Blake Strongflank
A downloadable game for Windows and macOS
You make the first jump over the acid pit, you bounce off the wall between the steaming hot pipes, only to explode in a shower of pixellated blood as you come face to face with a spinning blade.
The game has a pixel art style, puzzle platformer action and oddly adorable death animations. The challenging room by room puzzles will give you the drive to have "one more go" and make it to the next door.
UPDATE - Thanks to some great feedback - a quick note. Wall jumping works with the left stick or left/right arrow keys only. You DO NOT need to use the jump button to wall jump.
Features
- 90 rock hard levels
- Jump, air jump and double jump to solve puzzles
- Awesome chiptune soundtrack
- Pixellated blood (if you like that sort of thing)
**This is the BETA version of Blake Strongflank, the full version will include 100 levels and the challenge modes.**
NOTE Game is optimised for 360 controllers. If you encounter issues using other gaming controllers please try x360ce to manage your mapping. https://github.com/x360ce/x360ce#readme
Status | In development |
Platforms | Windows, macOS |
Rating | Rated 4.6 out of 5 stars (16 total ratings) |
Author | almostgames |
Genre | Platformer |
Tags | chiptune, Controller, old-skool, Pixel Art, Puzzle-Platformer |
Average session | A few seconds |
Languages | English |
Inputs | Keyboard, Xbox controller, Gamepad (any) |
Links | Twitter/X |
Download
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Comments
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Really good game, has great potential, one suggestion is being able to change the size of the game or to just have it stick to the border of the window, also in 505 to the left of the door if you jump while behind the stone bricks you can see his head, just thought i should mention that :D
First of all, I gotta credit your game. I think its awesome, and I've beaten it multiple times. I've also found all the secret rooms, and Mario and some other red girl. But I think you should make it so you could access any level after completing it. Anyway I hope you will release the full game someday, but I have a few questions.
Are there any more secret characters or rooms or anything else? And when will you be making and releasing the full game? Will you be adding challenge mode in the full version?
<3 Jesper
I've beat the game so many times i can't even count but i have a few questions:
Will the full game ever come out? Are you still developing it?
I found all the secret rooms in the demo, what do they do exactly? How do you interact with them? (What does mario do?)
Will the full game be on Steam? I think it has the potential, the controls are so awesome and i think it's the main reason this game is so addictive.
All in all great game, would love to play the full version.
Haha, I can't believe you found Mario! I think you might be the first or only person to do that. Excellent work.
The secrets exist to unlock a final world of ludicrously difficult levels. In the full version you would be confronted with an end screen where you can go right to the Exit for the basic ending or head left through the secret door (provided you had found all the purple screens) and take on the final 10 levels.
I'm not actively working on the full version of Blake at the moment due to a couple of different external factors but it is something I would love to come back and complete one day.
Thank you for your kind words and I'm really glad you enjoyed the controls and the movement - it's the part I was most focused on when I made it.
i've also beat the game quite a few times (along with dome of my friends) but i was wondering if you could tell us how many secret characters there are? i found Mario and i remember finding a girl character, but have never been able to find her again, or maybe i was just hallucinating, its happened before. if you do end up finishing the game could you please move the part where the secret characters are? it bugs me how Mario is kind of in the middle left of the bottom of the screen, it makes me think that there is a lot more hidden characters, or that i mist a bunch in the previous levels.
thanks for making a great game! i'll be looking forward for the full version if it ever comes out!
Thank you for your kind words! I'm really glad you enjoyed playing the game. I will bear your ideas in mind if and when I make the final version.
Hello! I really enjoyed your game, it was fun and stressful but it always made me want to finish the game (even though I was a bit far off) and the design was cool and those lovely death animations were indeed a highlight! I made a let's play of your game here~
so i noticed: so secrets why so many? what do they do ???????? i need answers
wheres the full game?
Great game, really easy at the start but at the 500 mark it gets hard i think that the animations are a bit too long, 8.5/10
Hello cookie0329, thank you for playing and for your feedback! :D
I played Blake Strongflank on my weekly indie game series Games and CHiLL. I enjoyed the challenges that the levels presented and might even give it a second run or a full playthrough on the channel!
I remember the video, it was great! Would love to see you play more.
Played this after watching Jupi playing it. Cool game! I found super meat boy and Dustforce too hard, but this is just right. At least until room 408 when I got stuck. Love the music too!
Thanks for playing. Glad you enjoyed it!
Let me know if you want any hints to get past 408
Really challenging game!
Thanks for playing! Awesome job. I know you can finish it - keep going
We came across this little number and had it reviewed. "A puzzle platformer that is devilishly difficult!" 8.5/10. http://bit.ly/29gwUoC
Thanks for the review and the awesome score! I challenge you to finish it, I know you can do it...
:DHey it's a good game! We are starting our first ever live plays this Saturday hopefully! We intend to include your game soon. Love the pixel art. Yummy!
Great game! It played very smoothly and the controls and everything else was perfect! I was able to play the whole thing with the arrow keys. It's been forever since I've played one of these type of games since a very old ninja game that I used to play on the pc (don't remember what it was called). I found out something that you might or might not want to fix (personally, I think it would be fun to leave it since it gives the player a sense of "Holy sh** that was super lucky!" it did with me haha it happend to me twice) which is, sometimes, by a miracle, you land next to one of the saws and not die, literally right next to one (not on the level that had a little gap for landing in between two). Like on saws that are on the edge. I bet the odds of it happening aren't that much but still, just so you know that there's some space that someone could use to land next to one and not die. It's not really a problem but just letting you know. Oh and I loved the reference in room 305! That's one of my favorite childhood games.
Thank you so much for playing. Glad you enjoyed it. I wanted it to feel like an old skool shareware game, back in the days of arrow key games.
I think I'll that little pixel gap in. The way I see it, if you've got the skills to do it, it should be allowed
There's lots of little references in there. How far did you get?
With the references, I only knew the Zelda one. I don't know that many games so that one was the only one I recognized. I beat the demo and it was great! It was very challenging.
Made a video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BO5Zqd1lV9o
Thanks for playing guys! Really enjoyed the video. Thinking I should rename the game "Damnit!" 😃
I really liked the game and I am looking forward to what you make in the future.
I absolutely loved the game and am currently stuck on 909. But I suggest you guys make it so we just respawn on the screen and not do that little loading screen. It gets very annoying. Other than that. Great game!
Thank you for playing. Really glad you enjoyed it so far. You can quick restart after you die by pressing R on your keyboard or the back button on a 360 pad. Let me know if you're still stuck on 909 and want a hint! 😃
Hey, I dug this a lot! Really fun Super Meat Boy-like. Some feedback, since it's still in beta.
-Having the wall jump be activated with just one key, rather than the usual two, feels really nice and makes a lot of sense! This was a super nice touch.
-Going through the exit door doesn't need to be a button press--if I get to the exit door, I'll obviously want to go through it!
-Respawn times could be much shorter. Steal the instant deaths and respawns from Meat Boy too. ;)
-I think there are a lot of tiiiiny tweaks you could make to the controls to make the game feel a little better too. For example, making it so that the upwards motion of a jump only lasts as long as the up arrow is pressed--this would change how the game is played a little bit and might require reworking some of the levels, like 503, but would make the moment-to-moment experience feel a little juicer. (Probably!) Maybe play with the acceleration a little bit too, during the split second between pressing the left or right arrow and reaching full speed?
-Some of the cooler particle effects feel a little out of place, haha. Like the cloud of blood that appears when you die--definitely rad as hell, but doesn't totally jive with the art style.
Really enjoyed my time with this though! Very fun platformer with some great level design. I like how the levels are sort of puzzle-y, and that you sort of need to figure out the right way to jump through them, rather than just executing a path you already know. Looking forward to playing the final version!
Hi there,
Thank you for the awesome feedback, all really good points that I'll bear in mind for the full version.
Glad you enjoyed the game and got the best of the puzzley type gameplay.
Look forward to sharing the full version with you!
Oh. One thing. Did you find any of the secrets? ;)
Not yet! I played up until world 7, I think--I'll go back to it eventually! :D
So i finally beat the game
Just one question how many secret rooms did you add to the beta game
There are 9 secret rooms. One for every world.
Great work on beating it. Hope you had fun!
Thanks for playing and for the excellent feedback!
Great work on finishing the levels. Did you find any of the secret rooms?
While being another game in the long line of ultra-difficult platformers, Blake Strongflank does not disappoint in the least.
The difficulty creeps up on you. One moment you'll be cruising through some of these levels, the next you'll be throwing your controller against the wall for not getting the double-jump on the exact pixel you need to clear the acid.
Controls are good, graphics and sound are excellent, gameplay as well.
Overall, very good game! Gonna continue where I left off tonight!
Thanks man! Really enjoyed the video. Can't wait to see you tackle some of the real monstrously tricky rooms.
Love the game !! spend most of the transatlantic flight playing the game. Very addictive.
International Blake the Jet Setter! Hmm, there's a sequel in there somewhere.
Thanks for playing!
LVL 907 getting back HOW
Hey! Great work getting so far. It's all down to super specific timing. You have to jump up the wall with the red pipe overhang, wall jump left at the last minute then air jump to loop all the way over to the right.
You just have to get the timing just right, not too early and not too late.
Good luck! :D
looks good
Thanks for playing! How far did you get?
LITTERALLY STUCK ON LVL 610
got any tips
Hey! Great work on getting so far.
Are you stuck trying to get to the terminal or trying to get back after switching off the electric?
getting back
It's a quick wall jump off the left side, then key thing is to save your double jump until you're about to hit the red pipe.
Good luck!
Oh man. Alright, I beat the game in one sitting. That was pretty brutal, by the end there. Two of the 900 levels (903 and I think 901) made me notice the unforgiving nature of the jump timing - either there's a frame delay on the jump or it's not picking up interframe input until the next frame, which would not be an issue unless framerate is locked at 30 or 60 fps or something. Fraps won't give me a framerate count so I'm not sure.
907 was basically impossible until I switched to controller; my fingers can't do all of that at once, apparently, but toggling on a stick in short-time-frame sync with a jump is apparently much easier. 910 was brutal. It was difficult to execute, yes, but I figured out the correct motion pretty quickly, and had to spend the next fifty lives guess-and-checking every possible jump-off-point and midair jump timing until I found the correct one. then dying at least three times to the sawblade on top of the left-side pillar didn't help the situation.
I definitely like the game, though. The auto-walljumping was novel, though a little strange, and definitely killed me a couple of times sliding down vertical shafts - trying to move away from the wall resulted in a suicide jump into a pipe. the walljump-direction limiting was a little strange; I get it, you need to prevent climbing, but there were a few levels where I would want to walljump around a hazard and then land on the inner wall of the next platform over, which I could not because walljumping simply didn't work. If this was somehow explained graphically (character leaps and points in a direction and doesn't turn back around even when he is falling back in the other direction), that could help, but otherwise I think I would recommend allowing for walljumps on different walls pointing the same direction, or design levels such that it is not tempting to try.
Side note: it might be nice to get some indicator of whether double-jump is still available, e.g. Mute Crimson + sparkles or Tinertia's backpack glow? Also, the death-respawn time is frustratingly long. (yes, two seconds is frustratingly long. The quickest comparison is Super Meat Boy, which puts you back in the game in a fraction of a second, and is awesome, and despite being ultrahard, is not frustrating). If the death animations are important, maybe don't also make us wait for the screen-cover fade?
Anyways, cool stuff! I'll definitely be back for the last ten levels when the full version is out. Good luck!
Awesome work! You've got some real skills to beat the game in one sitting.
Thank you for the excellent, in depth feedback. I'm going to bear all of this in mind for the full version.
Can't wait to see what you think of the final 10 levels! :D
Cheers man! Thanks for playing. How far have you got so far?
Wicked stuff mate. I'll try and get a gameplay video up soon for my tens of(ten) YouTube followers :)
Finally finished the game.
Man, that last level was hard! :O
But I really liked it! :-D
Awesome work! Congratulations!
The full version will have an extra 10 ultra hard levels to keep you on your toes.
Thank you for playing, please share with anyone who you think might like it too!
And keep an eye out on Twitter, @almostgames for updates on the full version!
Hey! Blake's really cool. Love the tunes. Was really tough, but once I got the hang of wall jumping without using the second jump (press the other direction), got through a lot more.
Thank you for the kind words and for the feedback on the controls. I'm going to look into how to make the wall jump mechanics more clear. Can you suggest anything that would have helped you?
Can you please tell me which button on the keyboard represents the b button on the controller?
You know the one that turns switches on and off.
No problem! It's the down arrow by default but you can remap it on the settings screen.
:D
So I have given Blake a pretty decent go now and have to say its very enjoyable. One thing to note is its very hard although i am not very good at games.
I know people love games that are hard and this will be right up there street.
I can see there has been a lot of time put in to the mechanics and it feels really solid.
Thanks for giving it a go! It's definitely on the tougher side. Glad you enjoyed it.
This was fun! But I didn't manage that last level...
Thanks for playing! Looks like you're hitting the jump button to wall jump and you're using up your air jump too early. Try just moving away from the wall to wall jump, then you should have you air jump left over.