OK, here's the scene: you're stranded with a handful of your best friends on some strange platforms suspended above an endless black abyss. You're understandably a little bit scared, all of you. You won't wander off onto a new platform unless you have at least one friend to go with you, and inevitably one of you chickens out and stays behind in relative safety—after all, they've seen some of the platforms drop away into nothing! Oh yeah, did I mention you're a creepy eyeball suspended in some weird gelatinous ooze?!?
Anyway, you come across a strange platform, one with a number on it. Some of your friends venture onto it, and once they equal the number on the sign, POOF! They disappear! You've found a teleporter! You gather your remaining friends and go off in search of another one, all of you silently wondering if maybe it wasn't a teleporter after all, but a slaughterhouse! There's only one way to find out...
So maybe that wasn't the exact thought process Matthew Dirks—yes, the very same guy who brought us Colour Connect—went through when he came up with the idea for Jelly Fusion. Still, he's managed to create a neat little puzzle game that is a welcome entry to our second competition. The game proceeds pretty much as described above: you try to get each of the goal spaces to contain the correct number of jelly blobs. The tricky part is the movement—you can only move blobs of 2 or more to a new space, and you'll always leave one behind. You CAN move single blobs, however, if there is already a blob at the destination. Also, there's a size limit on the blobs that changes from level to level, and if you exceed that limit, your blob a-splode!
Analysis:You should be able to zoom through Level 1, and if you're like me, you'll then promptly get stuck on Level 2. The learning curve is pretty steep—you'll need to pick up several different skills in order to pass Level 2, but once you do so, you'll be well-prepared for the rest of the levels. The blob movement is different than most games, and it may take you a few tries to get used to it, but it's also what sets this game apart from most puzzlers. Matthew does a good job of making you change strategies as you advance through the levels, so that the game doesn't become repetitive.
The visuals here won't impress anybody who has upgraded past Windows 95, but the audio is strangely appropriate. With the word Fusion in the title, you'd expect some sort of technoey goodness, but instead you are presented with a calming chimed melody that is augmented perfectly with the little "splish-splish" of the moving blobs. The overall effect is oddly satisfying, much like the game itself.
not gonna lie-- not sure why my eyes are popping on the second level....
kinda reminds me of mancala, except i dont understand the rules yet :)
fun though, with the nice music
ahhh.. i see
for popping blobs:
a square can only hold the maximum of the limit, located in the bottom left....
even the goal cannot hold more than the limit, unless you put it all in one go
for movement
you can only move a blob into the one next to it
if you move a multi blob (lotsa eyes) one will remain behind, so to move a 3 blob one space south, you have to move the 3 blob, and then move the 1 blob that was left behind)
Wow...I have no clue how to get past level 2! I must be missing something.
Finished.
As with some of the others games in this competition, once you get the hang of it (i.e. finish level 2) it really doesn't get much harder, just the same process but longer. I did enjoy it though, good concept.
i actually thought level 2 was the hardest!
Very difficult, cannot get past level two in required number of moves
Okay Here is how to do level 2 in a special picture walkthrough :D
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e252/XXStinkomanXX/Step1.jpg
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e252/XXStinkomanXX/step2.jpg
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e252/XXStinkomanXX/Step3.jpg
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e252/XXStinkomanXX/Step4.jpg
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e252/XXStinkomanXX/Step5.jpg
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e252/XXStinkomanXX/done.jpg
Yay, beat it! :D Great game!
If a target box amount is more than the limit, you need to move such that the blobs combine at exactly the right amount. They blow up, but you satisfy the target.
I agree, Level 2 is tricky. I had to get help with it from Valarauka in the IRC channel. (Thanks, Val!)
It makes sense, I was just forgetting that
a single blob can hop right into the goal
beat it! hardest for me was actually 3...it just didn't click for awhile. This game was fun, and difficult enough that it still felt rewarding to finish, at least for someone like me, who is a *very* casual gamer (re: I'm the girl who promises she won't read the spoilers, then gives up and does so 15 minutes later).
This game reminded me a lot of a solitaire game that I believe was reviewed here awhile back. You had to keep jumping the pieces of goo over one another until there was only one left.
Also...I thought the eyes were cute.
Like ben said, once you get the hang of movement, it gets much easier. This is actually a pretty clever game... the puzzler in me is happy.
"a single blob can hop right into the goal"
True, but only if there's already a blob there.
for those that need a guide for level two
combine the top two blobs into the middle one
move multiblob down one
and then combine its remainder so it stays three.
do the same again but to the left this time.
now move the multiblob down, but do not recombine.
that blob should be to the east of the goal, with 2 eyes in it.
move that blob into the goal--1 eye should now be in the goal.
put the blob west of the goal and south of the goal in the goal
combine the blob two spots east of the goal and blob north east of the goal to the blob 1 east of the goal
then move this multiblob into goal..
done!
i also had the most trouble on level three
i couldn't get the concept of finishing the 6 square first until i took into account the limit thing
(should I have put this behind spoilers?)
Wow, level 2's certainly the hardest, and I think it's out of place. It might help if there were enough more levels before it to get the hang of how things worked: I didn't need to understand anything to solve level 1, I just blindly dragged things right, and all the eyes very quickly got to the goal. A gentler introduction might have had at least
- a longer level like #1 with blobs of size >2, to make clear the rule that exactly one eye gets left behind when you move a multiblob;
- a level to illustrate the importance of setting up the right size of blob in the goal for the final move without exceeding the limit, without such an elaborate setup.
But I think the biggest reason is that, compared to all the rest of the levels of the game, #2 is way too unconstrained. In subsequent levels, the gold decaying floors are a sort of linchpin on the space of possible solutions: they provide you something to plan the solution around, because once you get there certain moves are obviously fatal. But level 2 has none of that, and so you have to explore many more sequences of moves, and it might not be obvious you've made a misstep until ten moves later. Quite frustrating.
For that matter: were the numbers of allowed moves supposed to be tight? 'Cause #2 really doesn't seem possible in fewer than 13, but the later levels look a lot looser (e.g. I got the last one in 43/50 without especially trying to optimise).
I should have added: level 3 I found one of the harder ones too, but after getting through #2 I didn't think it was that bad.
The only really new principle was knowing which goal to complete first.
I think I like this one the best of them all so far. But I'm stuck on level 11. quite a good game though!
eeeeeeeeKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!! The blobs are coming. I liked the game, but I didn't understand the grow connection. [ You have to watch the number of moves that you are allowed. ]help. Kinda looks like my last batch of pickled eggs. Just kidding!
I think this game is one of the better ones thus far. The game presents the rules all in one fell swoop, and aside from getting used to the limits, I never felt like I had to learn some strange new rule to solve a single puzzle, so you're never left hanging waiting to figure out that strange loophole. I think that's an important factor to a puzzle game like this, as it leaves the solution completely up to the player, rather than the player having to glean the solution from trial and error.
As stated before, though, once you get the hang of the first couple levels, the rest of the game goes by pretty quickly. If the author added a couple of new obstacles to throw in, this could easily balloon into a full game with over 100 levels.
Good work on this one!
hey jay i have a problem. this has been happing for two days now, it's really buggin' me! all the compition games come up saying
Access Denied (content_filter_denied)
Your request was denied because of its content categorization: "Sex;Adult Material"
For assistance, contact your network support team.
Do you know why? or how i can fix it? if anyone could help, i would love it.
thanks
Sweet Heart - Someone else emailed me to tell me that Websense filters out my media server (Fizzlebot.com) as one that contains adult content, which is simply not the case. We are always very careful to publish only content that is acceptable to people of all ages.
Websense is wrong.
Please complain to your network administrator about Websense.
I think that this would be a great game if it didn't have a turn limit. I have come up with many solutions for level 2, but none in 13 turns. And a glitch won't allow me to read any of the spoilers on this page. Anyone else having this problem?
I think that this would be a great game if it didn't have a turn limit. I have come up with many solutions for level 2, but none in 13 turns. And a glitch won't allow me to read any of the spoilers on this page. Anyone else having this problem?
Oh, and I had to post it a couple of times before it would say I posted it, kept getting a page saying it wouldn't work. Sorry for the double post. Actualy, I thought it would be a quadrupal post o_0
i think the graphics design is a little bit lame, but the game mechanics are interesting. congratulations for this nice puzzle game.
I can't figure out how to get 6 blobs in level 3. I try different combos of numbers but they never all go in. I have solved the other transporter first and it still won't let me put 6 into the other one.
nice, but very short. beat it in like 15 mins.
Reminds me of mancala...Jay, typekey still isn't working for me.
Josh - can you describe exactly what "isn't working" means? There doesn't appear to be any problems with the Typekey sign-in code.
Cute game. I hope they come up with some more levels :o)
So the one thing to always remember - and I forgot which is why level 2 took me forever - you can enter the target zone from any square that is adjacent to it. So, in level 2, you can enter from the top, bottom, right, or left (d'oh).
I'm totally stuck on level 10.. any help would be great
could someone please explain in detail level 3 - I'm having a dumb moment (afternoon) :)
Websense is ridiculous.
I remember jelly fusion. I wasn't overly impressed because it was just too difficult to figure out. Guess it's not my cup o tea.
maddogmadsen, your directions rock, but there's a slight mistake. It's not to the left, it's to the right....
I'm stuck in lvl 14. i cam make it on 36 moves, but limit is 34 :-( Can anyone help?
Update