Category: Puzzle

Posted: 06/23/07 A falling blocks type game where one uses cannons to affect block rotation and destination.

Look! Not a tactics game!

This is a falling blocks game. Basically, line up three blocks of the same color, they disappear. You get points and all the blocks resting on top of those now missing blocks fall down, potentially building combos and proving to the world that you've spent more time playing Bejeweled than doing actual work. This idea has a twist though.

Only one block falls from the sky at a time. One block, one color. You do not control the block directly. That is, blocks will continue to fall into the center column until it reaches the top. If you want to do something about it, you've got to fire a cannon at the block.

At both sides of the playing field are two cannons running parallel. You can move them up and down and may fire one or both of the cannons in any manner you'd like. The cannons will fire a block (or two blocks if you fire both) of a specified color at a very specific velocity.

Hitting the falling block will connect the two and will also apply some momentum, moving the now double block in the same direction. Getting the blocks to land where you'd like requires hitting the falling block at a specific altitude and timing the landing just right. If you miss with the cannon block, it will simply overshoot and land in the far column - perhaps building up so high that it blocks the cannons themselves.

You can fire as many blocks are you'd like and they will connect with the falling block. This way you could potentially build up much larger blocks than just two. Also, if the cannon blocks hit a tower built from the ground, it will not connect with it (unless it hits two of the same color and creates a link), but will hit the tower and then fall directly down. This means that if the center tower gets too large, you'll have a limited ability to shoot blocks at it and hope for the best.

If you hit the falling block off by a little bit, rather than pushing the blocks, it will instead add torgue - rotating the block. It will still connect together, like magnets, so the newly rotated block set will still include the cannon blocks in the newly rotated formation.