Finally, I managed to release Phlocks - Physical blocks. It is a casual flash puzzle game using the Box2D physics engine. I started playing with the engine in the beginning of this year. End of January I came up with the first version of the game.
This weekend finally, I found some time to pick up that project again and finish it. Ok, try it out yourselves at the following little sub-page:
Ok, after getting a lot of valuable feedback about my game I decided to close the beta-testing phase for now and to disable the link to the game.
I picked up all ideas and thought about them a lot. Thanks at this point to all the great ideas, suggestions and bug reports. Hope you will understand that I cannot implement all ideas. Guess you all know how easy you can set your goals to high and run the risk of never finish a project. So after some struggle with myself I came up with the following lists of feature I wanted to implement. Note, missing things can always be implemented in a follow up version 
Most of the beta testers asked what the goal of the game was. There was no real rewarding system that motivates them to play. Well, the most requested features about the gameplay was to add levels and/or a highscore system.
I really like the suggestion to add different levels, because it could be implemented rather easily. A level is just a set of platforms (their coordinates and size) where the blocks should be dropped of. In addition I though about declaring two values/restriction to each level:
So, in each level you have to place a certain number of blocks on the platforms without losing too much blocks. I think with these three factors I can create a challenging level system (hopefully).
Generally, I like games with a highscore system, too. They have a real arcade feeling. However, I decided against it. Main reason for that is that an online highscore system can become rather complex for such a small project. First, think about the backend. You need a reliable database server and some non-exploitable communication with the server. If you have set this up - you need to do some frontend stuff in your flash game that a.) communicates with
the server anb b.) shows the answers from the server. This could end up in too much work which doesn’t pay off in the end.
Well, since I am neither a musician nor a designer I reduce the use of media to a minimum. Especially license-free sounds are hard to find I think it doesn’t do any harm to ship the game without sound.
Concerning the graphics I need to think about a proper menu and navigation concept. In addition I need to rework the wind display - since a lot of testers complained that it is not prominent enough and I think they are right. Finally, I will try to spend some time in GIMP to create a little logo.
Speaking of the logo, I came up with a name of the game finally. The game is called:
PHLOCKS
This is a composition of the two words: PHsics and and Blocks. Well, maybe not very original but since a google search for the terms game and phlocks doesn’t return any relevant results - I think it is okayish.
Ok - enough words written. Back to work - and again: THANKS FOR ALL BETA TESTING. It is highly appreciated!
Stay tuned.
In the last two days I played around with Box2D. Box2D is an open source 2D physics engine for games. In addition there exists an actionscript port for the Flash platform. Studying various examples on the internet and the wonderful tutorials of Emanuele Feronato I came up with the following little game. It is still in beta phase and there are plenty of things which needs to be added and polished.
Note: Link to the game is deactivated. The final game is in progress. Beta is closed.
Anyway, maybe you want to have a try on it. The logic is very easy. The aim of the game is to drop as many blocks as possible on the green bar. Move your mouse to determine the x-position of the block to drop. Press left button to drop it. On the upper right you see the percentage of wind and the direction in which the wind is blowing. That wind effects the following blocks.
Here is a little list of things that are still to do:
Please let me know if you have any more ideas or if you find any bugs. By the way, my current highscore is 22 blocks
