The Retro Game That Never Was
Earlier this year, I had an idea for a game. Just a random off the cuff idea. But instead of letting the idea linger in my brain and possibly force me to foster resentment at the fact that it’s something I never pursued, I made it happen.. I made it REAL. That is why bl3i exists for me now, to let me create these ideas my mind conjures up, and to help others realise that they too can do what they dream of.
I shared the concept with some close friends, and in some shared social spaces online, ultimately leading me to the decision to create a prototype of sorts. It was well received, with people immediately challenging themselves to get high scores, and searching for bugs. I continued to modify the game to make it playable for all, whether web or mobile browsing. It was originally hosted on this page you’re looking at, but now if you’d like to play the free version, pay a visit to https://PlanckMan.com.
Steam
Following the success of the free web game, a close friend I have had for many years offered to support a Steam release. I could not turn down that opportunity. However, as I strongly believe that people should both feel and be rewarded for supporting what I do, I added more features not available in the free web version. RGB Mode was a great suggestion from a friend.
It was minorly arduous. But I also believe in making games as accessible as possible for anyone who wishes to play. As such, I wanted to include the ability to choose custom colours (for the colour blind, or just a personal taste preference) and allow the keys to be bound to any other key. The menus are also navigable using the bound keys set in the options.
The Arcade Machine
To coincide with the release of the game, and because I simply thought it would be something cool to do, especially with the tagline I created for the game “The Retro Game That never Was” – I thought.. let’s make an arcade machine! So I did. And made a video about it. You can watch that video here: https://youtu.be/HBB-BJVzHe0
I have a decent amount of experience with using keyboard switches for various projects, and microcomputers to essentially emulate or operate as other devices. As such, creating the framework for the technology was not too difficult. I did however stumble at some of the actual materials the machine was built from. Some of what I did was very new to me. Always be improving <3
Bonus
Thank you for reading, as a gift, have some concept artwork I created for the game before settling on the current design.
