Kullors, created by Jon Bartram—a Web design student from Bedford, UK—is a cute new puzzle game in which the objective is to mix and match colors to remove all the cute little kullors from each level. Just click on one to select it, then click on another of a matching color to pop both off the board.
Matching the kullors looks super easy at first (and it is!), but the real challenge comes when you run out of matching colors (and you always do!) and must begin to mix colors to make just the right combination of kullors to clear the board.
A color wheel is provided to help with the mixing. It is easy to become familiar with if you remember that Red, Green and Blue (RGB) kullors mix to produce a Cyan, Magenta, or Yellow (CMY) one, and vice versa. It's simple to see unless, of course, you have some form of colorblindness.
Analysis: Presentation wise, Kullors does everything right with its appealing saturated colors, eye-popping animations, and lively soundtrack. However, the time-based gameplay is dependent upon color perception and is therefore not a game for colorblind folks, nor for people who enjoy a relaxing, casual puzzle game. The color-dependency, the timer and the limited tries you get before the game ends reduces the accessibility of this game quite a bit. But give it a try. It's cute, easy to learn, and the soundtrack is quite charming (for a bit) and will likely have you dancing in your seat along with all the little kullors.
I do have some form of colorblindness..
:(
meh, it actually isnt too much of a problem
I like playing with color, but I agree that it would have been much better without the time limit and try limit. Oh well, I'll hope for more color-based games.
Alright, lets all say it together:
Awwwwwwww
It is strangely adorable, isn't it?
The time and try limits are kind of annoying, but it's still really fun. There goes my evening...
Well, I'd try this game if it ever finished to load. Am I the only one who can't play it?
Nevermind: it seems that I can no longer play any flash game or animation. Apparently something interferes. I'm looking for the cause.
That has happened to me before, Schmorgluck. Try uninstalling Flash, and reinstalling. That should fix it.
OK, found it! Apparently, for some weird reason, the XForms extension for FireFox prevents the Flash plugin from working properly. I deactivated it and now everything's alright.
Well, amusing game, yet a bit panicking: too hard too fast. I'll give it another try when I'm more in the mood.
I usually can play at Kongregate, but this never opens. All other games play fine, so it's not a flash problem for me.
Really? Hm, I just checked all the links, and they all seem to work fine for me. Weird.
I think this is a great idea, but I don't like the fact (as pointed out in the review) that you have both limited tries and limited time. In my opinion it should be one or the other. In fact, I think there should be two gameplay modes: an arcade mode based on time (but perhaps give you unlimited tries, or at leat a lot more than five) and a puzzle mode based on tries (with unlimited time). The former would be a fast-paced, think-on-your feet type of game that would reward reflexes and split-second thinking, while the second would be a slower, more deliberate type of game that would reward planning ahead and contemplation. Combining both limitations into one form makes this game a lot less fun than it should be.
That being said, I was actually doing fairly well until I got to the set of levels that introduced the black and white kullors. I had three tries left at that point, but even though it was supposedly the easiest level set (it was the furthest to the left, next to "Easiest"), I burned through those last three tries on the very first level in that set. No matter what I did I ended up with an odd kullor out. I think if the time limit hadn't been bearing down on me I could have easily figured out a way to get past the level, but I had no time to adjust to what was at that point an entirely new gameplay element--basically you have to change your style of playing, and there just wasn't enough time for me to do that. So I lost on that level, finishing with a score of 12,130. (It would be nice, now that I think of it, to have a final score screen that shows your score and time, maybe even breaking down your score as well, like there is at the end of each successfully completed level.)
So I liked this game, but not as much as I could have. I would have enjoyed the game much more had it been divided into puzzle and arcade modes. I noticed that I got a grade of C for every single level I completed. Apparently you get more points for mixing colors, but I really didn't think there was enough time to play around. I think a puzzle game would be completely viable if it focused on that aspect: finding the ideal combination to produce the maximum number of mixes. The arcade game, on the other hand, would focus on the time taken to clear the board. And I don't think unlimited tries would be unreasonable, if the time limit were reduced. Then it would be a matter of figuring out the board and getting through it as quickly as possible. (Then again, I'm the type of gamer who doesn't think there is anything wrong with players getting through an entire game without spending hours and hours in the attempt. For me, the challenge is in seeing if I can do it again, but better. But I suppose a different view would be to have players struggle to get through the first time, rather than trying to get them to play through more than once. Two different philosophies, I suppose.)
In fact, the more I think about it, the more I see a huge missed opportunity with this game... which is too bad, because I really do think it is a great idea, and I enjoyed it while it lasted.
I'd like a way to pick up where I left off -- if there's a save I'm missing it.
Great design, great idea, unfortunally some stupid game design decissions ruin it all. I would love this game if it wasn't for the timer and the limited tries.
On top of each Kullor in the Kullor wheel should be the number of each you have left. As is, there's no way you have enough time to take a complete inventory and think strategically.
Yup, Suho1004 summed it up well. After a couple of tries at the game, I got to "Easiest", it blew up in my face, and I probably won't bother going back. It's just not worth wading through level after level again, without saves, and with such likelihood that I will blow it at the same point again. The tricky ones start to scream for a screenshot, some meditation on strategy, then a mentally pre-programmed click marathon. Not probably what the designers had in mind, but unfortunately what they seem to be begging for. Oh well, better luck next time. Has anybody emailed them saying that their game could be 100x better with one or two design changes?
A great concept and good execution.
Might be even better with the addition of a non-timed option.
Many thanks for the consise review and the great feedback from everyone. Being new to casual game design I'm still a little wet behind the ears so everything is still learning proccess for me, fortunately there are great sites and communities like this to help developers like me get better.
Thanks again to everyone.
Hmmm...I think we should have three modes on that. Arcade, Puzzle, and Classic.
Classic is as it is now for those who want a really hard challenge.
I like the concept, but the game is unnecessarily strict in its hit-testing. I have to get it exactly within a blob, and with the blobs bouncing up and down, there's only a subset of its pixels that I can reliably click on.
Better, I think, would be to provide an invisible circular target around the blob, and leave it in one spot (don't bounce it up and down). If the player clicks on an intersection of two circles, check the player's selection and go with whatever matches.
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