Searching For The Unknown
Bozula Block Buster by Johan Olofsson, 2001

Written by Lachie Dazdarian(November, 2005)

Introduction

As you see I decided not to feature Robot Plague in this issue. There were few reasons. In short, the game just didn't turn out to be what I expected it to be and much smaller than I imagined. There is a very small chance anyone would actually play Robot Plague for real other than just check it out. I'm sure that's not what I'm trying to accomplish with this column.

Now to the topic of this issue. Bozula Block Buster is a Sokoban type of game. Not a hard-core Sokoban game but with the gameplay very similar to the one in Sokoban and it's clones. You don't know about Sokoban? Well, in Sokoban you control a character who can push boxes scattered around the level and the goal is to push all the boxes onto the designated positions in the level. The most notable fact about the Sokoban gameplay is that you can make a wrong move very easily which then makes that level impossible to finish. Sokoban levels are known for being very difficult and challenging and are distributed over then net in the popular .xsb format. Most of the levels I've tried through FreeBASIC Sokoban(reviewed in the issue #11) were very discouraging and made me quite disappointed in my thinking abilities. The concept of Sokoban is ingenious on some way since you can create the most challenging puzzles on a very small space and with small number of boxes. Place for imagination in the designing of Sokoban levels in endless. Maybe that's one of the reasons why I liked Bozula Block Buster so much. That game is much easier that the default and the better custom made Sokoban levels.

As far as I know there weren't many Sokoban games made in QBasic which I find surprising since they are not very difficult to code. Definitely less difficult to code than a Tetris game and there is like 17 Tetris games made in QBasic(and released to public), plus some Tetris-like games. I'm aware of this useless peace of information because I'm planning to write an article about QBasic Tetris games. Weee! Hmm...I think I'm getting way too excited about that article. Anyway, I should get back to the topic.

I know about 4 finished QBasic Sokoban games. David Joffe's VGA Sokoban is probably something Sokoban purists(do such people exists?) will like the most since it features very simple graphics, 90 non-original levels from XSokoban(X Window system), untouched Sokoban gameplay and tile by tile movement. Some but not all of those levels are also present in the default level set from FreeBASIC Sokoban. I personally don't like this kind of approach since it's the most unimaginative and requires very little effort to code and design. Another QBasic Sokoban game is Pushem by Danny Albocher which looks more like a test program than a real game since it features even less impressive and more generic graphics and only 5 levels. Factory John by RedXIII is probably the best game of all the QBasic Sokoban games but if it's the best in being a challenging Sokoban game that remains a question. I hope I wasn't confusing with that sentence. Factory John features above average graphics, pixel by pixel movement, animated character, non-original MIDI music and 15 original levels. It also features the best presentation. And as an extra feature in the classic Sokoban concept it introduces cement which appears in some levels and which you can use to destroy non-movable obstacles, in this game those are cracks in the floor. What most Sokoban fans won't like about this game is that the levels are relatively easy and I've finished most of them from the first attempt! The fact that they are original doesn't help here. Also, the controls were solved with the INKEY$ statement and you know how that works with pixel based movement. What I didn't like is that the game features only one small tileset and it's a bit drab. What you see from the screenshot is what you get. On the end that's not much different from VGA Sokoban or FreeBASIC Sokoban.

I hope you made it through this unnecessary long introduction because I'm finally getting to the topic of this article, Bozula Block Buster.

About Bozula Block Buster

Bozula Block Buster will very unlikely win the award for the best QBasic Sokoban game. It can't measure with VGA Sokoban in level design and their number or with Factory John in graphics and presentation but I found it to be the most interesting game of them all.

Anyway, Bozula Block Buster doesn't look very promising on the first look. The main menu is very poorly designed, if we can call that designing. A clear black background and the menu text written with the default SCREEN 12 PRINT font. What's even worst is that the designer didn't make the effort to place the menu on the center of the screen.


All the screenshots are clickable

The story of Bozula Block Buster is very simple. You are the little Zenmar who lost his small puddlings(a pet of some sort). It's up to you to find your way through all the stages and save all the puddlings. Now while this is not something very deep or interesting at least the designer introduces a story. And it's important on some way since you know who you are and why you have to pick up those small creatures in the stage before exiting it. There is some motive behind that. Definitely better than some circle picking up a triangle.


The stages are divided into 5 courses. The first course is called Dezert Practice Course and it's a...surprise, small practice course. It features 4 stages which are meant to introduce you with the game mechanics. The movement in the game is tile by tile based. What makes Bozula Block Buster different from Sokoban is the objective of each stage. In Bozula Block Buster you don't have to push all the blocks onto the designated positions but find your way to the puddlings in the stage and then exit from it. Most often both the exit and the puddlings will be blocked by movable blocks, walls and/or laser beams. Three important elements make the Bozula Block Buster's gameplay. Laser beams, red pills and movable blocks. The way you push blocks is like in Sokoban and you will push them in order to reach some part of the stage that was blocked or to block a laser beam. Laser beams are something that add a lot to the classic Sokoban gameplay. By pushing blocks onto the laser beams you can clear yourself a path to a certain part of the stage that was blocked by it. Red pills, on the other hand, turn you into some kind of angry Zenmar and while being in that state you can break one piece of wall. You can't accumulate red pills so eat them one by one. What's good is that you can't walk into a laser beam so you don't have to be careful around them. You can die only if you push a block that is blocking a laser beam away from the line of fire(rectangulary to the beam). Uh, I could use another word when referring to movable blocks.


Each of the next 3 courses(Jays Jungle Course, Lazer Lab Mayhem Course and Star Course) features 9 stages and when you finish one course then next becomes unlocked. This progress is saved so when you exit the game you don't have to worry about your "unlockings" being lost. Each course features it's own tiles while the Star Course features new sprites as well.

I must admit that the stages are not very difficult to solve but not ridiculously easy either. The Star Course was a bit disappointing on some way since almost all the stages were about pushing one block through the entire stage to block some laser. I was seriously stuck only once in the Lazer Lab Mayhem Course and that was because it took me some time to discover the trick the designer devised to fool the player. A bit evil idea since the player is not expecting to be tricked on that way(I'm so vague). What adds to the challenge is the highscores table and it's filled with default scores, thank God. Default scores is something I missed in so many games. The scores are not very easy to beat(except in the practice course) so you will have a reason to repeat a course after you finish it in order to beat the course highscore. The scoring works on a very simple way. All your moves are added to the score and every time you retry a stage(by your will or if you die) 10 points are added to your score. You can guess now - the lower the score, the better.


The last "secret" course unlocks when you finish the Star Course. It also features new graphics. I don't know why the designer refers to it as secret since it's written on the main menu even when it's still locked and it's also mentioned in the instructions. I won't reveal it all but again something new appears in the gameplay. You see, in that course you need to finish all the stages with limited number of moves. Before each stage you receive a certain number of moves and you can pass them to the next stage. Quite smart idea. I made it to the stage 8(out of 9) in the third attempt. Very challenging. Each move counts. There is a story behind this limited number of moves, don't worry. This makes 40 stages total. Not bad.

So no matter how this game fails in being very challenging that is compensated with the highscores and the last course.

Since the game comes with the source code(actually, it was distributed only in source code but I added a compiled executable) it's easy to find out how to unlock the locked courses, in case you are unable to do it regularly(really?).

As I already hinted Bozula Block Buster was made in SCREEN 12(640*480 graphics resolution) mode which I don't consider very important since high resolution graphics is not good graphics by definition. The game's graphics alone are above average(if not more) but the game feels terribly static. Not a single tile or sprite in this game is animated. Even when you move Zenmar the sprite remains the same for all the directions. So I can't say I'm happy with how the graphics were handled in this game but when I think about VGA Sokoban or FreeBASIC Sokoban I shouldn't moan too much.


Bozula Block Buster doesn't feature any music or sound but one PC Speaker sound effect used in the course 5 when you lose a game. The key word is "bomb". So this aspect of the game is pretty much non-existent.

While not being much more from an average game, and that's mainly because of the very poor presentation, Bozula Block Buster shows us how Sokoban games could and should look if the game designers were slightly more imaginative or motivated.

When I just think about making a Sokoban game I see so much beyond plain VGA Sokoban. I see a game that can load the standard .xsb levels but display them using neat and animated tiles. More wall tiles that are placed in the wall slots and animated by randomization. Several tilesets that exchanges as you advance in a certain levels package. Like every 10 levels. Pixel by pixel movement and an animated main character. Cool and polished design. Atmospheric background music. And an alternative game mode with some story and extra features like in Bozula Block Buster or some completely new. Do you see it? Heck, if I had the time I would start working on this right now. The idea itself would be relatively easy to execute. Darn, why I didn't think of this before? Oh, well. There is always someone else(I'm looking at you).

Final score
4.5/10

Get Bozula Block Buster

To download Bozula Block Buster click here: bozulabbuster.zip

Thanx for reading this dribble. I'm not sure what I'll feature in the next issue since I went with the best games in the first few issues of the column. So the next issues might be a slow decline in the quality of games. Or not. I have a lot of games on the list. I should be more optimistic. Cheers!