63 Little Pieces is an atmospheric block sliding puzzle game with a shooting mechanic, to destroy walls, in order to build a path to lead one or several blocks to the goal. Slide, fire, destroy blocks, collect collectibles, hit switches and manage the other blocks movements.
Will you be able to piece it back together?
The final game will consist of 60 or so levels. Each level contains 3 distinct puzzle challenges:
Collect the collectible; reach the goal in as less moves and less destruction as possible.
Originally created in 48 hours for Ludum Dare 41 in 2018, as a mix between Puzzle and Shoot’em Up mechanics. Things moved nicely but, gameplay wise, there was little to no puzzle action at all. It was only after the jam I put real thought into the project and have been working on it ever since.
With real thought put into the puzzles, I started tinkering around with what I had and started to making conclusions on how the game should proceed from that point. I didn’t want to have an one and done puzzle solving mechanic nor a 3 star rating system. With that said, each puzzle is now build upon 3 distinctive objectives: Collect the collectible, reach the goal with as less moves as possible and reach the goal with as less destruction as possible. Some levels can even be finished without achieving any of those objectives.
From Ludum Dare 41 to Now (Early Access):
From the 13 unpolished presented levels there are now 18 puzzles with 3 challenges each, awaiting your cunning eye.
Graphics were upgraded (still work in progress) from the still included pixelated black & white sprites (so if you’re into that 1 bit sort of retro visual thing - it’s still there) to a coloured 2.5 or 2D top down view.
Although repetitive, the silent background is now filled with one music track.
Narrative is still in “draft mode”; it is fully implemented but not presented to the player yet.
The project now includes XBOX 360 controller support.
Many bugs and half baked mechanics fixed (since it was a prototype).
Right now my main focus is on building the levels.
Not sure if this will help but as soon as it starts I get
Fatal error in
Action number 1
Of async event: system event
For object obj_gamepad_support:
Push::execution error- variable index 0,4
Out of range 1,4
-.gamepad_host(1000027,4)
At
Gml_object_obj_gamepad_support_other_75
That’s as far it will let me see.
I’m using a 16gb black ouya with a white controller. I forget what the models are called. Don’t know if any of this will help.
The controller works fine with my OUYA and OUYA controller, no bugs whatsoever.
This seems to be caused by the XBOX controller support, but that bug keeps popping up from many users, it’s trying to address Xinput controllers … Going to try to make a few changes to this. See if I can make something more generally reliable.
The biggest update is levels... This new build adds 9 more levels with 3 challenges each, making for a total of 27 new puzzles.Â
These new levels focus on opposite forces, with red blocks doing whatever is the contrary to your movement. There are also portals, which teleport you from one point to another, some times reaching a portal can be a challenge in itself.Â
Sound Effects lost their references and where replaced by Windows dings during this screen capture :)
Another note worthy update is the addition of an Options Menu which allows control over Music and Sfx Volume, Screen Shake toggle, Language supporting: English and Portuguese (PT), and Erasing Data. The additions of these controls required quite a few changes in the code and its structure mostly because this section supports many features so it was better re-structure to easily handle any translations and music / sound volumes by, instead of all over the place, having everything in 1 or 2 objects.
Other Updates Include:Â
Added Lighting Effects;
Graphical update and implementation of high resolution placeholders: switches, "gravity" arrows, platforms, goals, portals and effects;
The main game's font Pixel ^2 has also been updated and is also available for purchase, here on itch.io, this font will replace most of the games text but for now this change is only visible on the moves and block counter dialog during gameplay;
Added Mouse Controls on Main Menu and in-game to allow switching through art styles / perspective;
OUYA Controller central button now mapped as start / pause button;
Text dialogs no longer repeating themselves when retrying a level;
Although not visible, this update also implements a few gameplay mechanics for levels to come.Â
You'll just have to take my word for it   :)
Bugs Fixed:
Blocks excess speed;
Getting trap between "gravity" arrows, now resets level (Level 16);
Controller Bug fixes on Windows and OUYA;
Negative level numbers on the level selection
menu;Â
Presented by Ricardo Correia, the coordinator of PlayStation Talents in Portugal, 63 Little Pieces was revealed to be on the top 10 independent games running to win the title of National Game of the year. The announcement is at 36:15, revealing 63 Little Pieces to be of a very original puzzle game.
It comes at no surprise that I’m very happy to have my hard work recognized. 63 Little Pieces is an atmospheric block sliding puzzle game with a shooting mechanic, to destroy walls, in order to build a path to lead one or several blocks to the goal. It may sound as an ordinary puzzle game but there are a few tricks under the hood left to be revealed.
While I’m only expecting to have the next update ready sometime by the end of August or in, actually, September. I’m currently taking a moment to promote it and finishing up on smaller projects I have in hands (Dodge Spree X and some other stuff).
