Sixteen-year old developer Noobjam, in collaboration with The Game Homepage brings us tChu, a clever puzzler inspired by Chu Chu Rocket.
Your goal is to guide all the Chus to a portal by placing arrows on the playing field. Complicating this endeavor is the fact that there are two kinds of Chus — red and blue — that can never be allowed to meet. And if you think you can rely on the walls to guide both types along the same path, think again! Red and blue Chus turn opposite ways when they hit a wall. Even worse, there are evil Chu counterparts, the green and yellow Nyans, which must be kept clear of all Chus as well as the portals.
tChu is most definitely a planner's delight. Once you place the arrows and start the Chus, that's it — if you want to make changes you'll have to start the level over. You'll probably have to do that a lot anyway. The early levels aren't difficult, but it takes a while to get used to the Chu behavior, and the later levels will have you resetting constantly as you encounter many unforeseen collisions. Usually, levels are designed to take advantage of the different handedness of the two Chus, but the more devious ones turn it against you and make you overcome the natural Chu tendencies.
Unfortunately, there is a bit of an oversight which interferes in the planning of your solution. If you do allow red and blue Chus to meet, or to be eaten by a Nyan, or if a Nyan reaches a portal, the level resets immediately. Sometimes this forces you to deal with the smaller problem of avoiding collisions first, rather than focusing on the larger problem of planning your path. Maybe it's just the way my mind works, but I'd prefer the Nyans and Chus to keep running even if I've already failed a level, in order to see they will behave later on. Still, it's not a deal-breaking problem, and it doesn't overshadow the many difficult but great levels just waiting to be solved. With 90 of them plus a level editor, it's enough to keep a person busy for quite a long time.
(Gesundheit!)
Why do some developers leave the frames per second (FPS) counter on their production games? It's unnecessarily distracting. =/
The first thing I thought of when I say the title was, "Cool! Cthulhu!" Sadly, no H.P. Lovecraft. But the game is pretty fun, but I couldn't enjoy it as much as I should have because I am very angry. My computer won't let me play Portal. :(
Wow... This is exactly the kind of games that I chicken out just by reading what i should do... Surely way to complicated for me...
Sure I'll cahnge my mind and have a look at it later, though - I can never resist :)
It's an interesting game, but boy is it ugly. I had to quit on account of the horrendous busyness... Give me blix any day.
I'm up to level 29:Something Easy Hannah Montana.
Can't figure it out.
If you can get past the awkward interface and the busy, almost dizzying, graphics, it really is a decent puzzler. Once you actually start playing, the gameplay isn't nearly as confusing as it initially sounds. I agree that it would be nice if the Chus kept running after you died, but in some of the levels the collision factor would make that kind of useless anyway, at least to someone spatially challenged like myself.
I can't wait to finish and start tinkering with the level editor.
Russell, as for level 29:
Solution for level 29
nice game, but the graphics are too much, its hard to see what is and isnt usable and what the game can doo.
need a new graphic artist to elevate this one above confusing.
help in the 30th level - multitudinous...
I can't get level 35
how do you do level 75?
never mind, i did 75 -- made me feel smart :)
help i'm stuck on level 35 evrey time i play the bule one get killed
"Chu" is the Japanese word for mouse ("Pikachu" literally means "sparkling mouse"), and I think Noobjam tacked the "t" onto the front to trick people into thinking the game would have something to do with Cthulhu. Interesting that he kept the "t" lowercase, perhaps in tribute to all the "i" applications on a Mac.
Regardless, this is a relentlessly addictive game, and a very infuriating one. Addictive because the puzzles are intricate, and mind-bogglingly frustrating because of how hard it is to keep track of what's going on.
@Sylocat: Actually it was originally called Chu Chu Chu tChu is short for triple Chu :)
My mistake. '^_^
Is the level editor not working for anyone else? I click on the stuff in it and nothing happens.
WHERE'S THE GAME!?
Sorry for my rude comment earlier, but could someone help me with level 10?
http://www.thegamehomepage.com/play/tchu/foodchain/edadeadfadgadhadiacjacdbfebbfbbgbbhbbibcjbcdctecpiccjccddcedefdegdehdcidcjdcdeceeefeggeeheciecjecdfcefgffegfghfcifcjfddglegdfgdggdhghigbjg~0~0~0~0/
Update