Builder
Release type: Shareware
Release date: May 8, 2011)
Levels: 15
Author: A-J Games
Website: Builder: The Game
Related games: Beware the Gremlin
Builder is a game of environmental anxiety. The world is closing in on you, and you need to escape. To do this, you observe your environment, build footholds, and destroy obstacles to your progress.
There are at least three ways to play Builder. On the first level you have a glitchy and obtuse puzzle platformer. There is often more than one way past a given problem; the way that you choose will depend on your personality, and may affect your future options. If you master the mechanics, then the game becomes a race. And if you embrace everything wrong about the world... well. You may be on the right track.
Builder is designed on the 20-year-old Game-Maker engine by Recreational Software Designs. The engine is really not meant for games like Builder, which may play into the game's themes. Stylistic and technical influences include the work of Max Fleischer and Cab Calloway, Solomon's Key, Metroid, Super Mario Bros. 2 (US), Hero Core, La La Land, Seiklus, Braid, Berzerk, Magic Carousel, and maybe a bit of Silent Hill 2.
Please visit the website for further details.
- - EJR Tairne
Contents
Story
Escape confinement and chaos.
Build footholds. Destroy obstacles.
Be observant.
Instructions
On numerical keypad:
- 7: Jump left
- 8: Jump up
- 9: Jump right
- 4: Run left
- 6: Run right
- 1: Step left
- 3: Step right
- [SPACE]: Build
- Z: Destroy
- `: Suicide
Alternative controls
Builder is designed for an extended PC keyboard. If you're playing on a laptop or other condensed keyboard, an alternative control scheme is available. Simply unpack the ALTCTRL.RAR archive, remove the hash marks (#) from the file names, and dump them into the data directory.
Before you do this, you may want to back up the corresponding files from the original install. That's all up to you.
Linux
Linux users may do well to ignore the included settings, and instead to dump the Data/ directory directly into DOSBox, using whatever local preferences work best on the user's individual system.
Credits
Design & Implementation
Engine & Toolset
Testing & Discussion
- Shepard Saltzman
- Amandeep Jutla
- Jenique Renée Tairne
- Brandon Sheffield
- Leander Hasty
- Andrew Toups
Music -
- A-J Games Theme
- Title Theme, "I'm Away Now"
- Story Theme, "Glock"
- Level 7 Theme, "Dissonant"
- Level 8 Theme, "Muel Boog"
- High Score Theme, "Dooka-Do"
- Eric-Jon Rössel Tairne
- Other Themes
- Various Unknown Artists
Archive history
Builder has been retained as part of the archive from the game's inception.
Stipulations of use
Although Builder is free to use and distribute, and indeed to dissect for your own enjoyment, I do ask that you neither reuse its components (including graphics, sounds, original music, text, and layout) in your own projects nor distribute the game in an edited form. The only exception is the non-original music files (which you can determine by reading the credits). As I found them in various music libraries over the years, so you too may reuse them at will.
Thank you, and enjoy.
Links
Sites
Interviews / Articles
- The History of A-J Games, Part Seven
- The History of A-J Games: Part Ten
- GameSetWatch news blurb
- Insert Credit blurb
- The Game-Maker Story: Infoboxes (Gamasutra)
Listings
Social Media
- "Builder is brilliant, but can be a bit opaque at first." - Paul Hack of GameJolt
- Builder: The Game / Free - Windows, Mac - WarpDoor
Misc. Links
- Let's Play A-J Games' Builder! Part 1: Dosbox! (Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4)
- High Score theme ("Dooka-Do")
- Play Builder online
Downloads
- Builder (PC) (175 kB)
- Builder (Mac) (? kB)
