10th June 2018

As each game gets posted, the feedback occurs.
Let's take a look at the feedback from Blockman Gets Retro!

You can Download Blockman Gets Retro here.

RSKGames

Overview: While last years Blockman game was a platformer this year's Blockman game is back to the roots maze puzzle game where the player has to traverse the maze, eat the required quantity of yellow dots to cross each of the levels. Blockman cannot move backwards and cannot traverse a path already traveled unless there is a bonus dot present.

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Yep, we're back to the very very basics of what made "Blockman Gets" so special in the first place.
I tried my best to make it as much like the original as I could, but it's still lacking a few elements!

Gameplay: The lack of ghosts and move only on key press makes this an enjoyable puzzle game without any added pressure. The number of dots to eat to cross a level is chosen well to make the game well balanced. From the many levels that I have played the placement of the orange power-up blocks and the one ways paths are done in a way such that the game is not so easy but not too difficult to cross. (Will be nice to get to know the logic behind the level generation and AI player design).

The level layouts are pre-drawn. You'll notice they start to repeat quite a bit if you get far enough. I spent a day drawing 24 little mazes in basic black and white (24x12, I think?) and from there the game simply fills the level with dots, adds one or two power-dots, and a couple of the one-way paths.

Once done, the game blindly/randomly "plays" through the maze 5 times per frame over 30 frames (150 times) and keeps track of the most dots it's achieved during the plays.

The AI is nothing more complicated than "Can I move in a random direction? I'll go that way and see what happens" over and over until it gets stuck. The level is then reset and it tries again, and again, and again.

This happens right at the start of a level, whilst the level's falling into place.

The "goal" is created as a simple "level * difficulty * 5" value, but if it's over the most dots that the AI could achieve, then the goal is reduced to that amount.

It's really very simplistic!!

The inclusion of the bonus points (25 points per dot instead of 2 after reaching the number of dots to eat goal) gives the player enough motivation to delay taking the orange power-up blocks by eating as much dot as possible.

Yeah, it gives you more bonus points if the dot is "fresh", and slightly less for "respawned" dots. If you're aiming for as big a score as possible, try to keep as many fresh dots available as you can.

One more feature I really liked is that player cannot die by mistake by making a wrong turn when a valid path is available.

Overall a very enjoyable puzzle game with a perfectly fair and balanced gameplay.

Over the numerous iterations of Blockman Gets, I think I've managed to whittle out all the complexities, to leave the game with fairly obvious gameplay mechanics.
In the very first Blockman Gets I ended up with big tutorial-like text boxes clumped around the game.
With the addition of a floor tile, which falls away when the dots are eaten, it becomes much more obvious why you can't go back.
Additionally, the switch to just having the word "EAT : " makes for a much easier to understand goal than having a weird "Target : " thing onscreen.
It's all a case of making things a little more streamlined over the years, and I think this release has ended up as one of my favourite versions.
It's simpler, it's raw, and it's easy enough to understand.

A good game.

Shame the ghosts never made an appearance. Maybe next time

FellowPlayer

It's pacmans evil twin.

He's not evil.. He's just very very hungry!

ofihombre

Great Square Pac-Man version. With their psychedelic effects, remember the Pac-Man Championship series. Music great.

"Square Pac-Man"? I'd never considered such a thing

Thanks for enjoying the game.

You can Download Blockman Gets Retro here.

Views 213, Upvotes 34

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