Let there be light-Bot.
When I think about light-Bot, I imagine it being created by some frustrated programmer who was tired of putting up with deadlines and annoying criticisms from non-programmers. Revenge. Make a game that shows people the torment of being a programmer. Make it cute. Make it addictive. Make it easy at first, but let it eventually ramp up in difficulty until it gets pretty puzzling. Make the final two levels real doozies.
Whether or not that was the actual creative process behind the game, light-Bot wound up becoming a very clever little Flash puzzler. The point is to light up every blue tile on each stage by giving a light-Bot a series of commands. Sound easy? Well, your light-Bot is only capable of retaining a limited number of commands, and each stage must be completed in a single set of these commands.
This is your command screen. The f buttons trigger your functions.
While most of the commands are simple – turn left, turn right, go forward, hop, etc. – after a few stages, you will find yourself running out of memory in your main method panel very quickly. In order to counter this, you must program reusable functions that can be accessed from the main command string. Sound confusing? Then thank your friendly neighborhood programmers, because this is an extremely simplified version of what they do at work every day.
There are twelve stages total, ranging anywhere from ridiculously easy to fairly difficult. The last two are especially mind-bending. Remember, you must think like a programmer.
Light-Bot uses cute, stylized graphics that work very well. Even when you get frustrated that the later puzzles are so challenging, you will take comfort in the soothing visuals. Your may even forget about punching that computer screen.
The music is a perfect fit. The electronic sounds will make you feel like you are actually in a factory controlling robots. But it is very short and plays on an infinite loop, so you may find yourself turning off the volume by the time you reach the finale.
Light-Bot is unique and challenging, but only has twelve stages. If it were longer, it would be an amazing experience. This short little game is still incredibly fun. It may even make you want to hug a programmer.
The first few stages are fairly straightforward. But it gets tougher later on. Trust me.
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A puzzler that makes you think like a programmer. | ||||
Game: light-Bot | Developer: Coolio-Niato