Wizard Blocks - available now!

New version uploaded:

• The menu has been reorganized. Per Willy's suggestion, Casual and Challenge have been consolidated into Dig Mode.
  
• Added Credits to the main menu to replace the combined modes and provide shouts-out.
  
• Fixed several Puzzle Mode bugs. If Puzzle Mode isn't working for you, you may have to play another mode first to get it to start working. For some reason, Tutorial works just fine even though it's essentially the same. I have no idea.
  
• Hyper is still the best speed. Why are you playing on other speeds?

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Mega Tact v1.1
Super Penguin Chef
Wizard Blocks

I did play Puzzle mode for a while. I got as far as Level 10

It would be cool if the Wizard makes an exclamation of dismay whenever you get stuck with only one block of a color remaining :)

I really like Willy's suggestion of varied backgrounds.

I seem to remember that in some old version of Tetris, for each difficulty level you beat, a different animal would appear on screen. This made me really want to beat every single one of the 10 difficulty levels just so I could see the 10 animals... I can't find screenshots of what I am thinking of, so maybe it was some other puzzle game not Tetris.

Gotta agree! Love the game. Very addictive.

My (minor) complaints:

1.) The controls are a little sluggish and slowdown tends to creep in when I get a wizardly chain going (though I assume these are engine things).

2.) I never quite completely got the hang of being able to tell which block I was going to pick up. I especially noticed this in the heat of Hyper Mode when it can come down to life-or-death button clicks... I almost think it would be better to have two separate buttons, one for "pick up the block on your plane" and one for "pick up the block on the plane below yours" with the down arrow still being required for the block directly beneath you. Probably wouldn't be great in practice (and would ruin your elegant one-button design).

3.) Scoring seemed weird somehow. It looked like I had zero points sometimes during Hyper Mode, yet at the end it seemed to have kept track correctly. Also, it might be nice to have some of the points show up on top of the completed rows themselves so I have more of a handle on how well I'm doing. I found that I almost never glanced over to the score area during play for fear of losing my place. This might just be me, though.

Finally, thought you'd want to be aware that I did run into a script error that I've screen cap'd for your viewing pleasure. This happened while I was playing Hyper Mode. I had just died and pressed Enter to retry. The bug showed up before the screen faded back in (as I recall).

Yeah, I have a feeling this would make it worse, not better. Were you playing the version that highlights the targeted block?



Did it affect the game afterward? I'm not terribly concerned about it otherwise.

The game really just needs more Puzzle levels and some sort of congrats for beating Puzzle mode. Maybe some improvements to the background graphics. After that, I'm gonna package it for the Android store.

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Mega Tact v1.1
Super Penguin Chef
Wizard Blocks

I was replaying this the other day, and I was wondering, have you tested how gameplay would change if the Wizard was allowed to jump?

No, but it would necessitate changes in many of the puzzle levels, where the restricted moveset is key to much of the challenge. Also, I really like the "place blocks underneath you to move up" paradigm -- it feels like a more "wizardly" form of movement than having an old guy jump twice his height.

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Mega Tact v1.1
Super Penguin Chef
Wizard Blocks

Well, partly the suggestion is from me wanting it to feel more like Mario2, but also I think it would be easier to set up combos if there were more ways to move.

I often can't move a block to where I want it to go without causing it to complete a boring non-combo 2-match with one of the blocks I am trying to traverse

But I do understand it would be a massive change. Just keep it in mind for Wizard Blocks 2 ;)

I had originally considered multiple characters with different movement and block-interaction abilities. For example, the wizard would have been able to throw blocks he picked up, causing them to fly until they collided with something, but he wouldn't be able to move while holding a block. Rogues would be able to climb up walls (a la Wario's Woods, which was a strong inspiration for this game).

I scrapped the multiple characters idea to cut back on scope, but also because I couldn't come up with three satisfactory, balanced character ideas.

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Mega Tact v1.1
Super Penguin Chef
Wizard Blocks

What's in the next version?

I hesitate to call it the final version, because you never know, but the next version will be the "full version." Here's what's new:

• New "Wizard" difficulty level: 50% faster than Hyper. Mastered the game? Still looking for a challenge? Look no further.
  
• New Puzzle levels, doubling the number of puzzles in the original release.
  
• Performance improvements, reducing slowdown during large cascades.
  
• Options settings to turn off music, sound, or Paul's wonderful announcer voice, along with the ability to reset game data.
  
• All of the wizard blocks.

Coming soon!

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Mega Tact v1.1
Super Penguin Chef
Wizard Blocks