns to the racoons, just dash past them.
from gate to gate :
go down 1 screen :
LLDLLLRRL Hello racoon
DDDDD racoon party
D
grab the key :
DRRRDDLDD
rush up :
LLUUUU hello racoon
LU (RIP racoon)
LUUL hello racoon
LUUL GATE !!!
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