Nathaniel Marshall

• 2 Player

• DigiPen Student Project

• Strategy

• Solo Project Created in DigiPen's Zero Engine using Python

 

The initial concept of Block VS Block started out as Blokus meets Advanced Wars, but someone along the way mentioned Yu-Gi-Oh Dungeon Dice which, after a bit of research, is a bit of an interesting coincidence. 

 

The core strategy of the game is two-fold. Like Blokus, 2 Players take turns placing shapes of various sizes on a grid. Each piece must fit and must touch one of their own tiles that connects to their Home Base.

 

Like Advanced Wars, Players recieve Resources for each Tile connected to their Home Base and they may use these Resources to buy Factories on their Tile to Build Units. Units travel on top of placed Tiles, attack and destroy enemy Units, and Capture Tiles with the goal of Capturing the Enemy's Home Base.

 

The biggest obstical of the game faced was its technical side. This game was made when I was fairly unfamiliar with more advanced data types. It uses a three-dimensional array to hold the y-axis, the x-axis, and an array holding the objects residing on the designated space. (Note: ZeroEngine uses Python)

 

With this obtuse array, there were issues interacting with and reading the grid, mainly when it came time for Unit Movement and the generation of its Allowed Movement Grid. The use of Dictionaries would have greatly aided these sort of issues.

 

On the Design side of things, the greatest issue was balancing the Units resource cost. Factories originally could build infinite Units, but that was quickly changed to a Maximum of Three to prevent a rush of Blitz units from the Player with the most Income.

 

In the end, all the Playtesters greatly enjoyed the game. A wide variety of strategies were used including:

• Placing a thin, snaky pathway to as close as the Enemy base, building a Factory, and then rushing from there.

• Placing Tiles Offensively, trying to box the Enemy in and stop any new Tiles (and therefore, new resources) from being placed while stalling for time with Units.

• Placing Tiles Defensively, denying the Rush and any sort of Area Denial by countering Tile Placement and capturing critcal tiles. Attacks from afar via Mortars were prevailant and prevented brash movements.

Curiously enough, each strategy was a counter to the others if used right. It was fun and interesting to see how the games played out for both myself and those playing.