MAGNECUBE

TheAwakening
Aug 12
3 min read

Overview

Magnecube is our friendly sentient cube that is attracted to specific magnets in order to complete any level. Defy the laws of gravity, teleportation, and what not as its levels become difficult enough. Best scores are awarded for the fastest time and the maximum number of moves needed to beat the level. It also has hats.

Gameplay

We are a magnetic cube that follows the laws of physics. The first official levels serve as tutorials, where it explains all the rules we must follow, then the puzzles begin as we have to keep those rules in mind. To perfect a level, we simply have to solve it with the exact amount of moves we are given. Time is also tracked for convenience.

We can only move left or right, and when we do, our cube will rotate. It's important to know where it's facing (more of that later). Depending on our cube color, red for positive and blue for negative, the magnets in the game follow certain rules. Should our polarity be positive, red magnets will do their job and act as gravity blocks, keeping us from falling out of the level. Hitting the spacebar if the “legs” are facing said magnet will pull the cube towards them; otherwise, if rotated with the head facing it, it will launch us in the direction marked by the arrows.

If the polarity changes to negative, however, the blue magnets will follow the same rules as mentioned above. But! The positive magnets will do the opposite from now on: they will no longer keep us from falling, or beat all. The magnets of the same polarity will still hold us from falling even if we cross a gap; however, the rotation when moving will be inverted with this trick. Sometimes in a level it's important to be facing at an exact rotation to be able to continue. If you want, you can move the camera with the mouse by holding the left button to see the rest of the level.

There are other props in the levels we can interact with. There are boxes we can push, portals that will teleport cubes and boxes (unless there’s something already blocking the other portal), polarity switches, and if we want to exit any level, sometimes we’ll need to nab a key first. If we don’t follow the rules and do the right moves, we will get stuck and won’t be able to finish the level. Hitting R will reset the level quickly.

Once you understand how the game works, you can play towards beating the levels faster and with the move set as the best score possible. If you want to play more of Magnecube, you can load online levels created by other users, but you’ll need an external account. Playing within a random interval of time, roughly 15 minutes or less, you will get hats! You can wear any dropped hats, but if you equip one, it will become untradeable or marketable unless you get another copy.

Audio & Graphics

The game runs well with its cartoon-style graphics and simple animations. The music is decent and fits the rhythm, even if there’s one soundtrack on the main menu and while playing. I find it hilarious how our cube reacts audibly when moving, pushing boxes, and falling out of bounds.