Octozooka

Download link : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.JGBBGGames.Octozooka

Octozooka is essentially a space shooter with RPG elements embedded into it. Now,I want you to roughly imagine what this game is going to be like in your head.

Ok?

Good.

Now shatter that image.

Coz this game is unlike any space shooter you've ever played.

In this game, you control a weird looking ship with 8 cannons sticking out at the cardinal directions. And yes, its that ship you see in the banner above.
Due to the ship's terrible lazy nature of not wanting to move around at all, you'll pretty much always find yourself at the center of attention.

And in case you were thinking that's a good thing.. Its not.

See those 8 buttons around the ship? They control the cannons.
The up arrow fires the up cannon and so on.

They started out being arranged correctly. The up arrow was stationed north, so you could tap north to fire north. Easy peasy right?

Wrong.

These buttons are faulty hardware, and will change positions every freaking time you click on one of them. You want to target the north? One second you'll need to tap the north button, the next second you'll need to tap the south button and the next second after that.. well.. i think you get the point.

Couple that with advancing swarms of enemies, and you've gotta channel every last bit of your energy to keep yourself from freaking out and keep bringing on the pain before you bite the bullet.

It's challenging. It's crazy. It gives you good finger muscles. But best of all, its fun.

And we've only scratched the surface.

Storyline

Its the year 2057. The Earth has seen much drama, much calamity, and much miracles in all this time. But all you need to know is that the animal kingdom overtook half of the planet from human control and there have been a lot of advances in space travel and medicine and blah blah blah.

Another thing you need to know is there is this ridiculous alien race called the Zardians who attempted to invade the Earth and solar system on numerous occasions, all ending in defeat.

And now, they are trying yet again, only this time their attack has become a bit more sophisticated and they have magically attacked every planet after Earth at once. That kinda sucks.

Luckily, you (or atleast Shadow, the main character) are here to deal with them.

Take the relms of the Octaship and go to every single planet and/or moon and kick those losers out. Really all there is to it.

Upgrades

It wouldnt be an RPG hybrid without something like this.
The game will feature skill trees for whatever weapons you get your hands on throughout your conquest (or y'know, at least for some of them), and you will have the freedom (well you still need to earn cosmibux (the retarded currency of the universe) by destroying stuff to buy your way through the tree, but that's besides the point) to choose how you wield your weapon and effectively control the difficulty of the game yourself.

The ship will also be able to gain experience and level up, gaining ability points in the process.
Those points are used in unlocking and upgrading abilties gathered along your journey.

Of course, powerups are also always available to lend a hand when needed.

Levels

The game will hopefully have a great diversity of levels and enemies for you to smash. Standard levels will see you, erm well, be the center of attention (as previously advertised) and have to fight like a trapped rat until the enemies stop coming.

There will also be special boss levels where your ship can actually MOVE, which makes it all the more difficult and irritating to do what you need to do. Yay.

And when you finally reach the planet you intend to liberate (sorry if you wanted to wreck that too), you will land on the surface at scenic locations (lets hope my drawings dont turn out too bad) and may get to play irritating minigames to take a break from the irritating main game. Doesnt that sound great! (Trust me, being irritating is what makes it challenging)


What's in here now?

20+ levels so far
Octozooka skill tree
Ability system
Stupid conversations.

What's to come next?

Luna liberation!
Even more stupid conversations.



Well, Ok the game is still largely in its infancy, and needs a lot of work, but give it a try anyway! I'm sure you'll like it :)


Download link :

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.JGBBGGames.Octozooka

Octozooka was kindly reviewed by Appliv, an app discovery website. They offer free reviews and have many apps listed, so do check them out!

Review of Octozooka by Appliv

Android App Discovery Website -Appliv-
iPhone App Discovery Website -Appliv-

Anagrammer Arcade

Anagrammer Arcade

Anagrammer Arcade is an Android game live on the Google Play Store.

Download it here : https://play.google.com/store/apps/detailsid=com.JGBBGGames.AnagrammerArcade

Anagrammer Arcade : Anablitz

Anablitz

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Overview

Anablitz is a hard core anagramming game, designed for Scrabble players who are looking for a Zyzzyva style quiz app on Android. It goes through words ranging in length from 6 to 9 and of a variable probability range in a rapid manner, allowing for a large volume of words to be stuffed into your head in a short period of time. Sure you can read word lists and stuff, but.... this is more fun. And it is known that having fun while learning aids with retention. :)

Gameplay

You play by simply answering the anagrams the game poses to you. You do that by tapping on the tiles to shift them to the rack (you can tap them to shift them off the rack too).

Each rack starts out with a score value based on the probability value of the word. That value decreases over time and with each wrong answer and hint used. A higher score value boosts the timer and your rating more. There is also a combo meter that boosts the score if you go berserk.

The game starts out with one rack at level 1 and will add more slowly until you have 8 racks total. Don't worry though, you don't really have to answer all of them. It just helps that you have more anagrams to resort to if you are stuck.

Extra features

You have access to HOLD and HINT buttons located next to each rack. The HOLD button will keep a rack stay for as many different anagrams it has. For example, the rack ENIORST has 6 anagrams, so if you activate the hold button, that rack will stay until you input all 6 anagrams.

The HINT button does what you think it does. Its best used when the rack is empty.

You also have access to powerups, which are powered up by the points you score.. Though the one powerup you will probably use all the time is the time powerup, which slows down the timer.

Token Ratio

1 : 200.

Playing well for 15-20 minutes should net around 50 tokens.

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Anagrammer Arcade : Scrab Slots

Scrab Slots

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Overview

Scrab Slots uses a larger than normal slot machine modified to use lettered reels instead of pictured reels. The main goal of the game is to satisfy all the challenges generated for each level. These challenges pop up on the top left corner of the screen, and will always include a coin collecting.

Gameplay

All you have to do is stop the spinning reels by hitting the big red shiny buttons and try to get as many coins to land on the screen as possible.

Then simply form words by selecting a reel and dragging around to adjacent reels.
For example, QUIZ and HEMP have been highlighted in the picture above. Coins can be collected by forming words that include them.

You are however restricted to form up to 6 words at once only.
What if a challenge requires more coins than you managed to get onscreen though?
Well, that's what the ol' lever is for!. Spin the lever to get the reels spinning again!.

Ok ok, its not that simple. The total number of spins you have for each level and the total number of words you can form are limited and are displayed at the top right corner of the slot machine.

So try to do all you can before hitting that lever. Also if you cannot satisfy all the challenges issued, yeah.. sadly that's game over.

Extra features

Coins aren't the only things that will be painted on the reels. Sometimes powerups will be there instead. You collect them in the same fashion and use them whenever you like.

Token Ratio

1 : 1

1 coin. 1 token.

Anagrammer Arcade : S Wave

S Wave

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Overview

S Wave is an arcade game where gigantic asteroids are hurtling towards the Earth and you have to protect it by destroying all the asteroids.
Fortunately, spring ships have posted themselves to the north and south of the asteroids, and they pretty much either wreck asteroids on impact or bounce them off.(and you wonder why they aren't surrounding the Earth itself)

Gameplay

You play by flicking the asteroids towards the top or bottom. Which direction you flick them in depends on whether the words printed on the asteroids take an S behind, infront, both or not at all.

For example, WE has no S hook, so you fling it south.

AM has a front S hook to make SAM so you fling it to the top left corner.

MO has a back S hook to make MOS so you toss it to the top right corner.

And finally AN has both S hooks to make SAN and ANS so you flick it to the top center.

If you fling the asteroids to the correct ships, the asteroid will be destroyed.

If you fling the asteroids to the wrong ships... the asteroid will simply bounce back with increased speed and a reduced score value.

When an asteroid hits the Earth, a random city.. which may very well be where you live.. will get obliterated. So.. you have a pretty big incentive to keep the planet safe.

The game is over when 50 cities have been wrekt.. or when you choose to end the game manually. More the latter than not.

The game starts out with 2 letter words, but will slowly expand to 3s,4s all the way up to 7s.

Token Ratio

1 : 400

Anagrammer Arcade : Balancing Act

Balancing Act

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Overview

Balancing Act is a game that trains rack balancing skills. Your main goal is to use the tiles that you are fed every turn to form words on the racks

Gameplay

You are presented with 10 empty racks at the start, and 7 tiles will be fed to the conveyer belt every turn. The tiles are fed from a standard Scrabble tile bag minus the 2 blanks, and will be fed for 14 turns.

I can only be happy that 100-2 is actually divisible by 7.

Each turn you have to funnel those 7 tiles to one of the 10 racks, with one major rule you need to follow.

Any racks that have 7 or more tiles MUST HAVE A VALID WORD.

For example, I can toss the T from the conveyer to the rack with OOGNIR to form ROOTING and the R to POTALES to form POLESTAR.

Any racks that have 7 or more tiles and cannot form a word..... will explode and penalize your score.

So.. once you move all the 7 tiles to the racks in any way you like, you'll need to hit the END TURN button

Then, all the racks which have had tiles added and now have 7 or more tiles will spew their tiles out, and that's when you'll have to anagram the rack by tapping the tiles as per normal.

if you get the word right, then great. You'll get points for it and will move on to the next rack, if any.

If you get the word wrong.. then boohoo. If there is actually a word, you'll get 2 more tries before it blows up in your face. If there isnt a word.. it will just save you the trouble and blow up in your face immediately. Yay... You'll lose points though.. so... yeah.. try not to let this happen too much

After 10 turns, you have the option to end the game if you don't want to risk losing points.

After 14 tuns, if you were mad enough (or lucky enough) (or good enough) to make it here with a decent score, the bag would be empty and the game will end.

Maximising your score

Just form 7 letter words first, then extend them to 8s, then extend them to 9s and so on.

Unfortunately, this isn't exactly easy to do, and you need to know a lot of words to do it

Otherwise, just aim for as many words as possible.

And obviously, don't let anything blow up.. unless its a sacrifice for a good cause.

Token Ratio

1 : 20

Anagrammer Arcade : Texas Hold em up Scrabble

Texas Hold em up Scrabble

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Overview

Its Texas poker, in Scrabble mode.

Most of the rules of Poker govern the game, but instead of making a 5 card hand to decide the winner, the goal would be to make the strongest word possible using both your 2 cards and the 5 cards on the board.

Gameplay

Texas Poker rules

There are many poker websites that can tell you this a lot better than i ever can. But, the basic concepts you need to know, at least for this game are..

Each player is dealt 2 cards at the start of every round
The dealer and the guy next to the dealer place the initial bets (the small and big blinds).

Each player thereafter has to either match the highest bet by CALLING, or increase the highest bet by RAISING a value equal to a multiple of the big blind. This does of course take into account the money you've already contributed to the pot already.

The first betting round ends when everybody has contributed equally to the pot.

3 cards are dealt to the board, and another round of betting begins, though for this round, there will be no initial bet so players can CHECK, which is equal to calling zero.

After the 2nd betting round, a 4th card is dealt and a 3rd round of betting will take place. After that, the final card will be dealth (Take note that, unlike actual poker, there is no final betting round)

Then everybody has to form a word using BOTH their 2 cards and any/all of the community cards on the board.

Whoever forms the strongest word takes the pot. In case of ties, the pot is split evenly.

If you need to know, the score for a word is calculated as (Word Length * 10) + (Face Value of the word). So technically, some joker who manages to get MUZJIK as his word will beat out some other joker who has RETINAS as his word. Isnt that fun?


Tournament Mode

You choose one player, and between 3 to 7 AI players and pretty much win by busting everyone else.

Solo Mode

In solo mode, you control all 8 players. Every 5 turns, half the players will be secretly marked and your score will be based on whether those players profit or not. However, in solo mode, there is a maximum bet limit imposed as well as a 'maximum fold limit' where you can only fold up to half the number of players minus 1. This mode is a tad unconventional but definitely worth a try.

Token Ratio

Solo Mode - 1:400

Tournament Mode - 2 tokens per hand won, and another varying bundle (based on number of players and starting money) for winning the match.

Anagrammer Arcade : Lucksack Battle

Lucksack Battle
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Overview

Lucksack battle is a Scrabblesque mortal combat to the death. 2 Players duke it out 1 v 1 by drawing tiles from a bag and attacking by forming words


Gameplay

You play by drawing tiles from the luck sack to fill up your racks.

You then drag the tiles around to form whatever word you want (You form the word by putting it at the front of the rack)

Once you have a word you are happy with, you then hit one of the 4 action button : Physical Attack, Physical Shield, Special Attack or Special Shield

The physical and special shield options will create barriers to protect you from physical and special attacks respectively. You can only have up to 3 shields, but if you have 3 shields active, these buttons will heal you instead!

The physical and special attack options will launch one of 4 different types of attacks at the opponent based on the length of the word that you form.

3-5 letters gets a level 1 attack,
6-7, a level 2 attack,
8-9, a level 3 attack and
10 and beyond a level 4 attack.

Each of the attacks will interact differently with each other and with the shields, and you'll figure it all out as you play the game! (or by reading the ingame instructions)

The round ends when either player runs out of hp, or when the tile bag runs out.

Lucksack

The word originated in Singapore and was coined by some of its regular players. It hasn't really been too long and this word has already spread well outside the country.

lucksack, n : A person who repeatedly pulls off miraculous stunts that can only be attributed to sheer luck.

lucksack, v : To commit a miraculous stunt that can only be attributed to sheer luck

Some examples would be drawing a bingo after playing one, especially when many bad tiles persist in the bag or drawing that one tile that you were fishing for even if there's only one of it left in the bag.

Used in a statement : "LUCKSACK!!!"...

Yeah.. well... that's how it works.

Token Ratio

No ratio here, you just get a fixed amount for winning.

Anagrammer Arcade : Scrablapse

Scrablapse
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Overview

Scrablapse is a relatively simple game where all you really do is try to form words using the onscreen tiles (much in the same way you form words in Scrab Slots). Much like traditional Collapse, tiles will enter the screen at the left corner and will fall towards the right. You lose when a row reaches the left corner.

Gameplay

There's not really much to say honestly. Just form words to keep the rows from hitting the left corner. You are given one life at the start, so you will be spared the first time this happens, but the next time,.. well.. you won't.

Powerups are present, and all you need to do is match the tile they are on to set them off (You don't get to collect and use them this time)

The bombs are typically just bombs and flamethrowers, though you may get tokens or lives from time to time too.

Be wary though, the game generates tiles faster when there are less tiles on the screen.

So don't be a clown and take out half of the rows with a bomb and leave the other rows intact.

I doubt you'll last long.

Token Ratio

1 : 250

Anagrammer Arcade : Scrabjack

Scrabjack

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Overview

Blackjack is a tough game to master on its own, but Scrabjack is a whole different ball game. Your main goal would be to beat the dealer by having words that are stronger than his (and essentially getting a profit for that round)

Gameplay

Much like blackjack, you have a couple of mats (3 in this case) to place your inital bets on, and the dealer will deal 2 cards each to those mats.

From there, you have a couple of options

HIT - Tell the dealer to give one more card to that mat. This also increases the bet by 2.

STAND - Tells the dealer not to give any more cards to that mat. Also effectively completes the mat

SPLIT - This option is possible when you have an even number of cards on the mat AND the mat has a even bet amount. You will be able to shift half the cards, along with half the bet to a different mat.

DOUBLE - The bet for the mat is doubled and the dealer will deal cards to the mat until it hits 7 cards. This option is only possible when the mat has 5 or 6 cards. You will be insured half your money if it has 5. Completes the mat

TRIPLE - The bet for the mat is tripled and the dealer will deal cards to the mat until it has 7 cards. This option is only possible when the mat has 4 or 5 cards. You will be insured half your money if it has 4. Completes the mat

JOIN - You can actually drag an uncompleted mat to another mat to join the cards and bets on both mats.

How do you win, you ask? Well, the idea is to have a rack that forms a word on as many mats as possible. 7 letter words are of course the ideality to target, but 6 or 5 letter words may still work in certain situations.

After you've completed all mats with cards on them, the dealer will have to draw 6 cards to complement the 2 he already has and he needs to form the strongest word possible out of those 8 cards (Dont worry, he can't form an 8 letter word), and see whether he can beat as many of your words as possible.

An important thing to note is that, if you have 3 or 4 mats with words, the dealer will actually get a 2nd chance to beat you if he loses the first time. If you have 5 or 6 mats with words, the dealer will get a 2nd AND 3rd chance to beat you. So try to keep to 1 or 2 mats at the end of your turn.

You win the round by gaining money (The value of the mats that beat the dealer must be greater than the value of the mats that lose fo the dealer or are busted.)

Strategy

Yeah erm.... I'm not exactly that good at this game myself.

Token Ratio

1 : 12
But its a bit more complicated than that.