Ka-Bloom!: A Flash Animation Tread Puzzler

Ka-Bloom! is a Flash-based animation game created by Newgrounds.com user Strongman Games (StrongmanGames). The main theme of this puzzle game is titled Suncity and was created by Newgrounds.com user cycerin.Ka-Bloom! was submitted to Newgrounds.com on August 26, 2010 and won a Daily 3rd Place award on August 27, 2010.

Gameplay

As mentioned in the Author Comments, which can be found on the game's website, Ka-Bloom! is a thread puzzler that involves linking objects together in order to collect them.

When you begin the game, you will see a sleeping character in the middle of the screen. This character, named Floret, needs to eat after waking up. Floret eats the gems and jewels that float around. Your objective is to link together these food items to make them easier for Floret to eat. You are only allowed to make a few chains per stage, so make chains wisely.

Some gems are too far away for Floret to reach. However, when Floret eats, the reach also increases. Eat closer gems before moving on to gems that are further away.

As you play through the game, you will accumulate experience points. If you gather enough experience, Floret will level up. After leveling up, you can increase Floret's abilities. The following abilities can be upgraded:
-link range
-chain limit
-combo time
-sleep time

A good order of doing things, as outlined in the in-game tutorial, is to make chains first before waking up Floret. Make chains as quickly as you can. If you manually wake Floret up, you can increase bonuses. Once Floret wakes up, quickly feed the gems that are closer before moving on to ones that are farther away.

At the end of each stage, you will be shown a performance report detailing how well you played the previous round. You will be shown the following:
-points
-early bird bonus points
-eating time bonus points
-score
-experience gained

Also after each stage, you will be given the chance to submit your score to an online leaderboard, where you can see how you compare to other gamers around the world.

Game Review

Ka-Bloom! is an innovative twist on puzzle games. Not only is the gameplay fresh and addicting, but the visuals and music are also very inviting. With puzzles that increase with difficulty, along with a upgrade system, there is not much more you could ask from this well-made Flash animation.

Ka-Bloom! scores a 10/10 for its creative gameplay and high level of entertainment.