#score studios

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Today’s heroine is Score-chan from Piczle Cross Adventure by Score Studios.

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[Review] Piczle Cross Adventure (NS)

An excellent nonogram game with welcome adventure elements.

The small team at Score Studios has been developing its Piczle series of puzzlers for over a decade now. It’s covered a few different forms of logic puzzles, but this ambitious instalment combines traditional Picross-style nonograms with a lovely presentation and a world to explore in between puzzles!

In this way it’s evoking Jupiter’s Japan-exclusive Picross 2 on GB, where Mario walks through an overworld between puzzles. This game takes that further with non-linear exploration and RPG elements like experience levels (puzzles have a level threshold requiring you to clear earlier ones) and an inventory of keys and hidden items. I took pleasure in unlocking everything, the final reward being a Game Boy-style set of 20 bonus puzzles, on top of the 319 in the regular game.

The puzzles are integrated into the world in a fun way. In the story, the studio’s mascot Score-chan has to solve the puzzles in order to restore objects that have been zapped into the void. So by exploring you find holes, then bring life and colour back into the lush pixel world with its varied environs; it’s quite satisfying. And speaking of pixels, the game includes scanline and CRT warp filters; they weren’t to my taste but thankfully could be turned off.

The small bits of dialogue and writing in the story were quite amusing, the aesthetic is charming, and the puzzles are good! The publisher Plug In Digital has a cross-promotional deal with another game they published, PictoQuest, which I played previously. Compared to that game’s attempt to expand the Picross formula with RPG mechanics, this is more successful and polished. I heartily recommend it!

[4colorrebellion]

4cr Plays - Piczle Puzzle & Watch Collection

Back in the old days - before the NES, before the Game Boy - Nintendo dipped its toes into the home gaming market with the Game & Watch series of handheld systems. Each system contained a single game - possibly with one or two different variants - displayed using the simplest of technologies. Forget high resolution screens. These games had a handful of dots at best. There was no saving a game, no “levels”. Each was something you’d play until you lost, then started over again. 

Many of the Game & Watch games are so simple that they wouldn’t pass muster today, but the systems themselves are cool as heck. They were surprisingly well made, with nice buttons and a great tactile feel. They are bright and fun to look at. They have a certain kind of appeal, even though I’d rather play a Switch game any day. 

The developers at Score Studios understand this appeal. The latest game in their loosely-connected “Piczle” puzzle series is a collection of three games, based on the aesthetics and simplicity - though ratcheted a bit higher in terms of complexity to work as modern games - of the Game & Watch era. 

Piczle Puzzle & Watch Collection presents three logic puzzles as digital versions of long-lost LCD handheld games. All three would not have been possible given the limitations of the actual format, but they are intended to *look* like the games of the period. Each of the three is digitally presented as a loving recreation of the physical units, and the developers have really gone out of their way to recreate the feeling of recieving one of these games for the first time. 

The first time you open any of the three games, you are treated to an unboxing scene, where the box is opened, the handheld is removed, and the manual is skimmed over. At any time, you can manipulate the 3D models of the box, system, and manual as well. While it isn’t quite as fun and tactile as playing with the real thing, it made me really want somebody to turn these into real-life mock-retro systems. 

The first game, Piczle Cross, is the exact sort of Picross-style nonogram puzzle game that has become the signature of Score Studios. If you have never played one of these games before, these are puzzles where you start with an empty grid. Each row and column of the grid has a series of numbers on it. Your goal is, simply, to fill the correct cells in the grid to create an image. You can think of it as a form of “paint-by-numbers”, where you need to identify the right spaces to mark to form a pixel-art painting.The numbers on a row or a column tell you how many spots need to be filled in. If you see a “5″, you know that a five-block sequence will need to be filled, while blocks before and after those five will remain unfilled. To figure out which five need filled, you need to look at the corresponding columns (if you are working on a row) and see if you can match the conditions placed by the numbers on each of those. You will often see multiple numbers, like “2 3″, indicating that there are multiple sequences that will be filled in. In this case, the row would have a sequence of two filled-in blocks, then later, a second sequence of three filled-in blocks. At least one unfilled cell must exist between the two sequences. Again, you need to use the other clues to identify where the two sequences lie in the row.

That’s about all there is to it. Identify the spaces to fill, mark off those you know will not be filled, and try to complete the picture as fast as you can without making any mistakes. In the spirit of simplicity, the puzzles are limited to a 10x10 grid. There are 200 puzzles to work through. In the Game A mode, you are limited to three mistakes. In Game B, you are allowed to work until the image is complete. In both cases, your fastest puzzle time is recorded.

As a nonogram fanatic, this was my favorite of the three games. However, the simplicity also worked against it. The puzzles are a little too easy, and the main difficulty came from the controls. There are two buttons - one to mark a space, and one to note that a space should be empty. However, the buttons were reversed from my expectations, so I kept making mistakes when I got them backwards. This isn’t a huge deal (and is really just my problem), but did trip me up a surprising amount. Basically, this is a solid set of nonogram puzzles, but won’t keep you engaged as long as some of Score Studios’ other releases. 

The second game, Piczle Pattern, gives you a cross-shaped cursor and tasks you with turning all squares in a grid black. If a square within your cursor is already black, it will turn white again. In the core mode, your challenge is to turn the empty grid black in the fewest moves, and your best score is recorded. In the second mode, you are given a randomly generated grid to start with. 

This was the game I spent the least time with. It’s a simple novelty, but gets old after one or two trials. Amusingly, it’s probably the game most possible within the limitations of the actual Game & Watch systems.

The final game, Piczle Loops, presents 72 logic puzzles where you are trying to draw an uninterrupted looping line on a clue based on clues presented on the screen. These clues take the form of numbers indicating the number of sides of that square that have a line in the loop. For example, if you see a “2″, then two of the four sides of that square will form part of the loop. If you see a “0″, then no sides can be part of the loop. Game A presents 36 easy-to-moderate difficulty puzzles, and Game B presents 36 moderate-to-hard puzzles. 

I enjoyed this mode quite a bit, even though I am more biased towards the nonogram puzzles in Piczle Cross. These loop puzzles are surprisingly hard, and even some of the easy puzzles kept me busy for quite a while. The core concept is simple, but it can hook you pretty quickly. I still haven’t finished all of the puzzles in this mode, and can imagine coming back to poke at them some more.

Piczle Puzzle & Watch Collection is a simple, but fun, collection of games created in the spirit of the old Game & Watch handhelds. If you have any affection for that era, the collection is worth picking up for the loving 3D recreations alone, as well as a couple of solid puzzle games. If you’re a nonogram obsessive like I am, this will also give you a quick fix - however, you may want to check out Score Studios’ other releases like Piczle Cross Adventure first. 

This review was based on a copy provided by Score Studios.

Nintendo eShop

[miketendo-64]

More Piczle goodness.

Previously revealed in 2018, publisher Rainy Frog Games has now come out to reveal the release date for Piczle Colors.  Developed by Score Studios, the upcoming Nintendo Switch game is to release on January 31st of 2019. Rainy Frog Games have also taken to sharing pricing details, game overview, a new trailer and a link to the official website.

A complete overview of what has been disclosed can be seen here:

Piczle Colors Overview:

From Score Studios, who brought you the hit logic-puzzle series Piczle Lines DX, comes the highly anticipated follow-up! Piczle Colors will excercise your brain in exciting new ways with a unique logic-puzzle style, a fun story, a bucketload of extras and the return of your favourite characters!

  Title: Piczle Colors

Genre: Picture-based logic-puzzle, illust-logic, brain teaser

Price: $12 US dollars / €12 euros / £10 GBP

Release date: January 31st, 2019

Players: 1

Rating: All

Platform: Nintendo Switch (Handheld, Tabletop and TV play are all supported)

Gameplay:

Piczle Colors isn’t your typical grid-based color logic-puzzle! Like other puzzles of this type, hints next to each row and above each column tell you how many blocks of each color go in each row or column. By following these hints you can paint each part of the grid and reveal an image. However, these hints do NOT tell you the order they come in!

Smaller puzzles ease you into this new way of thinking. You can work your way through 6 levels with 50 puzzles each, ranging in size from 5×5 to 15×10. Each puzzle lets you start with a randomly cleared row and column if you need a helping hand, but clearing puzzles without using hints earns you coins, which you can use to unlock Piczle Colors’ many cool extra features!

Story & Characters:

Inventive genius professor Matrix has created a paint, Piczle Paint 3000, that can leech the color out of anything it covers. Needless to say his inventions, including this one, are not safe in the hands of Score-chan. Can you help her and Gig undo the great chaos created by her inevitable mishandling of Piczle Paint 3000? Also there is Dbug the cat who is naturally more concerned with cat matters.

Score-chan

Entitled android girl Score-chan is not only Score Studios’ mascot, she is also the cause of all the mischief the prof’s inventions wreak

Gig

Long suffering Gig, shaped vaguely like Score Studios’ logo, not only lost his mascot status to Score-chan, he is often tasked with helping her fix her mess.

Prof. Matrix

Genius inventor professor Molecule Matrix creates the most wondrous things only for Score-chan to mishandle them and cause chaos.

Dbug

Dbug is a cat.

For anyone who would like to visit the site, feel free to use the link below:

http://www.piczle.club/piczlecolors.html

  Incidentally, there will also be a demo out next week. Be sure to give it a try.

    Source: Rainy Frog Games PR

  Complete Overview of #PiczleColors (Releases January 31st for #NintendoSwitch with a Demo out Next Week!) @RainyFrogEng & @ScoreStudios More Piczle goodness. Previously revealed in 2018, publisher Rainy Frog Games has now come out to reveal the release date for…

[yvocaro]

Piczle Lines DX: 500 More Puzzles Review

Piczle Lines DX: 500 More Puzzles Review

Game: Piczle Lines DX: 500 More Puzzles System: Nintendo Switch Developer: Score Studios Publisher: Rainy Frog Age Rating: 3+ (EU) / E (US) Price: £8.99/€9,99/$9,99 ( Release Date: 26/07/2018

Overall grade:  I like it a lot!

(Review code kindly provided by Rainy Frog)

I love puzzle games of all kinds.  Whether it’s a drop-down puzzle game like Tetris, or the likes of Picross which involves unveiling a…

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If you previously passed on getting Piczle Lines DX for your Nintendo Switch, now is the time to reconsider as developer Score Studios and publisher Rainy Frog Games, have some news that might make you reconsider!

The latest update for Piczle Lines DX is available now and it comes with plenty of new content as it adds another 3 Puzzle Packs (Fantasy, Science Fiction and Fairy Tales) and with each pack having 20 puzzles each, it means there are now a further 60 puzzles for you to enjoy, on top of the many there are already and we’ve actually got pictures of a few of them:

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Should 60 new levels not be enough for you, from March 1 to March 15, Piczle Lines DX, will also be available at 30% off thanks to a sale, so with it being so cheap right now, now is as good as any time to pick it up and see what all the fuss is about.

    Source: Rainy Frog Games PR

#PiczleLinesDX: Version 1.3 is Available Now and comes with 60 New Levels and on Sale at 30% off. @rainyfrogeng If you previously passed on getting Piczle Lines DX for your Nintendo Switch, now is the time to reconsider as developer…

[miketendo-64]

5 New Packs, 100 Puzzles and 1 Awesome new Update Piczle Lines DX is out Now!

5 New Packs, 100 Puzzles and 1 Awesome new Update Piczle Lines DX is out Now! #NintendoSwitch

For anyone who picked up Score Studio’s Piczle Lines DX when it came to Switch this Summer, once again a new update has rolled out and with it has brought a whole lot of new content. Here is a detailed list of what you can expect from Version 1.28979: (more…)

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Piczle Lines DX Launches Worldwide on Switch on the 24th of August!

Puzzling Piczle Lines DX Launches Worldwide on #NintendoSwitch on the 24th of August!

Just in case the puzzle madness of Puzzle Adventure Blockle isn’t enough to keep you busy all month, Rainy Frog Games has another that might”   Having already been revealed for Nintendo Switch and expected to release in the Summer, Piczle Lines DX has now been officially stated to release worldwide on the 24th of August and in an effort to better prepare you for what is to come, here is a…

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