Bloonz is a classic platformer created for the Arduboy, an Arduino-based handheld the size of a credit card
In Bloonz, you find yourself deep down in a dungeon. Who knows how you got there, but one thing is for sure...you need to get out! Fortunately you have a few balloons in your pocket (doesn't everyone?) to help you reach higher places and get across wide gaps. As you make your way out, avoid the spikes and the strange creatures who inhabit the dungeon, both of which just want to pop your balloons along with your hope of ever getting out. Find the key that unlocks the staircase leading to the next room, and the coins scattered about along the way (finders keepers). Freedom awaits!
Bloonz features 30 challenging levels and hours of gameplay that can be played a few minutes at a time.
SERVICES:
Key Features:
Casual yet challenging gameplay on an embedded device
30 challenging levels packed into very few bytes of memory
Save progress and load next unbeaten level
Full source code and artwork available for download
Open Source
Player
Kid: He has 3 balloons as important to him as his life. Help him get out!
Enemies
Walkers: Strange little fellas. They hate balloons and want to pop every one they see. Oh, and they bite.
Spikes: Pointy things sticking out in all directions. Watch it with those balloons.
Elements
Fans: While floating around with balloons, these fans will you push you to higher ground.
Coins: What's more important than money... oh wait... ah well... finders keepers! Collect them all.
Key: Every door needs a key, and without it, nobody can leave the room.
Door: When you've finally found that key, it will open a door... leading you to... another room.
Game Play
You start with 3 balloons, representing your life. When you get hit, you'll lose a balloon/life.
Use the direction buttons to move left and right. Use up and down to move the camera. Use the B button to jump, and when you press and hold B in mid-air you'll start floating. Pressing the A button activates your vacuum — suck in air and enemies to regain a balloon, or it might help you get those coins a little closer.
Press DOWN together with the A button to Pause the game.
What's an Arduboy?
Bloonz runs on the Arduboy, the game system the size of a credit card. On the Arduboy, you can create your own games, learn to program or download from a library of open source games for free! It is a miniature open-source game system that you can program yourself. And if you don't know how to program yet, it's a great way to learn!
Arduboy is a hardware development platform based on Arduino, an open-source community and tool chain for controlling electronics. An excellent way to get kids excited about programming as well as a fun way to remember the past and celebrate the retro-future!
What's Arduino?
The Arduboy is based on Arduino, specifically the Arduino Leonardo, an open-source electronics platform based on easy-to-use hardware and software. It's intended for anyone making interactive projects, not just games.
Arduino boards are able to read inputs — light on a sensor, a finger on a button, or a Twitter message — and turn it into an output — activating a motor, turning on an LED, publishing something online. You can tell your board what to do by sending a set of instructions to the microcontroller on the board. To do so you use the Arduino programming language (based on Wiring), and the Arduino Software (IDE), based on Processing.
Over the years Arduino has been the brain of thousands of projects, from everyday objects to complex scientific instruments. A worldwide community of makers — students, hobbyists, artists, programmers, and professionals — has gathered around this open-source platform, their contributions have added up to an incredible amount of accessible knowledge that can be of great help to novices and experts alike.
Try Arduino and join the maker community!
The Power of Open Source
Here at zGames we love the open source community, and worked closely with Team ARG to create something special that shows what is possible when companies collaborate through open source. This was all possible because Team ARG publishes all their games under the MIT License (MIT).
We based Bloonz on the game Mystic Balloon by Team-ARG. They are a talented team of passionate retro-gamers, who have already created a dozen games for the Arduboy (and even more for Arduino in general). Check out more of their Arduboy games, all of which can be loaded onto your Arduboy handheld.
Kudos to Gavin (original code and art, and his first complete published game), Castpixel (original art), and JO3RI (original code and art) for creating such a fun game.
How do I load another game?
You can only load one game at a time on Arduboy, and unfortunately if you're not a developer this isn't an easy process. It involves downloading and installing the Arduino IDE, downloading the source for the game you want to load, and then compiling and loading the game onto the Arduboy over USB. But it's one way to start learning to code.
On the Github page for Bloonz, you will find the source code and all images used. If you want to modify or compile the game yourself, this is the place to be.
Kid: He has 3 balloons as important to him as his life. Help him get out!
Walkers: Strange little fellas. They hate balloons and want to pop every one they see. Oh, and they bite.
Spikes: Pointy things sticking out in all directions. Watch it with those balloons.
Fans: While floating around with balloons, these fans will you push you to higher ground.
Coins: What's more important than money... oh wait... ah well... finders keepers! Collect them all.
Key: Every door needs a key, and without it, nobody can leave the room.
Door: When you've finally found that key, it will open a door... leading you to... another room.
