Sadly, the world is hardly ever simple. Things are never as clear cut as dark and light, good and evil, or positive and negative. Instead we must come to grips with the complexities of a world etched in shades of gray while at the same time yearning for a simpler existence, one defined by the stark contrasts of black and white. In Justin Jaffray's puzzle-platform game, Black and White, we find that such existences may only appear simple while offering up no end of complex challenges to overcome.
Using your [arrow] keys to run and [Z] to jump, you guide two different creatures at the same time. The black creature goes in the same direction you are pushing while the white creature does the exact opposite. Your ultimate goal in each level is to simply direct each creature into the doorway of their own color. Of course, if it were that easy, there wouldn't be much of a game to play and you'll soon be treated to a number of whirling blades o' death, one way blocks, and switch activated blocks along with other obstacles to keep you on your toes.
Elegantly simple in appearance, Black and White has plenty of substance to go along with its good looks. The level design is impressive and some of the puzzles you'll be up against are really quite clever. At the same time Black and White offers up some fairly nice controls and more traditional platform obstacles thus balancing nicely the challenges for the brain and for the fingers. Unfortunately collision in the game could still use some tweaks and going through some narrow gaps can be more trouble than it's worth. Also, this game is in dire need of a save function and/or a level select option so you can come back to it at a later time. Still, Black and White delivers plenty of fun with lots of well designed levels that should satisfy any looking for the kind of platformer that keeps the gray matter working.
Pretty fun. There were some clever abuses of platforming mechanics in there (especially the one where white can't jump because she's underneath a bunch of blades).
One question: why the black and white theme? The colors didn't affect the puzzles at all.
Yeah, how do you beat that one where white can't jump?
Where's the "any" key?
Two levels made me pull my hair out, but apart from that it's great fun! I love those types of games.
A little help please...
Why can't I get both white and black to fall through the one way block? I am using chrome, and sometimes one will fall through or both will walk over the block, but both will not fall through.
Anyone else having this problem?
Buttons (or anyone else),
How do you do that level where the white is under all the spinning fans, but the buttons is up on a step? I can't figure it out!
Clicking the image opens the game in both a new tab and a new window.
Overall, a good game. Short but sweet.
the concept is brilliant so 5/5 but i must ask
are the controls really impossibly sensitive or is that just my personal lag issue?
Completely stuck on the level Buttons is referring to. There must be something basic I'm missing, because I can't find any combination of the known controls that result in anything other than death for White.
@Buttons:
It's in black and white because that was the theme of the reddit game jam that this was made for.
i read the title and was like : holy shizzmatron black and white flash version
i was sadly mistaken
I would not have called huge black and white shapes in the background that completely dominate the foreground "elegantly simple".
@Buttons about level with fans:
I may have done this out of sure luck, but I believe that I jumped as the white one was falling from the upper level to the lower level. It's a very small amount of time there, but it can be done.
What Genesis said was correct, was the only possible solution and it's what I did as well. Now I'm on the level with the drop down that you have to get both black and white to hit at the same time, ugh.
Power of posting, got past that level. Man, tricky one.
Okay, finished the game, it was fun and just the right amount of challenging. The hardest part for me was the reverse controls for white.
This is a fun little game, but it kind of reminds me of Yin Yang by Nitrome. Also, it really needs a mute button.
Wasn't there also another similar game (not Yin-yang and not Shift) where you had two black and white characters you controlled separately? I seem to recall it having mostly square blocks for the environment, and a scrolling screen.
I really liked the way the new mechanisms were introduced. The one-way blocks seemed kind of touchy in whether they'd trip or not. Didn't detract too much from the gameplay.
The game's inability to remember or show your progress strikes me as refreshing and innovative. Oh wait, I meant either insulting or just plain buggy.
I like the concept, but am finding the controls to be very buggy on Firefox (Mac). In the level with single spinning blades on the left, the whole screen whites out if I go into the blades, and won't always come back the way it is supposed to if you die. On the next level, with the multiple buttons, the white towers and the disappearing floor, the characters will sometimes get jammed running in one direction -- die, run, die again, etc. Hitting R doesn't fix this.
Carny Asada -- works perfectly on Safari on my mac.
AWESOME game, by the way... created by "A mind not merely twisted, but actually sprained!" to misquote Douglas Adams :-0
Needs rewind.
Honest to god, please help me on the level where the white is at the bottom-right corner with a button and the black is three blocks up from the white. I can't get the white to press the button(which disables the blocks) so the black can get the hell out of there! Its 100% impossible to get the white to press the button when the black is by the door covered in blocks!
Update