B1OCK by GregoryBlomquist
A journalist investigates a burned down game studio to discover to the dark secrets of the classic Atari game BL0CK...
What horrors await them?
Can they solve the mystery before it's too late?
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Gregory Blomquist - Game Designer, Writer, Level Designer, Audio
Cory Rupert - Game Designer, Programmer, Artist, Audio
Julia Rupert - Voice Acting
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PLAYER CONTROLS
ENTER START / INTERACT
↑ — MOVE UP
↓ — MOVE DOWN
→ — MOVE RIGHT
← — MOVE LEFT
SPACE — CAMERA
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CAMERA CONTROLS
HOLD SPACE — ACCESS CAMERA
SPACE & ↑ — MOVE CAMERA UP
SPACE & ↓ — MOVE CAMERA DOWN
SPACE & → — MOVE CAMERA RIGHT
SPACE & ← — MOVE CAMERA LEFT
SPACE & ENTER — TAKE PICTURE

| Link | https://gblomquist.itch.io/b1ock |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/49/b1ock |
Ratings
| Overall | 699th | 3.561⭐ | 35🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 649th | 3.516⭐ | 34🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 677th | 3.375⭐ | 34🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 1168th | 3.048⭐ | 33🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 890th | 3.455⭐ | 35🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 469th | 3.531⭐ | 34🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 106th | 4.125⭐ | 34🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 28🗳️ | 38🗨️ |
@cor-3 Thank you we worked hard on the polish of this game so I'm glad it worked out. And yes there is a manual and yes it is our favorite part. As for your note about the controls I get it. We tried to emulate older computer game control style and the downside of doing that we also emulated the frustrating aspect of those old control schemes as well. Which causes the game to be a tad tiring to control. We discussed WASD but opted out to keep it authentic but yes including it is a good call.
@der-mondhase AH the beast itself gave you problems! A good tactic is try to get some distance from it. Thank you for playing I'm glad you enjoyed the direction and mood we put a lot of work into it.
@disn Technically we pulled it off into 2 since we had to work Monday and couldn't work on the game. I appreciate you playing B1OCK and digging the aesthetic
@mechazawa Thank you! Yes the controls can get a bit tiring agreed. But hey we can just pretend that we were trying to make you feel like the character in the game and exploring is exhausting. Right? You buy that right...?
This is a very moody game and it really feels like something you could play on an atari.
At the beginning, I didn't know the purpose of the game and wondered for a long time.The picture and music of the game surprised me, and the immersion was unforgettable.
Although you can only move step by step, it makes your hands a little tired, but this does not prevent it from being a very good game! Look forward to future optimization!!
I didn't mind the arrow keys so much, but I am not sure how to get alternate endings. I feel like I interacted with everything? Did I miss something?
What did you use to make the game? It is so cool that it just comes as an exe!
Cheers! [-LB](https://ldjam.com/users/the-lame-brain/)
@adrenallen I'm glad the slow deliberate story telling came through. Yah a few more generic items in the rooms would have really tied the whole experience together.
@dock-frankenstein Thanks for checking out the manual and getting into the mood of the game. Smaller environment eh? Hmmm...
@vsi Glad you liked it. We wanted to take an minimalist approach at horror to see if we could get scares out of a simple graphic style. Hard to pull off but I think we nailed it.
@bluecold007 Unforgettable Immersion!!! That is probably the best praise we could get thank you so much! I'm glad you stuck with the game and figured it out after getting lost at the beginning. And yes the control scheme has some major fatigue issues.
@the-lame-brain Glad someone likes the arrow keys. Finally!!! Yah the alternate endings take a bit to find it involves a bit of backtracking and remembering items that you have examined. If you would like to know how to get those ending and want to revisit the game let me know and I'll tell you how. Privately I don't want to spoil it for others. HINT: Notice the Red walls and check back later. We made it with Game Maker Studio we felt like the EXE format added another scary layer to it.
@denzil-gomes Wow! Thank you so much for the comparison! As 90s kids, ghost stories/urban legends and video games are the perfect combo.
@zachsbutt Thanks so much! Yeah, hunting for the evidence definitely takes a while!
@markveligod Glad you liked it! We had a lot of fun writing it during our late night coding sessions!
@chillertyp Thanks! Mixing horror with simple graphics is tricky, but we love the final product!
I think the biggest let-down for me was the control scheme. having to press an arrow to move one space with no auto-fire on the key felt very straining after a while. I also would have *really* appreciated a "dungeon map" or "compass" (to use zelda terminology), to help navigate the office.
Beyond that, I love what you did with the game, super spooky and worth playing to see the different endings.
Edit: also, I forgot the voice acting. The idea that most/all the music (even the creepy droning) would be retro inspired, just to have a normal human talking in my ear was also great and absolutely terrifying.
Anyway this is very atmospheric game!