Matchlock Alchemy
This game is from the old Ludum Dare platform. You can try viewing the original page on Web Archive
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Matchlock Alchemy is a matching puzzle game, where you match tiles to damage your enemy. Tiles are 'matched' if there are at least three consecutive tiles of the same color in a row or column.
Installation: Visual C++ Redistributable for 2015 required: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=48145
Run oalinst.exe (included in zip) if OpenAL32.dll is missing.
The game follows the "shapeshift" theme in two ways:
1) The primary matching mechanism involves shifting a row of shapes to the right.
2) There is a secondary "spell" system, that lets you transform ("shapeshift") one shape into another.
(Until you move a tile, it won't match, so there may be matching tiles when the game starts)
The exact mechanics are complicated, but don't be afraid to use stuff willy-nilly: it often works out well. Once you win, you can keep playing forever at harder and harder difficulties.
There are two ways to interact with the tiles:
1) Click a bouncing bullet to shift that row to the right. The far right tile is then earned as a spell tile at the bottom of the screen. You have a limited number of bullets per round.
2) Drag a spell tile to a glass bulb to cast a "Transmutation Wave" on the associated column. The color of the wave is the color of the tile.
Transmutation has the following effects when the wave hits a tile:
1) If the color matches the tile, nothing happens.
2) If the color is 2 away on the color wheel, the tile is transmuted into the color between the 2 colors and is "charged" (glowing white light).
Color wheel: https://memylipsandeyesdotcom.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/2-secondary.jpg
Ex: Suppose you see R O R R (red orange red red). If you send a P (purple) at the O, it will turn into a red and match.
When a "charged" tile is matched, it fires its own Transmutation Waves in all 4 directions.
3) Otherwise, the tile is accented with that color (4 triangles at the corners). This lets the tile count as that new color for matching purposes, but you still need 3 tiles in the match with the correct color.
Ex: Suppose you see R O R R. If you sent a R at the O, it will be accented with red: R <O> R R. These 4 tiles then match because there are still 3 tiles with the correct color.
The black tiles ("Chaos" tiles) are special and work in different, mysterious ways. Chaos "accents" match any color and are quite powerful.
Note: Octahedral tiles transmute other octahedral tiles, and circle tiles transmute other circle tiles. Equivalently, primary colors transmute other primaries, and secondary colors transmute other secondaries.
Installation: Visual C++ Redistributable for 2015 required: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=48145
Run oalinst.exe (included in zip) if OpenAL32.dll is missing.
The game follows the "shapeshift" theme in two ways:
1) The primary matching mechanism involves shifting a row of shapes to the right.
2) There is a secondary "spell" system, that lets you transform ("shapeshift") one shape into another.
(Until you move a tile, it won't match, so there may be matching tiles when the game starts)
The exact mechanics are complicated, but don't be afraid to use stuff willy-nilly: it often works out well. Once you win, you can keep playing forever at harder and harder difficulties.
There are two ways to interact with the tiles:
1) Click a bouncing bullet to shift that row to the right. The far right tile is then earned as a spell tile at the bottom of the screen. You have a limited number of bullets per round.
2) Drag a spell tile to a glass bulb to cast a "Transmutation Wave" on the associated column. The color of the wave is the color of the tile.
Transmutation has the following effects when the wave hits a tile:
1) If the color matches the tile, nothing happens.
2) If the color is 2 away on the color wheel, the tile is transmuted into the color between the 2 colors and is "charged" (glowing white light).
Color wheel: https://memylipsandeyesdotcom.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/2-secondary.jpg
Ex: Suppose you see R O R R (red orange red red). If you send a P (purple) at the O, it will turn into a red and match.
When a "charged" tile is matched, it fires its own Transmutation Waves in all 4 directions.
3) Otherwise, the tile is accented with that color (4 triangles at the corners). This lets the tile count as that new color for matching purposes, but you still need 3 tiles in the match with the correct color.
Ex: Suppose you see R O R R. If you sent a R at the O, it will be accented with red: R <O> R R. These 4 tiles then match because there are still 3 tiles with the correct color.
The black tiles ("Chaos" tiles) are special and work in different, mysterious ways. Chaos "accents" match any color and are quite powerful.
Note: Octahedral tiles transmute other octahedral tiles, and circle tiles transmute other circle tiles. Equivalently, primary colors transmute other primaries, and secondary colors transmute other secondaries.