Casey-Holtz
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The Joystiq Indie Pitch: Droopy Blocks
Indie developers are the starving artists of the video-game world, often brilliant and innovative, but also misunderstood, underfunded and more prone to writing free-form poetry on their LiveJournals. We at Joystiq believe no one deserves to starve, and many indie developers are entitled to a fridge full of tasty, fulfilling media coverage, right here. This week, Casey Holtz of Mechanical Butterfly Studios discusses how making a game that sucks is actually a good thing with his iOS title Droopy Blocks. What's your game called and what's it about?The game is called Droopy Blocks. It is a puzzle game designed to test your dexterity, timing and spatial abilities while having as much fun as possible getting your fingers into twisted positions.The goal of the game is to get these living blocks of goo, called Droopy Blocks, back into their original shapes since they have melted in an accident at a secret underground lab. The game takes place on a 5x5 grid, with creatures called Suckers on each side of the grid. To get the blocks back into their shapes you need to use these Sucker creatures to pull them around the game area while holding the parts of the blocks that you do not want to move in place with your fingers.There are 80 puzzles set in 4 locations and also a championship mode for people to set high scores in and compete.What's the coolest aspect of Droopy Blocks?The coolest part of the game is that it is the only game like it. It is the first game to use this type of multi-touch puzzle mechanic. I personally seek out new and different games because I am tired of playing the same types of games constantly, so it was a core design pillar for me to make it different.I also think the Droopy blocks turned out pretty cool. I wanted the blocks to have some charm and character, so they will make little noises and animate when you poke them. My favorite thing is that they will look at where you are pressing your finger on the screen.
