Hello!
This is a detailed post about the game in how the gameplay works. It differs from classic marble popper games such as Luxor, Sparkle, Tumblebugs, Zuma, and others. For those who have played other marble poppers, I want to make it clear that the gameplay of Garenburg Penitence is both very similar with many different mechanics for a fresh and unique experience. There are quite a few other points mentioned below that I feel is important to mention as well, so the list below should hopefully answer most questions.
- The player cannot control their movement, but instead movement speed. They will always move on a small loop and have to change their speed accordingly to be more accurate with matching colors.
- You do not need to match three colors to destroy spheres; you only need to match two. While that sounds like the game may be easier, or it may remove a lot of strategy, that is most definitely not the case.
- Powerups are only in Wave Mode and are gained through accuracy.
- You control what colors to fire. There is no RNG involved in choosing colors.
- Levels will be cleared after reaching a certain score. You can get higher scores from matching with higher accuracy, although not required (Note: the footage in the trailers is using the old score system that was purely one point per sphere destroyed. This will be different in the full game).
- Yes, there are 72 total level maps. Story Mode reuses some levels on higher difficulties for more challenge, but there are 72 unique level designs overall (10 per world + 1 No Mistakes level per world + 1 Multiplayer level per world, with a total of 6 worlds).
- There is a story and plot. It is however optional as I know the majority of games similar to this do not focus at all on story. The story is that of the Riflebird, a key character in the history of Garenburg.
- While there aren't plans for official mod support, custom levels will be supported either with the release or in an update after the release depending on how difficult it is to implement (game development can be tricky at times). It is planned to include options for level effects, path creation, custom images for the level background and music as an option if all goes well. Please stay tuned for more updates on this part, it would likely be worked on last for this game so that the base game is polished and fun.
- Colorblind support will be added either late into development or shortly after release; I need to first research accessibility methods and assess how it will be implemented.
- While the previous game, Garenburg Woods, was an RPG Maker 2000 game, this game has no RPG elements. They are two very separate games in terms of the actual gameplay.
If there are any questions about anything in specific, feel free to make a thread in the discussions tab or reach out on r/garenburg. Cheers!