SquareBots: Tiny World Rescue!

Welcome to my GDTV 2025 entry and fourth time doing these fun GDTV game jams. I missed 2024, but I'm BACK and ready to jam and review your lovely games.

Best played full screen for highest graphical fidelity!

Mouse control recommended (touch controls are just for fun)

Mobile browsers are sortof supported but more for curiosity value than anything else (these were added last minute and the UI is 'basic')

The Game

SquareBots: Tiny World Rescue! Match the blocks in groups of at least 3x3 squares to rescue your tiny robot buddies!

An homage to a 1993 classic (sadly apparently largely forgotten) MSDOS puzzle game 'Squarez Deluxe'. I took it, shook it up, juiced it and realised that adding more than two of the special block types was not going to happen on my budget! Fortunately I included the two most interesting ones: UNMATCHABLE blocks and BOMB blocks. I'm amazed at what the original dev achieved.

My record is 6m 30s to 'win' the game (i.e. reach the 'message'), if you enjoy it enough to get that far please let me know!

Controls

Mouse recommended and you'll need two buttons - ideally physical ones! Touch also supported although less recommended.

• Left click: place shape.
• Right click: rotate shape.

Notes

I budgeted three days (24 working hours) to work on this. As it turns out I found more time, approx 40h, which was fortunate as getting the block placement logic relatively solid was VERY HARD INDEED. It still has some issues, but hopefully they don't prevent enjoyment too much. With the rest of the time I was able to add a game loop and juice it into something approaching a complete game.

Gameplay Image

Known Bugs

1. It's possible to place the shape slightly inside the spawn area, causing a game over. I'll try and fix this ASAP.
2. It's possible to squeeze through single blocks.
3. That pesky 2x3 U shape has been the source of much pain. But it's so useful I don't want to remove it. Try rotating it if it misbehaves.

Thanks

• To family for again putting up with me being not-very-present during this process.
• To everyone that reviews my game and gives feedback.
• To everyone that participated in this jam. It's a top learning experience and the time limit means it fits with day job and other responsibilities.

Credits

- Menu scene: Bloodknight from the GDTV Discord.
- Robot sprites: https://opengameart.org/content/pixel-robot
- Metal match sound: Higgs01 https://freesound.org/people/Higgs01/sounds/430925
- Firework: https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/vfx/particles/cartoon-fx-remaster-free-109565
- Explosion: https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/vfx/particles/fire-explosions/comic-explosion-effect-317348
- Music: Eric Matyas https://soundimage.org/puzzle-music-7
- Backgrounds: Eric Matyas https://soundimage.org/images-home-page/
- Other sounds are new and/or sampled from CC0 sources.
- All other graphics (tiles, etc.) by me.
- (bad) Voiceover work also by yours truly.

Post Jam Bugfixes

• TBD!