:Puzzlejuice
{{Short description|2012 video game}}
{{Use American English|date=June 2014}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2014}}
{{Infobox video game
| title = Puzzlejuice
| image = Puzzlejuice icon.png
| caption = App icon
| developer = Sirvo
| publisher = Sirvo
| programmer = Asher Vollmer
| artist = Greg Wohlwend
| composer = Jimmy Hinson
| released = January 19, 2012
| genre = Puzzle
| modes = Single-player
}}
Puzzlejuice is a 2012 indie puzzle video game for iOS produced and developed by video game company Sirvo. The game is a combination of Tetris, tile-matching, and Boggle: players rearrange falling tetromino blocks into rows of similar colors, which turn into letters that are cleared from the board by forming words. The fast-paced game also includes challenges and power-ups. The development team consisted of three people; programmer Asher Vollmer initially developed the game alone, before reaching out to artist Greg Wohlwend for advice on the aesthetics. Composer Jimmy Hinson produced the game's music.
The game was released January 19, 2012 to what video game review score aggregator Metacritic called "generally favorable" reviews.{{r|Metacritic}} Multiple reviewers mentioned the difficulty involved in juggling the three game components simultaneously. The game was released on Android through publisher GameClub on June 19, 2020.
Gameplay
File:Puzzlejuice screenshot 1.png In Puzzlejuice, the player turns falling tetrominos into letters, and those letters into words and points.{{r|Edge review}} The player taps and drags on the touchscreen to rotate and position multicolored tetrominos that fall from the top of the screen.{{r|TouchArcade review}} When the player completes a solid row of tiles, or arranges the fallen blocks such that four or more like-colored tiles touch, the color tiles turn into letters.{{r|Edge review}} Players connect these letter tiles with their eight adjacent tiles (in ordinal directions) to make words. Words of sufficient length are cleared from play as well as their adjacent tiles{{emdash}}thus longer words clear more blocks. The iPhone version shows a magnified version of the tile obscured by the player's finger near the finger.{{r|TouchArcade review}} The game has been compared to a cross between Boggle, Tetris, and tile-matching.{{r|Edge review|TouchArcade review|VideoGamer.com review}}
The game also offers objectives to be accomplished over multiple sessions, like making a six-letter word, or clearing three or more rows at once. This unlocks power-ups{{r|TouchArcade review}} that occasionally provide opportunities such as halting the rate of new tetromino drops, and removing blocks from the screen.{{r|Edge review}} Up to three power-ups can be selected to be used in each game.{{r|TouchArcade review}}
The object of the game is to get the highest score. There are two play modes: Zen and Core. There is a 90-second time limit in Zen mode. In Core mode, players play until the screen fills with poorly placed tetrominos, similar to Tetris. Core has two difficulties.{{r|TouchArcade review}} On the easiest difficulty, three-letter words suffice, but harder modes require five-letter words at a minimum.{{r|Edge review}} A score multiplier grows as players maintain a combo of multiple words created in succession, and resets if players are too slow.{{r|Edge review}} Scores are uploaded to Game Center.{{r|TouchArcade review}}
Development
File:Greg Wohlwend and Asher Vollmer (Puzzlejuice) at the 2012 PAX 10.JPG Puzzlejuice was built by a group called Collaboratory and later renamed Sirvo.{{r|TouchArcade review}} The three-person team{{r|Gamezebo: Threes! review}} consisted of programmer Asher Vollmer, artist Greg Wohlwend, and composer Jimmy Hinson.{{r|CNET: marvel}} The game began as Vollmer's idea.{{r|Polygon: a year}} He later reached out to Wohlwend for aesthetic advice, which resulted in a 365-message chain email and the final product. Wohlwend and Vollmer did not speak a word to each other{{emdash}}or use a medium outside of Gmail and Twitter{{emdash}}throughout the entire development process. The title was inspired by what Vollmer described as the "EXTREME" American culture of the 1990s, exemplified by the board game Crossfire and juice-filled Gushers fruit snacks.{{r|dev diary 1}} A similar game, Spelltower, was released during Puzzlejuice{{'}}s development, but Vollmer and Wohlwend ultimately considered their game sufficiently different to proceed.{{r|TUAW}} Puzzlejuice was selected for the PAX 10, a spotlighted group of indie games, in July 2012.{{r|Joystiq: PAX 10}} The game was released as a universal app for iPhone and iPad{{r|TouchArcade review}} on January 19, 2012.{{r|Joystiq: release date}} Vollmer expressed an interest in bringing the game to Steam Greenlight in August 2012.{{r|Joystiq: Greenlight}}
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Reception
{{Video game reviews
| MC = 86/100{{r|Metacritic}}
| Edge = 8/10{{r|Edge review}}
| VG = 8/10{{r|VideoGamer.com review}}
| rev1 = Pocket Gamer
| rev1Score = 7/10{{r|Pocket Gamer review}}
| rev2 = Slide to Play
| rev2Score = 4/4{{r|Slide to Play review}}
| rev3 = TouchArcade
| rev3Score = 4.5/5{{r|TouchArcade review}}
}}
The game received "generally favorable" reviews, according to video game review score aggregator Metacritic.{{r|Metacritic}} Multiple reviewers compared its core mechanics to a combination of Boggle, Tetris, and a tile-matching game,{{r|Edge review|TouchArcade review|VideoGamer.com review}} such as Bejeweled{{r|Edge review}} or Puyo Puyo.{{r|VideoGamer.com review}} Comparing word games, Edge called it the "fast-paced action-adventure" to Spelltower{{'s}} "survival horror".{{r|Edge review}} Multiple reviewers mentioned the difficulty in mentally balancing the various components of the game,{{r|Edge review|VideoGamer.com review}} which VideoGamer.com compared to "doing open heart surgery while playing Dance Dance Revolution{{-"}}.{{r|VideoGamer.com review}}
Edge suggested playing on the game's hardest difficulty, which they found the most engaging. They called it "mayhem, ... elegantly handled".{{r|Edge review}} Pocket Gamer{{'s}} Harry Slater said the game "forces your brain to think in ways that it's never been asked to before".{{r|Pocket Gamer review}} Edge compared the game's challenges to Jetpack Joyride{{'s}} missions, and complimented the connection between Vollmer's "magpie" design and Wohlwend's "luminously flat pastel-colored art".{{r|Edge review}} Phil Eaves of Slide to Play wrote that the player should play with headphones or else miss a "wonderful" chiptune soundtrack.{{r|Slide to Play review}}
Edge called the game "too hectic and exhausting" to return to often.{{r|Edge review}} VideoGamer.com{{'s}} Mark Brown struggled with registering the right input on the small screen, and found himself inadvertently making words from letters instead of moving color blocks.{{r|VideoGamer.com review}} Slide to Play{{'s}} Eaves was also troubled by the controls, and recommended the iPad version for the extra screen space.{{r|Slide to Play review}} Pocket Gamer{{'s}} Slater said it was too easy to clear the board with three-letter words, and thus that the design execution was not as robust as the concept, never being "more than the sum of its strange combination of parts".{{r|Pocket Gamer review}} While TouchArcade{{'s}} Troy Woodfield called the gameplay "not ... totally original" in how it combines three common game ideas, he still found the combination "a stroke of genius", and highly recommended the game as "a breath of fresh air".{{r|TouchArcade review}} Brown of VideoGamer.com agreed that Puzzlejuice distinguished itself from the crowded iOS puzzle game genre,{{r|VideoGamer.com review}} and Slide to Play{{'s}} Eaves called its balance between game types "perfect".{{r|Slide to Play review}}
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References
{{reflist|refs=
{{cite web |url=http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57618499-94/mobile-puzzle-game-threes-is-a-design-marvel-worth-your-time/ |access-date=March 20, 2014 |title=Mobile puzzle game Threes is a design marvel worth your time |last1=Statt |first1=Nick |date=February 6, 2014 |work=CNET |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140212233904/http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57618499-94/mobile-puzzle-game-threes-is-a-design-marvel-worth-your-time/ |archive-date=February 12, 2014 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all }}
{{cite magazine |url=http://www.edge-online.com/review/puzzlejuice-review/ |access-date=June 12, 2014 |title=Puzzlejuice review |author=Edge Staff |date=January 25, 2012 |magazine=Edge |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714145318/http://www.edge-online.com/review/puzzlejuice-review/ |archive-date=July 14, 2014 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}
{{cite web |url=http://www.gamezebo.com/2014/02/10/threes-review/ |access-date=June 13, 2014 |title=Threes! Review |last1=Werner |first1=Jillian |date=February 10, 2014 |work=Gamezebo |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140716153420/http://www.gamezebo.com/2014/02/10/threes-review/ |archive-date=July 16, 2014 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all }}
{{cite web |url=http://www.joystiq.com/2012/08/28/puzzlejuice-desktop-debuting-at-pax-coming-to-steam-greenlight/ |access-date=June 13, 2014 |title=Puzzlejuice desktop debuting at PAX, coming to Steam Greenlight |last1=Kubba |first1=Sinan |date=August 28, 2012 |work=Joystiq |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150128185215/http://www.joystiq.com/2012/08/28/puzzlejuice-desktop-debuting-at-pax-coming-to-steam-greenlight/ |archive-date=January 28, 2015 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all }}
{{cite web |url=http://www.joystiq.com/2012/07/13/this-years-pax-10-js-joust-offspring-fling-puzzlejuice-and/ |access-date=June 13, 2014 |title=This year's PAX 10: JS Joust, Offspring Fling!, Puzzlejuice and more |last1=Hinkle |first1=David |date=July 13, 2012 |work=Joystiq |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714153512/http://www.joystiq.com/2012/07/13/this-years-pax-10-js-joust-offspring-fling-puzzlejuice-and/ |archive-date=July 14, 2014 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all }}
{{cite web |url=http://www.joystiq.com/2012/01/18/puzzlejuice-summoned-to-app-store-tomorrow/ |access-date=June 13, 2014 |title=Puzzlejuice summoned to App Store tomorrow |last1=Fletcher |first1=JC |date=January 18, 2012 |work=Joystiq |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714135611/http://www.joystiq.com/2012/01/18/puzzlejuice-summoned-to-app-store-tomorrow/ |archive-date=July 14, 2014 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all }}
{{cite web |url=https://www.metacritic.com/game/puzzlejuice/critic-reviews/?platform=ios-iphoneipad |title=Puzzlejuice Critic Reviews for iPhone/iPad |work=Metacritic |access-date=June 12, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151203142954/http://www.metacritic.com/game/ios/puzzlejuice/critic-reviews |archive-date=December 3, 2015 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all }}
{{cite web |url=http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/iPhone/Puzzlejuice/review.asp?c=37172 |access-date=June 12, 2014 |work=Pocket Gamer |publisher=Steel Media |title=Puzzlejuice review |last=Slater |first=Harry |date=January 23, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304081543/http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/iPhone/Puzzlejuice/review.asp?c=37172 |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all }}
{{cite web |url=http://www.polygon.com/2014/2/6/5386200/why-it-took-a-year-to-make-and-then-break-down-an-amazing-puzzle-game |access-date=February 22, 2014 |title=Why it took a year to make, and then break down, an amazing puzzle game |last1=Kuchera |first1=Ben |date=February 6, 2014 |work=Polygon |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140302181123/http://www.polygon.com/2014/2/6/5386200/why-it-took-a-year-to-make-and-then-break-down-an-amazing-puzzle-game |archive-date=March 2, 2014 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all }}
{{cite web |url=http://toucharcade.com/2012/01/20/puzzlejuice-review/ |access-date=June 12, 2014 |work=TouchArcade |title='Puzzlejuice' Review - A Mashup of Tetris, Match-3 and Boggle |last=Woodfield |first=Troy |date=January 20, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140607153734/http://toucharcade.com/2012/01/20/puzzlejuice-review/ |archive-date=June 7, 2014 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all }}
{{cite web |url=http://www.tuaw.com/2012/02/10/the-puzzlejuice-emails-document-the-nitty-gritty-of-ios-developm/ |access-date=June 13, 2014 |title=The Puzzlejuice emails document the nitty gritty of iOS development |last1=Schramm |first1=Mike |date=February 10, 2012 |work=TUAW |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150130201136/http://www.tuaw.com/2012/02/10/the-puzzlejuice-emails-document-the-nitty-gritty-of-ios-developm/ |archive-date=January 30, 2015 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all }}
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External links
{{Commons category-inline}}
- {{Official website}}
{{Greg Wohlwend}}
{{Portal bar|Video games}}
{{good article}}
Category:Single-player video games