Ac!dbomb (seen On Gamespy.com's "download This!"), Also on 1up.com's "101 Best Free Games!" Options

[Mr.Chubigans]

Acidbomb is complete! You can download it at my site:
http://www.vertigogaming.net/acidbomb.htm

Here's a PDF manual of the game as well:
http://www.vertigogaming.net/AcidbombManual.pdf

From the site:

Acidbomb is a fifty level puzzle game where you must find the pistons used to trigger a bomb and defuse them before time runs out. There are many bombs scattered around the world, from biological bombs that have hair-sensitive triggers to napalm bombs that are exploding at the seams, to nuclear warheads that have challenged even the highest trained bomb defusal agent.

Along with this game you get the Virtual Bomb Simulator which allows you to make your own bombs, and a minigame called Ac!drop that is completely different from the rest of the game...but you'll see that for yourself.

Given that all the bombs in the game have random pistons, you will never EVER solve a bomb the same way twice. Ever.

Enjoy everyone! Let me know what you think!

Woo! Now on 1up!

http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=7&cId=3156339

This post has been edited by Mr.Chubigans: Jan 21 2007, 03:37 AM

[edmunn]

wow! this game i pretty cool =)
i adore the graphics and the gameplay, you cant get better than this!
9.6/10

eddy munn`

[BrainWare]

Wow , well done. I love it , altough I suck at it .
The 'level select' screen is very well done.

Cheers

[rbelmont000]

I think it is ridiculus that this post only has three replies, when every Smash Brothers remake has pages.
This game is truly original as far as Game Maker games go, and I would expect no less from the Ore No Ryomi 2 creator. I am very glad that you added different controls so that us laptop gamers could enjoy this game more easily.

I was about to put the pros and cons, but there really aren't any cons, except that it seems short. I have just beaten the East Karharka Plains, and it did not take much time at all. But anyway, the gameplay is fantastic, the graphics are great, and the controls are good. But the main reason I like this game is because of the feel. Like when the timer is at 10 and you still have 2 nodes to place, but you realize that you don't have enough time to figure it out, so you put them down anywhere and you just hope that you are right... 3... 2... 1...

Anyway, what would be really cool, is a level creator or a random level creator, but I know how hard that is to make work well.

9/10 (because it seems short)

This is one of my favorite Game Maker games. It is up there with Ore No Ryomi 2 and Seiklus.

[Mr.Chubigans]

I think it is ridiculus that this post only has three replies, when every Smash Brothers remake has pages.
This game is truly original as far as Game Maker games go, and I would expect no less from the Ore No Ryomi 2 creator. I am very glad that you added different controls so that us laptop gamers could enjoy this game more easily.

I was about to put the pros and cons, but there really aren't any cons, except that it seems short. I have just beaten the East Karharka Plains, and it did not take much time at all. But anyway, the gameplay is fantastic, the graphics are great, and the controls are good. But the main reason I like this game is because of the feel. Like when the timer is at 10 and you still have 2 nodes to place, but you realize that you don't have enough time to figure it out, so you put them down anywhere and you just hope that you are right... 3... 2... 1...

Anyway, what would be really cool, is a level creator or a random level creator, but I know how hard that is to make work well.

9/10 (because it seems short)

This is one of my favorite Game Maker games. It is up there with Ore No Ryomi 2 and Seiklus.

Thanks!!! You're in luck because later on you'll unlock this:

http://www.vertigogaming.net/vbrsimulate.png

You can make nearly any bomb you want with different "shells." You'll get this in the third map.

Glad you guys are enjoying it.

[OmicronGamer]

Wonderful work as usual, Chubigans. Congradulations.

[rbelmont000]

Hahaha! YES! I just got the Virtual Bomb Simulator. Man this is a cool game.

[Edit] Yeah, I thought this game wasn't going to take much time, but that was before I got to those challenges. The first one nearly got me.

Old Score: 9/10
New Score: 10/10

You have surpassed Ore No Ryomi with this one.

This post has been edited by rbelmont000: Aug 27 2006, 12:37 AM

[dadio]

Your site seems to be down... sounds like another great game though, I look forward to playing it!

[SCART]

Awesome Game
10/10

This Game was very original and entertaining and another great game from you.

[Mr.Chubigans]

Not sure why the site was down for you dadio; seems to be workin fine now.

[blue123]

Cool... you have outperformed yourself again, Mr.Chubigans.

[kwake40]

Awesome game Mr.C! Almost every game you make is better than the last

[Ear]

OMG MR.CHubbigans has made another game. I love you in a not gay way. *kneals and worships mr.chubbigans* That was so awesome.

This post has been edited by Ear: Aug 27 2006, 07:10 PM

[shockedfrog]

I usually find your games great, but with a few serious flaws. This is no exception.

First, the game's style is great - the manual is well made, the graphics suit the game just right, the level select screens are presented nicely (the ticker messages are a nice touch), your choice of backgrounds doesn't annoy me like it usually does, and the music fits quite well (not including the intro and credits, of course, but at least the daft music was kept outside of the core of the game). However, one disappointing thing in this area is the reason for the bombs - at the start I thought it worked well, thinking it would gradually range up from the school prank, but then it changes to a more humorous tone ('explosive price drops') then at the end it's just 'terrorism' for all of them. It feels a bit inconsistent.

The actual gameplay works well - not sure if it's directly based on anything, it reminds me a little of old grid based puzzle games like Picross but with enough differences to feel original. However, the game was a bit easy, and lacked variety. I do appreciate the usual helping of Chubigans brand bonus features - Ac!ddrop is fun for a short while, and the VBS is nice to have (having to complete bombs to do the challenges is a bit dull - although if you choose the right settings it's very quick and easy! The actual challenges were well chosen.), but it would be nice to see more focus on the game rather than the extras.

Many of the different bomb types were almost the same:
Explosive - defuse it before the time runs out.
Spontaneous combustion - defuse it before the (much smaller amount of) time runs out.
Oxidizing - defuse it before the (even smaller) amount of time runs out.
Multi-bombs - defuse multiple bombs before the time runs out.
Nuclear - defuse the big bomb before the time runs out.

The problem is that most of the levels give far too much time, so only the spontaneous combustion and oxidizing bombs were particularly challenging.

The other two types are more interesting - the chemical ones relying on memory is a nice touch, but unfortunately the time limit is so huge that, while not really neccessary, anyone could just write down where the bombs aren't. The napalm ones are also a nice idea - making the player control their speed - but again, the time limits are too generous, so the player has plenty of time to let the temperature drop.

Of course, it's a bit cheeky of me asking you to add more features without giving any suggestions.

New virus types:
Reduce time
Add a new piston, or change the place of an existing one
Remove some/all of the player's marks.

Also, being able to mark viruses after triggering them seems to go against the idea of remembering where they are - perhaps that should be removed?

New bomb types:
A bomb with moving parts? I thought the nuclear levels would be difficult because of the rotating bits, but then I realised it was just a graphical effect and didn't change the positions of the pistons. A bomb with sections actually rotating, or with rows/columns sliding every so often, could be more of a challenge.
A variant of the chemical bomb where you get a low time limit, but a little bonus time (up to a certain limit) for each piston you mark - the time limit stays low, so the player has to keep working quickly to find the next piston, which I think would be a bit more exciting.
Multi-bombs where the levels can be of different types - for example, a 2 level bomb where the second level is oxidizing, so if the player completes the first one fast enough, they get more attempts at the oxidizing bomb, possibly saving them from having to defuse the first one again. This might put a little more pressure on the player - something which I think is essential for a game about defusing bombs. :)

As it is it's an enjoyable little game, but I think this should be seen as the start of something bigger and better.

[dragon09]

Wow the presentation is really good.It is comercial quality.But I didnt know how to win or play.I will try to understand it in your manual.Great game 8.5/10

[Mr.Chubigans]

I usually find your games great, but with a few serious flaws. This is no exception.

First, the game's style is great - the manual is well made, the graphics suit the game just right, the level select screens are presented nicely (the ticker messages are a nice touch), your choice of backgrounds doesn't annoy me like it usually does, and the music fits quite well (not including the intro and credits, of course, but at least the daft music was kept outside of the core of the game). However, one disappointing thing in this area is the reason for the bombs - at the start I thought it worked well, thinking it would gradually range up from the school prank, but then it changes to a more humorous tone ('explosive price drops') then at the end it's just 'terrorism' for all of them. It feels a bit inconsistent.

The actual gameplay works well - not sure if it's directly based on anything, it reminds me a little of old grid based puzzle games like Picross but with enough differences to feel original. However, the game was a bit easy, and lacked variety. I do appreciate the usual helping of Chubigans brand bonus features - Ac!ddrop is fun for a short while, and the VBS is nice to have (having to complete bombs to do the challenges is a bit dull - although if you choose the right settings it's very quick and easy! The actual challenges were well chosen.), but it would be nice to see more focus on the game rather than the extras.

Many of the different bomb types were almost the same:
Explosive - defuse it before the time runs out.
Spontaneous combustion - defuse it before the (much smaller amount of) time runs out.
Oxidizing - defuse it before the (even smaller) amount of time runs out.
Multi-bombs - defuse multiple bombs before the time runs out.
Nuclear - defuse the big bomb before the time runs out.

The problem is that most of the levels give far too much time, so only the spontaneous combustion and oxidizing bombs were particularly challenging.

The other two types are more interesting - the chemical ones relying on memory is a nice touch, but unfortunately the time limit is so huge that, while not really neccessary, anyone could just write down where the bombs aren't. The napalm ones are also a nice idea - making the player control their speed - but again, the time limits are too generous, so the player has plenty of time to let the temperature drop.

Of course, it's a bit cheeky of me asking you to add more features without giving any suggestions.

New virus types:
Reduce time
Add a new piston, or change the place of an existing one
Remove some/all of the player's marks.

Also, being able to mark viruses after triggering them seems to go against the idea of remembering where they are - perhaps that should be removed?

New bomb types:
A bomb with moving parts? I thought the nuclear levels would be difficult because of the rotating bits, but then I realised it was just a graphical effect and didn't change the positions of the pistons. A bomb with sections actually rotating, or with rows/columns sliding every so often, could be more of a challenge.
A variant of the chemical bomb where you get a low time limit, but a little bonus time (up to a certain limit) for each piston you mark - the time limit stays low, so the player has to keep working quickly to find the next piston, which I think would be a bit more exciting.
Multi-bombs where the levels can be of different types - for example, a 2 level bomb where the second level is oxidizing, so if the player completes the first one fast enough, they get more attempts at the oxidizing bomb, possibly saving them from having to defuse the first one again. This might put a little more pressure on the player - something which I think is essential for a game about defusing bombs.

As it is it's an enjoyable little game, but I think this should be seen as the start of something bigger and better.

Thats quite a detailed review! Thanks!

Let me start off by saying Acidbomb wasnt really meant to be all that serious, as you saw with "explosive price drops" and such. The music in the Safety Office kinda tips you off on that. Much of the manual was written in the kinda-serious-but-not-really type way that I seem to enjoy more than most.

Most all bombs rely on timers...but isnt that how most bombs work anyways? That mechanic was pretty much cemented into the ground, and the gameplay doesnt really allow for too much variety before getting off the core gameplay mechanic that I wanted to focus on. I actually had a bomb that would switch tiles and mark your bomb to mess you up in an early version, but that proved to be incredibly annoying since the random instances penalized the user for no reason whatsoever. Thats why you didnt see any virus tiles later on in the game...they were a bit cheap.

This was always intended as a small game before another huge game that Ill make...what I like to do is go for a huge project thatll take me months (like Vivid Conceptions) then wind down with a game like this. Not that I didnt put any effort into it; I am striving to move away from the "Game Maker-ness" of my games to a more professional designed game. Im hoping Acidbomb is more of a step forward into that.

As for giving too much time, well, thats the problem with puzzle games: you really dont know if you're ramping up the difficulty to match the player enough. Id like to think this game gets harder and harder, and certainly it does, but is it hard enough to provide a challenge, or too hard to turn off gamers still trying to grasp the gameplay? This balance is very difficult to do as Im sure everyone here in the forums that have made a puzzle game can attest to, and its something I had to accept: make it really hard, then tone it down a notch. Its a game for everyone, and not so much for the hardcore puzzle fanatic. One day I'd like to make a game thats a super hardcore difficulty. Maybe the sequel to this game.

Thanks again for that reply; it ALWAYS is good to see it from a different perspective!!!

[TCGamer]

This is unbelievable! The fourth game ever that I give a 10/10.

Ark22 -- 10/10
Soul Fighter -- 10/10
Seiklus -- 10/10

and now also

Ac!dBomb -- 10/10

[jackaroo]

This game is great. Very original idea and i love some of the effects. I liked the mission start thing aswell. That looked cool. Its hard i think. I just suck but its still hard.

9/10

[johnmyster]

This is a good game. It's pretty original, and made you think with logic and deduction. Everything was presented well, as usual. The gameplay and bomb defusing and such was fun, and I like that you added variety in the bombs.

Good job, once again.

EDIT: Sometimes this game can get very intense!

This post has been edited by johnmyster: Aug 27 2006, 11:20 PM

[JakeX]

Once again, Mr. Chubigans, you do not fail to impress!
It's nice to see an original puzzle game around here, and you nailed it dead-on. The concept alone is incredibly inspired.

Anyway, down to buisness. I liked the level select screen, those maps must have taken a large amount of effort to draw. The music was especially nice, most notably the Nuclear Bomb stage music, which really made the idea of "Hey, I'm defusing a nuke!" more dramatic, especially when the timer gets lower and the faster paced version kicks in.

I found, though, that once I came up with a good method for solving puzzles, the game got somewhat easy. Not that there's anything wrong with that, as it's addictive enough to make me want to keep playing.

Enjoyed the cheekyness, from the manual, to some of the bomb descriptions ("Explosive Flavor!"), to that immensely cheesy riff that plays on the bomb type desctiption screen.

All in all, a really high-quality game! Can't wait to see what you're cooking up next!