Modes

This post is just a quick rundown of the various modes in RGB AMP, how they work and what differences exist between the demo and the full game. So without further ado:

Story mode is broken into nine levels. Each level is named after the specific objective it revolves around. Objectives range from target scores and combos, to clearing the screen to blocks within a time limit to simply surviving a rapidly spawning sea of Blocks.

Over the three difficulty settings the requirements for completing a level and the level variables change considerably, essentially giving 27 levels total. On Expert difficulty for example, the speed blocks scroll across the scrollbar is significantly increased and the combo timer itself is shorter making combos much harder to sustain. Block creation and strategic elimination of Blocks are key to passing the levels on Expert.

Once complete you'll get to treated to further exposition on the plight of the oppressed nations of the Galaxy versus the Block Empire. The higher the difficulty the more of the story you get.

Story Mode is also an excellent training ground for setting high scores in the three other modes.

In the demo you get access to the first three levels across the three difficulty settings. So sorta like nine levels.

This is the primary high score mode in the game. There's no time limit so you can play as long as you can survive. Infinite Mode starts off quite relaxed, with slow Block spawn and scroll rates but gradually builds into a fast paced fight for survival.

Key to setting a high score and achieving the A* ranking in this mode is making sure to score long combos early on. It's much harder to keep a combo going as Infinite Mode progresses, so putting in big scores early is crucial.

The truly skilled might even reach the fabled 999 second mark.

In the demo you have access to a shortened version of Infinite Mode, which finishes if you survive for 200 seconds. The pace has been tweaked to make the demo version a little more challenging and fun over the shortened time period.

Survival Mode is exactly that, survival. Your only objective is to last as long as possible against an extremely fast block spawn rate. Forget combos, destroying Blocks as quickly as possible should be the only thing on the menu.

You start with a screen void of Blocks, but this soon changes. Strategically, efficiently wiping out Blocks early on is the main predictor of the length of the subsequent run. If you get overrun early on in the proceedings it's extremely difficult to recover.

Survival Mode is not available in the demo.

The simplest mode, but probably the most addictive one. You start with a grid of 120 Blocks, neatly arranged in 8 columns with 15 Blocks each. There is no Block spawn here and your objective is to wipe out all 120 Blocks in as short a time as possible.

In order to do this in an efficient manner you need to learn to read multiple Blocks at once so that you can release the corresponding sequence of fireballs as quickly as possible.

The starting Blocks themselves are randomly generated each run, so memorisation is not an option. Can you hit the 50 second mark?

Speed Mode is not available on the demo.


So there you have the modes and the differences between the demo and the full version. Along with a smattering of strategic advice. And don't forget, there's the super difficult mystery bonus mode for anyone who manages to get all 33 A* Grades in the full version.

Red Green Blue A.M.P.

What is it? What do you do? What the hell does A.M.P. stand for?!? 

These are all valid questions. So to begin, I'll share a dream with you. A dream I'm sure many others have had many times before, but now it's finally a reality. The specific dream was to cross a space shooter with some sort of block puzzler and throw in a smattering of elements from plastic guitar based music games (Disclaimer: there is no music).

Yes, I know what you're thinking, how has it taken someone so long to come up with such an obvious combination? Well think no more my friend because Red Green Blue A.M.P. will fulfill your cravings for such a game.

How it plays:

The game is set in the near future, when the Galaxy is under the control of the oppressive Block Empire. You control the lone ship with the power to destroy the Blocks.

Tap the screen to move your ship around. Just don't crash into those nasty Blocks or it's game over. Also don't let them overrun the screen or it's also game over. Double the peril!

You can destroy Blocks by shooting fireballs of a matching colour at them (the ship uses advanced technology to allow fireballs to exist in a vacuum. Why? Because space fireballs are awesome!).

But wait!!!...there's more. Should you hit a Block with a fireball of a different colour (a red Block with a blue fireball, for example) the Block will not be destroyed. In fact not only that, a new block will be spawned on top of the old Block. Shooting a fireball and not hitting anything will have the same Block spawning effect at the top of the screen. This means more Blocks and increased DANGER!!! But is this increased DANGER a bad thing?

Maybe not. In order to defeat the Block Empire it's crucial that you complete certain objectives. The objectives change depending on the level or mode, but often involve target scores or combos. How does that make any sense you ask? Well completing the objectives has an extremely demoralising effect on the Blocks and is thus crucial in the war effort. Often to meet these score and combo targets (especially on higher difficulties) you'll need more Blocks to destroy than are initially available on the screen. You can add Blocks by shooting non-matching fireballs on purpose. Just be warned doing this will not only lead to increased DANGER, but will also break any current combo you might have.

What's all this Combo nonsense?


In the world of completing objectives and demoralising the Block Empire, the combo is king. For every Block you break your combo grows. But it's easy to break your combo. The following things will break your hard earned combo:

- Hitting a Block with the wrong coloured fireball
- Taking too long between breaking Blocks
- Letting a scrolling Block pass off the lefthand edge of the screen (more on this in a minute)

Why are Combos so Awesome?

Well aside from highlighting your own ability as a Block Breaking Badass, they come with a nice little score bonus. Normally for every Block you break you receive 50 Block Demoralisation Points (BDPs). As your combo grows so too does your score multiplier:

Combo of 1-5 Blocks = Multiplier X1 = 50 BDP per Block
Combo of 6-10 Blocks = Multiplier X2 = 100 BDP per Block
Combo of 11-15 Blocks = Multiplier X4 = 200 BDP per Block
Combo of 16+ Blocks = Multiplier X8 = 400 BDP per Block

So when you're rockin' a multiplier of X8 you want to try your best to not screw up. No pressure.

Scrolling Blocks you said?

Located on the bottom of your screen is the scrollbar. On the scrollbar Blocks scroll from right to left. These  Blocks have been deemed by the ships computer as being critical to the demolarising the opposing forces of the Block Empire. If one of them passes the lefthand edge of the screen without being removed then any combo that you might have will be broken.

So how do you remove them? Simple, to remove the leftmost Block off the scrollbar just destroy a Block of the corresponding colour using your fireballs. You must remove Blocks off the scrollbar in order, with the leftmost Block taking priority. But REMEMBER!!! and this is important and (that's why I capitalised and exclaimed remember) you don't have to only stick to removing the Blocks on the scrollbar, break as many other Blocks as you like (in fact that's crucial to keeping your combo timer going and getting high scores), just remove the scrolling Blocks before they get off the screen.

What if I'm a Super Duper Gamer looking for a Challenge?

That's why there are three difficulty settings Easy - Medium - Expert
The game is simple enough on Easy, but Expert will require you to have lightning fast fingers and a good head for strategic Block breaking if you want to beat it. Additionally, beating the Story Mode on higher difficulty levels expands the story told in the ending sequence.

If that's not enough, for every level and mode (on all three difficulty settings), there's an A* rating. These are awarded if you go above and beyond the call of duty when it comes to breaking Blocks and demoralising the Block Empire by achieving extremely good scores.

Finally, for the masochists out there, a final unlockable mode exists for collecting all 33 A* ratings. This mode is something beyond hard. Beyond Red Green Blue And Mysterious Purple. That's all I'll say on the matter.

A Brave New World

Welcome to the Chaotic Bit blog. Here you can find the latest info on Chaotic Bit Android games. Details on any updates, new releases and anything else that I deem appropriate, cool or just plain awesome will be added here.

Now for a bit of info on Chaotic Bit. Chaotic Bit is a one man (me) Android development team(?) started in January 2012 with the sole goal of making something fun for the Android platform. Basically I wanted to build a game that even after the endless hours of testing and bug fixing I could still enjoy playing. The rationale was that if I'd still enjoy it after all that, maybe other people would enjoy it too.

The first Chaotic Bit game to be released is Red Green Blue A.M.P. It should be up on the market in the near future (or now if you're from the near future). Trying to sum up exactly what RGB AMP is in words is akin to herding cats, sure I could probably do it, but I'd be exhausted afterwards. So I'll leave that to a separate post.

So ends the inaugural Chaotic Bit post. If anyone wants to get in touch the email address is chaoticbit1001@gmail.com (and yes I know it's cheap to use both a free blog and email address to represent my game, but in my defense it really isn't cheapness driving this decision. It's solely laziness. And a little cheapness. Don't worry, that laziness does not extend to my game design).