EON, a Flash-based Puzzle Experience in Space

EON is a Flash-based puzzle simulation created by Newgrounds.com programmer Michael Boxleiter (fucrate) and Newgrounds.com artist Greg Wohlwend (aeiowu). EON was submitted to Newgrounds.com on February 24, 2010 and won a Daily 2nd Place award on February 25, 2010.

Gameplay

The objective of EON is to create equal systems of gas planets by filling empty gas planets with matter from full gas planets.

To do this, you have the ability to spawn gravity wells that attract matter from gas planets that are full of useful matter. Draw this matter towards the empty gas planets to fill the empty ones up. Once you have filled up all of the gas planets on the screen, you can move on to the next stage and set of puzzles.

To set up a gravity well, just click anywhere on the screen. To delete a gravity well, simply double click on it. You can also click and hold on to existing gravity wells, to drag them to different parts of the screen.

It is important to know that the use of multiple gravity wells will greatly complicate the direction of gravity, thus moving the matter being sucked out of gas planets in directions that may be unfavorable to the system. Set up the gravity wells at the best locations to minimize matter loss. Do this as quickly as possible to see if you can beat the par score for each stage.

At the bottom of each level, you will see a number of useful details. At the bottom left hand corner of the screen, you can view what level you are currently on. To the right of this value, you can see the amount of time that has passed since you started the level. To the right of this, you can view what is in your inventory, indicating mostly how many wells you have at your disposal. At the bottom right hand corner of the screen, you have four different buttons. The first one lets you quit, the second one can be used if you need help, the third one toggles the sound of the game, and the fourth and final button lets you pause the game to give yourself a break.

At the end of each stage, you will be shown a progress report that indicates your performance in the last level. You will be shown how long it took you to complete the level, number of wells you used, and the amount of matter that you lost in the process of completing the level. You will also be shown your best score in each of these three categories, as well as the par score that you should aim to beat.

Game Review

EON is a creative puzzle experience that will keep players of all levels interested in continuing. The manipulation of gravity is not a novel idea, but EON somehow takes the idea to a different level. By requiring players to manipulate multiple sources of gravity in order to balance an unbalanced system of gas planets, EON places an extra and rather unique challenge for players to tackle.

EON scores a 9/10 for its high level of entertainment.