What do I get for matching three Puzzle Quest clones?
A game isn’t any good if nobody rips it off, and so I present the inevitable Puzzle Quest clones! Spandex Force is the first high production value clone I’ve seen. It’s your standard try/buy model, but I wonder if anyone will go for another model– buy new levels, incorporate it into an existing world with micropayments, and so on.
I haven’t played Spandex Force, but the game’s creator blogs about its design, including many of the ways in which it differs from Puzzle Quest. It’s still clearly Bejeweled + spells, but I do wonder if it has some successful innovations. (I wonder unjustifiably, since there is a free demo available.)
January 23rd, 2008 at 10:51 pm
High production values? I think that’s the first time I’ve been admitted into that crowd! I just trudge on with a shoestring budget and hope that I’ll make back what I spend at least.
Try the game and see for yourself if I’m cloning or not; I hope it’s visible that I’ve at least tried to be somewhat innovative! (My ephasis is on tried… I guess my opinion doesn’t matter if people do percieve it as a clone anyway, of course.)
January 26th, 2008 at 1:24 am
Well, having the game’s creator come and leave a post on the blog is enough to convince me - I’ll give Spandex Force a try sometime this weekend, and let Matt know what he’s missing out on.
January 26th, 2008 at 1:41 am
Actually, I’ve started playing it! It’s really slick so far– the production values I guessed at from the screen shots are definitely there. It’s the level of polish I’ve recently started to expect from casual game companies, but I guess I wasn’t expecting a near-Popcap experience from what looks like it’s mostly a 1-person project. I’m assuming the artists listed in the credits are contractors? Or are they co-conspirators?
I haven’t played enough to see if it has the depth of Puzzle Quest. PQ eventually got to a point where you could plan your items, powers, and strategies to pull off some really powerful combos. The fights were as much about mana denial as about mana acquisition.
Best of luck with the game! I’m going to give it more of a shot this weekend.
January 28th, 2008 at 6:42 am
I think people will be disappointed if they expect a Puzzle Quest experience; I adore that game, but my intentions was to make a more humorous and even more casual game than that. Spandex Force does have some depth - the battle system allows for some strategy that’s not apparent at first - but it’s also more linear and straight-forward than PQ. And easier; so I’m not sure if you even have to consider mana denial strategies.
…And, of course, there’s the fact that it’s a one-man project with a few contractors, as you guessed. The budget for the game is actually below $1500… I would suspect that PQ had a bit more to go on.
But either way, I hope that you like it! Just try not to think “this is supposed to be Puzzle Quest.”