THIRD PRIZE - $250

Colourbind

Finn Morgan

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Description

A 2D puzzle/platformer in which the goal is to get your little car thingy to the end of the level. The twist is that gravity operates along three differently coloured vectors, each affecting similarly coloured elements in the gameworld: so red gravity affects red things, green gravity affects green things, and blue gravity affects blue things. Hence the name.

Author’s explanation

“Colourbind is a 2D puzzle/platformer. The twist is that rather than the world having gravity going down, as usual, each level has three gravity vectors - one for each of the primary colours. The objects in the game are affected by the gravity vector of the same colour - so for instance, in a given level, red objects might fall down onto the ground, while green objects fall up to the ceiling, and blue objects fall to the left. It is possible to change the direction of individual colours of gravity midlevel, as well as change the colours of objects by hitting them with coloured lasers. Your avatar, a two-wheeled vehicle, is also coloured, and is therefore subject to the same rules. In this way, the colour of all game objects is fundamental to the mechanics of the game.”

Patrick’s comments

Colourbind is an excellent, elegant puzzle game. Using just a handful of simple objects, and a smooth physics engine with very sensible controls, Finn has constructed an impressive variety of incredibly clever puzzles. It’s a marvellous game; I mean, you will marvel at it. You will also emit furious squeaks as you restart a particularly satanic level for the seven hundredth time. It’s that sort of a game. You will quit Colourbind in frustration, only to restart it five minutes later because you just can’t get that level out of your head.

Personally, I find Colourbind a little too frustrating: Beating that level on the eight hundredth try is satisfying, but the satisfaction does not outweigh the frustration. Controlling that little car with precision is not easy, and I think the levels could be designed more forgivingly to compensate for that. But as they say, your mileage may vary – I might just be particularly bad at this game. In any case, I can’t deny its excellence.

Dan’s comments

Colourbind is a lean and elegant platform-puzzler – like a minimalist Monkey Ball. Each level is designed with meticulous precision and economy, such that there isn’t a single extraneous element in the entire game. If something is there, it is there for a purpose, like a cog in clockwork. I like that a lot.

Although it’s sometimes teeth-grindingly hard, it rarely gets frustrating, thanks in large part to clever little touches like the ability to instantly restart levels, or skip them altogether. Additionally, the learning curve is quite gentle, and the first few levels do an excellent job of introducing basic mechanics and concepts. But what I like most about Colourbind is that it’s rewarding on a number of levels – you feel good when you figure out how to solve a puzzle, and you feel even better when you actually manage to pull it off.

The only real problem I have with the game is that it’s begging for analogue control. Precision is the key to success, and the keyboard is frustratingly clunky in that respect. But with an analogue stick? It could be one of my favourite puzzle games ever.

* * *

Wait, what’s this? Two third prizes? That’s right! ColourWise and Colourbind are both such good games that Patrick and Dan couldn’t pick one over the other. So, they decided to create another $250 third prize, with their own money. Not Eegra Pty Ltd’s money – Dan and Patrick’s money. Yes, yes they are heroes.

We walk the talk here at Eegra; we attend the Shindig and we fucking dance. And then we walk the talk some more, maybe over to the punch bowl, where we drink the talk. Some videogame websites act serious but have fuck all to say. Eegra, meanwhile, might appear to be the internet’s most ludicrous videogame website, but we are exactly 125 dollars’ worth of serious each, about independent games.

And now, the second prize winner...

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