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Cart #picolumns-9 | 2021-04-20 | Code ▽ | Embed ▽ | License: CC4-BY-NC-SA
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Here's my demake/port/adaptation/whatever of Columns!

I wanted to make a falling-block puzzle game, but seemingly every gamedev and their dog has made Tetris so instead I went to my favourite Megadrive/Genesis puzzle game: Columns.

  • Line up three or more jewels of the same colour, chain together combos for massive points
  • Multi-gems, wildcards and obstacle blocks to spice up the game
  • Remix of the classic Megadrive/Genesis music
  • Customisable game options
  • 5 tilesets including colour-blind-friendly 'Symbols' mode

1.02

  • Made fall speed increase more smoothly
  • Music: Off actually disables all the music in the game now

Old versions/development:

Cart #picolumns-8 | 2021-04-18 | Code ▽ | Embed ▽ | License: CC4-BY-NC-SA
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1.01

  • Added jewel fragments (MOAR PARTICLES)
  • Added a 'current trio' display underneath 'next trio' (useful when things are getting hectic)
  • Classic level progression increases speed slightly faster
  • Added a different border sprite around the play area

Cart #picolumns-7 | 2021-04-14 | Code ▽ | Embed ▽ | License: CC4-BY-NC-SA
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1.0

  • Re-jigged the title screen once more
  • Added obstacle blocks option
  • More tweaks and adjustments to the menu system
  • Tidied up some bugs related to dropping/quick dropping jewels.

Cart #picolumns-6 | 2021-03-28 | Code ▽ | Embed ▽ | License: CC4-BY-NC-SA
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0.9 changes/additions

  • Made a proper high score system that uses cartdata (had to learn how cartdata worked, first!)
  • More adjustments to the menus
  • Added some more music for title and high score screens
  • Made a game over transition before going to the high score screen.
  • Added particles! (probably more to come, particles are fun)
  • Added screen shake! (I'm not a massive fan of screen shake, I think it's often overused, however it seems to work here)
  • Added options to disable particles or screen shake
  • Squashed a few miscellaneous bugs

Known issues

  • The game won't end if you are holding insta-drop and constantly dropping blocks
  • Some interaction with multi-blocks and holding quick/insta drop can get the game stuck in a loop

It is with disappointment, but also relief that I've kicked two player mode into 'stretch' (i.e. not likely-to-see-the-light-of-day) goals. It would be a ridiculous amount of work to include, and probably rarely ever get used. My goal to create a two-player game still seems far off.

The goal now is to iron out bugs and hopefully add some more polish (i.e. particles) before going 1.0.

I love the idea of having fragments of gems along with the current particles but it might get a bit too busy. Particles are like seasoning in cooking.

Cart #picolumns-5 | 2021-03-13 | Code ▽ | Embed ▽ | License: CC4-BY-NC-SA
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0.5 changes/additions

  • Overhauled the title screen menu.
  • Different game mode presets, e.g. Classic, Modern, Arcade. You can still adjust the options manually, this will change the game mode to Custom. When I finally implement a highscore screen, there'll probably need to be different tables for different modes, since some presets are harder than others.
  • Graphics swaps. Like the Game Gear version of the game, the player can choose which tileset to use. This might help make the game more colourblind-friendly.

Cart #picolumns-4 | 2021-03-01 | Code ▽ | Embed ▽ | License: CC4-BY-NC-SA
28

0.4 changes/additions

  • Completely rewrote gem removal code to cover a couple of edge cases with wildcards, saved 400 tokens in the process :)
  • Added pause menu options for muting music or all sound
  • Added a combo display to show your biggest combo
  • Until I put in a proper menu system, removed option for shuffle/reverse on the Z key and instead let players toggle multi-gems
  • Added a basic level/speed increase mechanic, called this 'classic' mode. There isn't much difference between the levels at the moment and it can mess up the animation sometimes, so this will need more work.

Cart #picolumns-3 | 2021-02-27 | Code ▽ | Embed ▽ | License: CC4-BY-NC-SA
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0.3 changes/additions

  • Remixed in-game music so it cuts out less.
  • Added 'wildcard' gems
  • Add 'multi' gems
  • Made score display clearer
  • Tidied up the game screen
  • Minor tweaks to gem graphics
  • Fixed a bug with quick drop

Cart #picolumns-2 | 2021-02-24 | Code ▽ | Embed ▽ | License: CC4-BY-NC-SA
28

0.21 changes/additions

  • Game didn't reset properly
  • Fixed collision issue when quick dropping

Cart #picolumns-1 | 2021-02-24 | Code ▽ | Embed ▽ | License: CC4-BY-NC-SA
28

0.2 changes/additions

  • Added a simple title screen
  • Added the song 'Clotho' from the Megadrive/Genesis version of Columns.
  • Added quick drop and insta-drop when you press up.
  • Added shuffle and reverse when you press Z
  • Added a 'next trio' display
  • Attempted to get around the music cutting out randomly by making a new sfx function, this did not really work all that well.

Cart #picolumns-0 | 2021-02-17 | Code ▽ | Embed ▽ | License: CC4-BY-NC-SA
28

Here's my demake/adaptation/whatever of Columns.

I wanted to make a falling-block puzzle game, but seemingly every gamedev and their dog has made Tetris so I went to my favourite Megadrive/Genesis puzzle game: Columns.

I realised afterwards that Columns probably has much more complex rules than Tetris. Oh well. :)

There's a list of things I want to add on the game over screen. v0.1 represents about three days/sessions of work. It's basically playable at this point so I thought I'd put it on here as a WIP to hopefully keep me motivated to get it finished.

So it's playable, and being that Columns is a great game, it's already pretty fun. :)

P#87817 2021-02-17 22:12 ( Edited 2021-04-20 18:35)

All Comments
1

This is so cool! I'm addicted to column combos. I'm... Columbo.

P#88258 2021-02-27 17:22
1

Nice work!

P#88264 2021-02-27 18:32

@astrangefool, just one more thing, I've added a 'high combo' display for the next update.

@JeZxLee thanks! :)

P#88284 2021-02-28 03:24
1

Cool game!

P#89343 2021-03-22 07:14
1

Great port!

P#90590 2021-04-15 03:30
1

Wow, this is fantastic - there's such a great sense of feedback, and you've nailed the aesthetic of the original! Well done!

P#114766 2022-07-24 20:08
1

This is a wonderful game; well done!

P#123994 2023-01-09 02:25
1

Love a bit of Columns, and this kept me very entertained - good job!

P#124022 2023-01-09 21:04

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