cubrick APK

Cubrick is a highly engaging casual game that challenges players' spatial perception. Players must navigate complex mazes using rotation, zooming, and other manipulations to find the exit and reach it successfully. There are no time limits, but if the player falls, the game restarts, making it a real test of their skill. The game is constantly being updated, with more levels being added based on player suggestions to provide even more challenges.

Controls:

movement: arrow keys (up = northeast), or NumPad 1/3/7/9

zoom: PgUp/PgDown, or NumPad 2/8

rotation (important!): Right-Ctrl/NumPad-Zero, or NumPad 4/6

interaction: Return/Enter, or NumPad 5

menu: Escape key

O: toggle orthographic/perspective camera

C: create floor, V: create "hinge", G: toggle "hinge" rotation on/off

B: create "wall", N: destroy, Z: leave create mode

R: create "clone", T: activate "clone", [ ]: switch "clone"

Features:

Motion / feel / "flow": movement, control, and animation as fluid, natural, and intuitive as possible, to avoid high-level "interface" frustrations that take the player out of the game.  Strangely I'm influenced by old skateboarding games where you could just ride around effortlessly, ollie-ing off everything you came across...  On another level, I'm trying to reduce/eliminate as many "speedbumps" in the experience as possible: no loading screens (you can even start moving before each level is completely loaded), no "wait and read" title/credit/legal screens... so from beginning to end the entire experience "flows".

Mood / visuals / sound: stark, thoughtful, meditative, generally peaceful, but occasionally some tension or "darkness" as the story progresses.  Picture a virtual space inside the mind of an artificial intelligence.  This is supported by the sound design, from cubrick's movements (a simple pentatonic piano "plink"), to other complimentary sounds in the environment, all overlaying and harmonizing with the ambient soundtrack.

Story: Cubrick's backstory ties into some other things I'm working on, and will be hinted at in that greater context, but never really spelled out.  I'm trying to keep human language out of the game as much as possible, and to a minimum in the menu/GUI, to give an almost "machine perspective" on what's taking place.  You may meet other cubricks, they may be a part of you, or completely independent, and you may not even stay the same cubrick for long...

Cross-platform / cross-play: Cubrick is made with Unity, making it easy to deploy cross-platform (though I won't be able to release an OSX/iOS version until I get my hands on a Mac).  But while most cross-platform games live in their isolated ecosystems (Windows/Linux/Mac games can sync to any other PC using Steam, Android games can sync to any other Android device using Google Play, iOS games can sync to other iOS devices, etc.), I've developed a simple way to save your progress on one platform, and pick up where you left off on a different platform whenever you like, without any extra effort on the part of the player (aside from creating a unique profile on the game server - you don't even need to supply an email address).

In-game level editor: I'm creating all the game's levels *in* the game, and making the creation process seamlessly integrated into the game, so that you can literally start creating/destroying/modifying without "stepping out" of the game (see "flow" above).  It will be easy to share your levels with any other players who have profiles on the server, or by simply copying level files (saved as JSON format in plain text) from your save folder into theirs.

Install instructions:

Windows: Just unzip all files and run "cubrick.exe". See the enclosed readme.txt file for further details.

Linux: Includes 32-bit and 64-bit binaries. See Unity's blog post on linux support, as well as the enclosed README for details on configuring resolution and fullscreen mode. Only tested under Ubuntu 13.04, so your mileage may vary.

Android: You'll need to enable downloads from unknown sources, then download the APK and install it. Controls: touch the corners, sides, and top and bottom of the screen to move, rotate, and zoom (respectively). To interact with switches, or toggle current player, briefly touch the center of the screen. To open the menu, touch & hold the center of the screen, or touch the back button.

Final words:

Cubrick is a minimal, meditative, 3D exploration puzzle game that challenges your perception and spatial reasoning. The challenge lies not in finding the correct path, but simply finding the path. Rotate and zoom your perspective to grasp the layout of the maze - at least until it starts moving...There are no time limits, no high scores, no enemies, and no jumping (or the attendant falling to your "death" when you miss a jump). No starting over, and over, and over again, until you make that jump, or time that combo, or whack that mole before it whacks you.