Factory John
by RedXIII
A Boxxel clone for QBasic!
| Poor John. He works in a box factory. John works on the assembly line. His job is to make sure each box is flawless. On the odd chance that a box has been slightly creased or ripped, John throws it in to the defect pile. This mind numbing task has been his job for 18 years. Today, John has recieved an offer to be an executive! At last! His last task in order to become an executive is to move all the boxes on to the flickering red spots on the ground. | |
| You basically move boxes around a room, trying to cover the red tiles. You can walk over those tiles but not on the cracked parts. There is also cement available in some rooms so that you can cover the cracks. The game also features a password system to get you through the 15 levels provided in this game. Some of these passwords are just weird and funny. There are only 15 levels provided, but the .zip file also provides a map editor so you can create your own levels. I didn't like how pressing Esc took you to the credits instead of to the main menu, which would just keep on going instead of allowing you to skip them. I did like how it told you how many moves it took you to complete the level, although it can be surprising how quickly they add up. Also, every 5th level adds one extra life. Very nice! B-) |
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| Powered by DirectQB, the graphics could have been better. The red tiles blinked, which was nice, and the tiles were kind of detailed, but Factory John looked rather simplistic compared to the rest of the game. He was animated ok, but he didn't have the detail of the boxes or the floor. Some variety might have helped as well. | |
| The game uses INKEY$ to control the game. This is actually done nicely, although it can feel a little jerky and unnatural, and it can cause you to miss the password when you finish the level. Aside from that, the controls are simplistic and easy to use. | |
| There is music playing in this game, but it does not play very well. If you play the MIDIs in Winamp, it sounds much better than the discord you hear in the game...unless that is just my sound card. If the music would have sounded as it should, this game would have a very nice soundtrack. There are no sound effects unfortunately. | |
| With only 15 levels, I found two that stumped me. Some are tricky, but they are not incredibly difficult to play through. The main part of this game is the challenge, which it is able to produce a bit of, but it could be better. More levels with more tricks would probably be nicer. | |
| I liked how simplistic this game was. The challenge could have been stronger, but it was decent enough to make the game fun. I didn't like the ending, since there basically wasn't one. Kind of a letdown once you get through the game. Still, this game had a lot of good points for it. | |
| Better challenge and maybe some more innovation would help make this game better. The level editor allows people to make their own levels. The game is not compiled, but it still plays nicely. I liked this game even with its lacks, and so hopefully we can see some level designers out there to add more to this game (sort of like expansion packs). | |
| .zip file: 386KB download |