I'll get this if it's 1000 points or less.

Interesting. Could be a frantic 2-player game.

This game looks pretty cool and fun... hope it comes out soon to the wiiware... i hope this is between around 500-1000 wii points.

Hmm, coolz.

This just doesn't look like my kinda game

Does anyone actually know what is going on here? What is the point? It looks like you just literally shoot forever.

@Demon212

That's exactly what I was thinking, then I noticed that there is a gauge on top color-coded to each player, and when one player started to do really good, the color for that player started to fill more of the gauge than the other, and I think it is possible to destroy those moon things so you do have to be a little more careful about which block you shoot than they made it look.

all you have to do is just randomly shoot blocks endlessly? i still don't understand this game.

hey. look. another puzzle game that ill get. thats 2 in one year. a new record!

Hey everyone,
My name's Jacob Stevens, I'm a developer for MadStone. Thanks for checking out our game!

The objective of the game is to collect MadStones (moons in these screenshots) in the energy pool at the bottom of the screen. You do this by creating chain reactions of falling blocks that break each other and create a cascade toward the bottom of the screen.

Those of you who noticed the donut-shaped meter in the middle of the screen are very observant. As each player collects more and more moons, the meter fills up more in that player's favor. Eventunally, one player fills the meter and wins the match.

We just put the finishing touches on the game and are now testing it before we ship it to Nintendo to be released. We'll be putting out new screenshots and videos shortly. In the meantime, enjoy the other great titles on WiiWare!

Jacob Stevens
Riverman Media
www.rivermanmedia.com

^ Now isn't that something. Just shows how influential this site is getting. But to put something relevant to MadStone, the two-player looks enjoyable, but how would the single-player hold up?

still looks like shooting random blocks endlessly to me? can someone elaborate onthe strategy here?

Virus--
The single player mode is a sequence of levels, each with different goals. In some modes you win by filling up the donut meter, just like in 2-player versus mode. In other modes you race the CPU to get a certain score. And in some levels there is no opponent at all, and you must solve a puzzle within a certain number of moves. We've got 5 difficulty levels in single player. Beginner is super easy and someone who's never played the game should be able to get through it no sweat. Master mode though, well, let's just say I can barely pass it and I play the game several hours a day!

Strade--
The MadStones (Moons) won't fall into the energy pool unless the blocks below them are broken. Blocks come at two "damage levels." Undamaged blocks must be damaged twice before they break. Damaged blocks only have to be damaged once. A block can be damaged manually by the player, or by another block falling on top of it. It is by making use of this second method that you can create chain reactions that will set the whole screen falling. The best players don’t break random blocks, they specifically target blocks that will set off chain reactions.

Have fun!

Jacob Stevens
RiverMan Media

mmmm i wonder when the game will come out hopefully next month. how do you do powers and what do they do if anybody knows.

i am not trying to be rude, but can't you still break random blocks to get through the level? eventually if you click enough you will get it. and if you get lucky, you will get big combos just clicking random blocks.

After a second look, it reminds of Drill Dozer for some reason. And wow, thanks for the reply Stevens! Still, like strade32, I question if "strategic-clicking" can beat "mad-clicking." I can see how clicking only the undamaged blocks could trigger a combo after a while, but does it have that great of an advantage over just randomly clicking blocks?

Hi Strade,
Good question! Breaking random blocks would sort of be like placing random blocks in Tetris. Yes, you probably would eventually score some lines, but you'd be far outpaced by a player that's being more careful with their moves.

Just to give you an idea, when I do random moves as fast as I can against a medium level CPU, it outscores me by a factor of ten. (And wins really fast.)

I promise, there's plenty to think about and plenty to master!

-Jacob Stevens
Riverman Media

ok, that is all i need to know, thank you, and thanks for the replies.

@Riverman Jacob
What is your targeted release date and what (if any) online features (leaderboards please) will this game have?

Blaster,
The game itself is done. We're giving it a final polish and sending it to Nintendo for their testing process. Unfortunately, Nintendo has asked me not to say any more than that about the release date.

Unfortunately, being a tiny team of three people, we aren't able to include all the features we'd like to. This includes online features.

I'm hoping that if you all like the game enough, we'll get the funding to do a much expanded version with online play for Disc-based Wii and DS!

Jacob

@Riverman Jacob
is your team happy with Nintendo so far. don't you find it frustrating that you cant tell other people when your game is going to come out. sometimes developers don't even get notified when their game comes out so i hear. Do you find any problems with them.

he's probably not even allowed to say that.

lol i guess so

Andy,
Haha, I don't exactly know what I'm allowed to say, but I'll say it anyway:

I've absolutely loved working with Nintendo on WiiWare!

I've worked with several other distributors and publishers, and no other company has consistently been so helpful or dedicated to bringing quality games to their service. They give us the support we need. Their payment system is better. They're more open-minded about different concepts.

As far as the release dates, this is more of a logistical concern. They can't give a release date because they don't know if MadStone will pass their internal tests! If we fail a bunch of times, the game will come out later.

But yeah, Nintendo is far and away the best publisher/platform I've ever worked with. As of right now, I don't have much desire to develop for any non-Nintendo platforms.

Jacob

i do hope that is coming from the heart and not nintendo threatening you say something nice . just joking

riverman
thanks for answering my (And his) questions. Its refreshing to hear good stuff about Ninty nowadays.

same thing he said

so we can except more games on the wii or wiiware right? lol thanks for answering my question it makes sense now.

andy836- we can always "except" more, but i wonder if we can EXPECT more? haha

Well this is shaping up to be much better than expected. I'm glad that guy from Riverman Media was here to explain everything for us, now it's a must buy for me!

im not into puzzlers

I am, and this game looks pretty good

hmm another puzzle game ill probalay give this a miss to be honest

So their is no online features present.
Well riverman jacob do you know what that means?
NO BUY FROM ME!
I apoligize for insluting you.

@Super Sonic
wow dood calm down itz a party of 3 and they made this game =DD
i give uhm props =]
they did good =] they said they wanted to include online but they couldnt

Your right Finalkingdom13. Online isn't everything and I know that now. So if Riverman Jacob wasn't able to add this because of lack of support I'll forgive him. In fact I might buy it as long it is 500 Wii Points.

The game looks really slick. I like the look of it.
I'm going to guess 800 points will be the price.

Now that the Riverman guy explained everything, me is thinking i might buy this

I wonder how many blocks it'll be.

Looks very interesting. Now that the game's web site has confirmed to me that it's a "hold the Wiimote sideways" kind of game, I just might give it a try! Man, so many Wiiware games I'd like to download, so little memory!

lol, tell me about it.

Anyone download it yet?

I've really liked how some developers have come to Wii Ware World to talk about the games they have made =) That way, they can hear everyones opinion about the game =) This game is looking to be good, Riverman Jacob, but I will wait for a review =)

this game is kinda like meteos with the protecting your planet and destroying others

More of these puzzle games? Would it kill them to develop something a little more creative?

Don't shoot the messenger but...ouch.

Goin to download this game now and play it!!

Funny enough, one of the three developers on this project is one of my college professors (Jacob is a fairly recent alumni from my college =P). We played it for a while today, and it was quite a bit of fun! Once you really grasp the mechanics, it becomes much more than simple button mashing and is a very fun multi-player affair. I haven't tried single player, but I'll give it a shot when I download it onto my own Wii later tonight.

IGN reviewers can be quite harsh...even by looking at this game I would think it would deserve better than 4/10. I won't be surprised if it were actually pretty fun.

This looks to have the same awesome addictiveness as Magnetica Twist-and, though shorter (?), it's 200 pts cheaper!

So this is basically the same thing as Pokemon Puzzle League but 200 points less and uses up fewer blocks.

what's there doesn't seem worth 800 points to me. it feels like a flash game i could find online for free.
it's pretty, but there just isn't that much to it.
i like the puzzles a lot, but i wish there was a separate puzzle mode.
not a terrible game, but definitely not a great game.
oh, and it gets tiring shaking the remote (but maybe i am just shaking too hard)

The contest is still going on! It's motivating me to get the game!

If its similar to Pokemon Puzzle League, then that's fine by me!