Are you feeling lost? Directionless? Uncertain of what your purpose is? If that is your situation then you understand Deef! The robot hero of “D*Fuzed.”
A recent Game Boy homebrew release from publishers Incube8 and developer asobi.tech.
Deef is a skilled bomb-defusing machine, yet in this apparent time of peace at the start of the game’s narrative, there doesn’t seem to be many bombs around.
- I mean it’s not like bombs fall from the sky or anything… right?*
D*Fuzed is a turn-based puzzle game where you, as a friendly little robo take on the task of defusing bombs, lots of bombs. You will move around a grid trying to prevent disaster, all the while each step you take ticks down another digit on every other bomb on the map.
An early stage of D*Fuzed
The game has a marvelous way of making you feel every move is a risk vs reward situation, a “just right” balance of difficulty. If you make a mistake, you can trace back to the exact misstep you took. However when you pull off a strategic play, one with a near miss on the blast radius of a nearby chain of explosions, you will feel a rush of happy chemicals stirring in your noggin.
Even Deef gives you the thumbs up for smart play!
Since the game is turned-based, there is no in-game timer forcing you to make an unfavorable move. You have all the time needed to strategically plan your next few moves. Yet with the numbers ticking on the surrounding bombs you might find the visuals creating the impulse to play quickly. Until boom! Oops, it’s time to start the stage over…
Poor Deef has been reduced to rubble!
But not to worry, the game is not cruel to you, and you can retry the stage immediately. Once you get in a groove you might find yourself hearing Deef’s catch phrase: “I did it!” In your sleep.
Instant icon!
D*Fuzed has a lot to love about it, and if you are a game developer there is loads to learn from it. I can’t help but feel the key lesson someone new to game design could learn from this game is the tightly crafted game play loop. The game title tells you the core mechanic, which acts as a verb that impels you excitedly through every second of the game.
Since the core mechanic is well defined as a foundation, everything else has a stable place to stand. The story, art, music, and puzzles all have a solid mechanic to use as a pedestal to elevate the rest of the experience. This creates a bombastic chain of fun throughout the course of time you’ll spend with the game.
The game’s cutscenes offer full voice acting!
In conclusion whether or not you are a puzzle game fanatic, D*Fuzed offers so much! With delightful gameplay, visuals, music, and replayability to boot, I really hope you will give the game a chance.
The game can be purchased as a physical cartridge: https://incube8games.com/products/d-fuzed-gbc
Or a digital download here: https://incube8games.com/collections/digital-editions/products/d-fuzed-gbc-digital-edition
***Editor’s Note: *The game was made with GBDK.
GB STUDIO & GBDK. What’s the difference?
Some people will try to convince you that one way to make something is better than the other, but in reality the thing that is best is whatever helps you make games for our favorite little handheld! So the purpose of this sidebar is to give a top-down view of the differences between two common ways to create a Game Boy ROM file.
| GB STUDIO | GBDK | |
| Development: | A pre-made game engine which provides visual scripting with Drag-and-Drop tools for game creation. | Enables you to write your own game engine in C Language. More traditional coding. |
| Approachability: | If you want to try making a game but don’t have much or any programming background, GB Studio is a good place to start. | If you have a background in programming or interest in learning, GBDK is a good place to start. |
| Learning Curve: | Starts easy but may become difficult the more complex you want your game to be. | Starts difficult but can ease up and offer more flexibility once you have experience. |
Did you know?
Husband. Game Designer. Illustrator.