Basically you build a robot out of small parts (cubes, in this case), each of which are simple to understand by themselves.

As it happens, I had a somewhat similar idea a while ago… a game that should appeal to programmers. The idea is currently very crude, but it comes down to building a “robot” from 4 parts. There would be blocks that allow it to move, see, jump, shoot, etc. You then put this robot in a certain environment (a level) and program it in some kind of language. You beat the level if it performs a certain task (maybe reaching the end, or picking something up, or even surviving for a certain amount of time… there are many possibilities).

Maybe someday I will take a stab at fleshing out the game idea some more and implement it using my “retro kit” (a small library on top of PyGame that works with a 40×25 text screen like the Commodore 64; currently unreleased). Yes, I realize that saying “maybe someday I will…” is lame. The problem is more that I have too many ideas and too little energy/motivation to implement them. :( The chaotic environment doesn’t help either. >.<

[By the way, I started writing on this blog again, because it's currently somewhat hard to update Aquiline Ascension, mostly because I don't have a Mac that is up to snuff.]

[By the way #2, I am still selling a bunch of stuff on eBay. ;-)]

It’s a dungeon crawler, not unlike Nethack with pretty graphics, or Diablo. Although Nethack is probably less superficial, Fate has a lot of things going for it, that kept me going back over and over again.

Basically you look around the village for quests, then enter the dungeon to fulfill those quests (e.g. fetch an item, destroy a certain monster). While you’re at it, you pick up gold, weapons, treasure, and rack up experience points. Then you return to the village, sell the items you don’t want, and possibly upgrade your gear (get better weapons and armor, etc). Repeat.

You don’t have to go it alone; at the beginning of the game you get a pet (either a dog or a cat), which helps you fight monsters. It is also useful in other ways; for example, it can carry items and can even be sent back to the village to have these items sold. Pets cannot die, although they will temporarily flee when low on HP.

The game is quite over-the-top in some ways, like the names it uses for weapons and monsters, or cumulative abilities. For instance, at one point my weapon of choice was called “Holy Strong Battle Fork of Strength”, and there are names that are even more out there. Also, as you can see in the screenshot below, that weapon had like ten additional abilities (added by me, using gems and magic anvils).

The ability to enter cheat codes is built into the game. When I tried this, it made the game simultaneously more and less interesting. Less so, because the challenge was gone; after all, I could now level up, heal, get any item I want, etc. But also more so, because it made my character more customizable; I changed my pet into a wyvern, got the weapons I wanted and added gems to them, improved my defense, etc. (I suppose using the cheats changes the game from quest-oriented to some kind of RPG-flavored Sims variant, which is of course an entirely different playing experience… but not necessarily an unpleasant one.)

Anyway, I’m kind of done with it now, but I’ll probably return to it at some point for some more dungeon hacking. ^_^  Worth checking out if you have a Mac or PC.

Further reading:

• Wikipedia entry
• reference info (possible spoilers!)
• cheats
• reviews: Gamespot, 1UP, GameSpy

At first, it seems simple enough. You build a contraption using balls of “goo” in order to reach a sort of faucet (which functions as the level exit). In the first screen(s), this is laughably easy, and you might wonder what the big deal is. But naturally, higher levels crank up the difficulty; for example, you have a cross a chasm without hitting the spikes at the bottom, or build a huge tower without it collapsing. To spice things up, new types of goo are introduced regularly; some function as balloons, while others are reusable, etc.

In spite of, or maybe because of, its simple premise, this game is strangely addicting. I found myself going back several times this evening… maybe because it’s so easy to just fire it up and start building. And if you fail, experimenting comes naturally (“what happens if I build it this way instead?”).

Probably the most entertaining game I’ve played on a PC/Mac in a *long* time. (It reminds me a bit of Gish, which plays very differently, though.)

It seems eBay is a better bet in this case…

(If you don’t know Cubivore (which is likely), check out this video. There’s many more on YouTube, worth watching if you are into odd games. ^_^)

I like this sort of “brain exercises” better than the Brain Age type games… those tend to be focused on solving problems within a set time, which tends to really annoy me. :-)

The ongoing story of Phoenix & co moves ahead, sometimes in unexpected ways. Most of the well-known supporting characters are here again. We get to learn more about their past, and sometimes you even get to play them for a while (rather than Phoenix). Also: Phoenix has a love interest! :-) Or maybe two. In addition to that, there’s the usual number of cases that seem impossible to solve at first glance, but turn out to make sense (well, sort of) as the game goes on.

Like the other two games, there are some minor nits that make gameplay somewhat less enjoyable than it could have been. Where some text adventures suffer from the “guess the verb” syndrome, PW sometimes suffers from “guess the correct piece of evidence”… or rather, presenting a piece of evidence at the exact point the makers of the game had in mind, even if there are other points where it would make sense to do so. Saving often helps, but is still annoying.

But overall, this game’s highly recommended. It’s too bad the Phoenix storyline seems to be over now. Fortunately it’s not the end of the series; the next game will be Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney. ^_^ (Apparently it’s already out; I haven’t seen it anywhere yet.)

Unfortunately, judging from the preview, the game itself is disappointing (and isn’t the same as the original Arkanoid we all knew and cursed back in the 80s).

“Once you’re done your creation, you can save it to cartridge and send it to other Bangai-O Spirits owners in a very unique way: through the power of sound. Using old-school modem-like technology, you’ll convert your levels into a sound that other Bangai-O Spirits carts will recognize. Place a set of headphone earpieces to a DS microphone, plug in the 1/8th inch jack to the host, and send that file off through high-pitch whines. It’s similar to the way that we Commodore 64 and TRS-80 programmers used to save and load our created programs, and here it makes a return in a contemporary game design.”

The game is highly rhythm-based. You control a small army of “Patapon” (basically creatures that look like eyes on legs) by drumming certain rhythms. For example, at the beginning of the game, the circle button is associated with the sound “pon”, and the square button with “pata” (hence the name of the game). Making your warriors advance is done by drumming the sound “pata-pata-pata-pon”, and you can make them attack by using “pon-pon-pata-pon”. As the game goes on, you get more rhythms and sounds, and gain special items.

I like this game… it reminds me a bit of Locoroco, even though they’re completely different.

[Update: Here's a demo video.]