icemann on 17/8/2010 at 14:42

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Paste from what I said over at retroremakes:

Hey all

Well 3 years ago I mentioned that I was set to start in a games development course at uni. Well that course is almost at an end (in final semester of it), and as part of the final year we had to get into groups of 4 people with 1 person assigned to a role (art, game design, programming and team manager). I picked and took on the role of game designer and expanded that role to include level design (since I LOVE making levels for games) + later added in sound design and engine implementation to my roles.

In either case, the game we went with we've given the name of "Bipolar" (nothing to do with the mental condition) which gets it since the game deals with magnet polarities of positive and negative. Hence Bipolar. The game is played from a side 2D perspective and are of a puzzle type nature.

Here's a few screenshots:

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs114.ash2/39056_476869095759_763905759_6581656_5404820_n.jpg

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs120.ash2/39329_478649200759_763905759_6634566_2778581_n.jpg

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs213.snc4/38970_479648395759_763905759_6656984_1899783_n.jpg

That's a few of the levels I've put together as my part in the project. If it makes absolutely no sense to you, you control the box cube (can be changed to other shapes) and use the power of magnetism (blue for positive, red for negative) to either pull or push you towards a magnet platform of a specific magnetism (positive/negative).

More screenies on my facebook.

Game to be released towards the end of the year if all goes according to plan. 30 of the planned 100 levels completed as of the date of this post.

I`ll likely be getting in touch with sites like Rock Paper Shotgun once we have the full 100 levels in and properly balanced.

icemann on 17/8/2010 at 15:34

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Thanks :).

Funny you say about the mirrors. Another group (in my class at uni) had a game idea that pretty much matches word for word the game you mentioned. Wonder if that's where they got the idea for it.

zombe on 17/8/2010 at 18:00

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Aargon? ((http://www.google.com/images?q=aargon)) ... or some derivate/copy/remake/ripoff (there are already bazillion of thous ... or at least i have stumbled upon several of them).

At least Iceman team does something i have never encountered before :)

Good luck and beware of the feature creep monster.

hooded_paladin on 17/8/2010 at 20:00

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So you've invented the magnetic monopole?
*edit*
Not to be snarky. A game about dipoles would be terrible.

Thirith on 18/8/2010 at 06:27

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To be honest, I'm not too bothered about rip-offs. Yes, an original idea can be cool, but I think there's a lot of merit in doing an old idea anew and doing it well. I imagine that there are a lot of 8-bit/16-bit games that the majority of players nowadays have never heard of and that would make for great indie remakes.