Wizard Blocks - available now!

Wizard Blocks is now available, just over a month late. I'm prepping it for an Android release, which will include more puzzle levels and maybe a slight update to the background graphics. The main attraction is not really puzzle mode, though, so get digging!

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Mega Tact v1.1
Super Penguin Chef
Wizard Blocks

Nice! I just tried for a while. "Challenge Dig" is quite challenging, even on Slow mode.

If I had a wish to make, it would be that there would be some kind highlight or flicker on the block that you would pick up if you press the pick-up button.

I am sure after some practice, it becomes second nature, and the tutorial does a good job of explaining the mechanic of picking up in front/below, but having the visual feedback of a pickup/placement cursor would really help a whole lot.

found a fairly big bug in wizard blocks.
if you are on the right side and you don't have a block tot he left of you, you can toss a block into the wall. It might work on the left side too, I didn't check.

That's not a bug. That's ~magic~

Note: there may be just a little less ~magic~ in the next release

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Mega Tact v1.1
Super Penguin Chef
Wizard Blocks

In Challenge mode, it appears to be showing high score in both the "score" and "high" positions

EDIT: I must reiterate that Challenge mode is really brutal even on "Slow".

I would love it if there was a display of how many rows I have survived. It would feel good to be able to quantify how far I am getting. Also, if you ever make a high-scores list, it would be cool to see something like

"Scored 12345 points at depth 57"

Scores are tracked separately for each speed. If your score exceeds the old high score, the new high score is your score.



Hmm. Maybe I'll redo the speeds so that Medium is the current Slow and Slow is 20% slower (10 pixels every 50/40/30 ticks instead of 40/35/30).

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Mega Tact v1.1
Super Penguin Chef
Wizard Blocks

But when I start over again, I just see the high score twice, and my new score does not become visible unless I exceed the old high score.

EDIT: only if you restart after dying, not if you restart from the title screen



I would welcome that :)

I have played slow mode way more than I should be playing it today, but my high score is still only 6560 and I don't think I have lasted for longer than 5 minutes ever.

EDIT: Made it to the bottom with 8560 points. Was surprised that there even was a bottom. Was surprised that the game ended

Didn't you try Casual Dig? It's exactly the same but without the time pressure.

Maybe I should switch the order of the two menu options so that Casual is the "default." Challenge Dig is, after all, intended to be a challenge. Perhaps instead of changing the existing Slow and Medium, I should just add a fourth speed.

I can beat Slow reliably, Medium usually, and Fast occasionally, but I also know a few tricks that aren't immediately apparent. One example I use all the time is dropping a block beneath me, then picking up an adjacent block before the block under me disappears. I might create a video to showcase some tricks.

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Mega Tact v1.1
Super Penguin Chef
Wizard Blocks

Ah, interesting.

It did take me a while to realize that I could keep working on other matches before the current match (or combo) completed

I did try Casual, but didn't get very far due to external interruptions.

What if after the victory sequence when you reach the bottom, it bumps you up to the next difficulty level (or 1/2 difficulty level?) and starts you at the top of a new stack?

This is a fun game. Thank you for making it :)

EDIT: What if the menu started out as Tutorial/Casual/Challenge and after you do the tutorial once it moves it to the bottom. After you beat casual once, it moves it below Challenge

A new version is available. Changed:

• You can no longer lodge blocks into the right side of the screen.
  
• Fixed several score display issues.
  
• Reordered the main menu to put Casual Dig first.
  
• Rebalanced Challenge Dig. There are four speeds: Fast is the same speed as the old Slow, Hyper is the same speed as the old Fast, Slow is 2/3 as fast as the old Slow, and Medium is 4/5 as fast as the old Slow. Or, put another way, the four speeds advance half a block every 60/50/40/30 frames. "Slow" earns its name now.

Shuffling the speeds around might do strange things with your high scores. If you care about that, you should delete "Wizard Blocks.saves" from your game directory.

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Mega Tact v1.1
Super Penguin Chef
Wizard Blocks

Another late addition: the block that you would pick up if you were to hit the action button is highlighted, as James suggested above. I also changed the grab detection to be more generous in the case where you are standing on a single block but looking over the edge: you used to grab at empty space, but now you'll always grab the block you're standing on.

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Mega Tact v1.1
Super Penguin Chef
Wizard Blocks

The block highlight looks wonderful!

I like the new difficulty spread.

Just played for about 45 minutes. Here are my thoughts.

Everything feels very polished. Controls work great and sound effects are satisfying. Visually it's a bit boring though. Perhaps you could add randomized background images that tie into the fantasy themes (i.e. castles, caves, forests, etc.)

Casual mode seems kind of pointless. It should be moved to the menu so people don't mistakenly assume it is the primary mode.

The other difficulties feel right. Slow is easy and medium is easy if you aren't trying to score well.

The game play works like it is supposed to, but I didn't find the mechanics that interesting. Your ability to score well is based solely on how quickly you can predict the effect of a removing a block. However, thinking more than a one step ahead is extremely difficult for most people (including me), so ultimately it feels as if many of the combos that occur are accidental.

Based on that, I don't feel like there is enough to the game to keep me coming back. Perhaps power-ups could add an additional layer of strategy, since deciding when to use them could be a challenge. Or maybe some enemies that you would be forced to avoid, to make the whole experience feel more active. I'm not sure if either of these ideas are a good fit, but what I'm try to say is that it needs something more.

While I seem highly critical, I think your effort is definitely impressive. The game just needs some additional elements to make it fun and addictive. Keep developing it, and I'm sure you'll figure out something.

In any case, good work!

I desire story mode!

..oh and amazing game. Top of the class here in the OHR. Arguably your best game yet.

Has anyone dipped into Puzzle mode? It's really not the focus of the current release, but I'm curious if anyone has thoughts on it.

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Mega Tact v1.1
Super Penguin Chef
Wizard Blocks