Puzzlescript is a spectacular tool for making puzzle games, primarily the kind in which you push blocks. Developers have used it to make some fantastic games that explore every possible permutation of these basic mechanics. It’s also turned out to be excellent for making games in which you have to control multiple entities at once to arrive at certain locations. But developers have been pushing the (imaginary) boundaries of Puzzlescript since its inception, and it’s been used to make some interesting games that rely on none of these elements. Here are some of these games.
Anna Anthropy’s The Undertaking is a walking journey through a series of starkly drawn settings. Each screen has a name, which, together with each location’s visual presentation, creates a Rorschach test of a narrative.
Sixty-Five is a highly playable roguelike dungeon crawler. It has it all: randomly generated dungeons, a variety of weapon and armor types (which affect your avatar’s appearance), brutal combat, and permadeath.
There’s not actually much to do here, and I’m not even sure if this demo will ever be expanded into anything, but it’s noteworthy for proving that a first-person adventure with shooting can theoretically be done in Puzzlescript. The tool’s possibilities are far from tapped.
This is essentially an attempt to make a Prince of Persia-like platformer, complete with ledge-hanging. The results are impressive.
Described by developer James Wood as an “inverse Frogger”, this infinite action game has you wading across streams while dodging floating logs and the occasional shark.
Ski down slopes and tag flags one tile at a time. It’s like a turn-based, downhill Snake where you can’t go backwards and it’s tremendous fun.
This real-time, multi-screen, run’n’gun shooter is an impressive feat. It’s a remake/demake of Gunslugs and other features include limited ammo, a health meter, and exploding barrels.
Aerobatics tasks you with piloting a plane in a turn-based manner, similair to Steambirds. I find that it’s much easier to hit the wall than the targets.
Vine is not quite a game, but more of a toy, at least until an explicit goal or a scoring mechanism is added. For now, I just try to fill up the space in different ways using the interesting branching-Snake mechanic.
This turn-based stealth game gets tricky quickly. Of course you have to sneak by guards without them seeing you, but some can only see you when the lights are on, while others can see you in the dark. Good thing you have control of the lights.
There are tons of great Puzzlescript games out there. Many of them can be found in the Puzzlescript Gallery.
All Puzzlescript games are playable in a browser.
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