One of the indie developers I spoke to at the PLAY Expo Blackpool event was YouTuber bl3i, the guy behind PlanckMan, an incredible simple and compelling retro style game for Steam.
As you may have read in this week’s newsletter, I spoke to a bunch of indie developers at PLAY Expo Blackpool. I’m going to be featuring each of their games over the next few days, but I wanted to kick this off with the simplest one of them all, a neoretro title called PlanckMan.
PlanckMan is described as follows:
PlanckMan is a grid based puzzle game that tests your skill at maintaining your tail, one step at a time. Eat red pellets to regain your tail, and yellow pellets to grow. Do not hit or lose your tail, or else you will lose the game! How high can you get? Includes extra benefits for purchasing.
I sat at bl3i‘s modest laptop to try the game, and found myself quickly dead. And again; and then again. Eventually, however, I got the hang of it, to such an extent that I’ve just spent the past half hour playing it instead of telling you about it.
I’d liken it to a cross between Snake and Minesweeper, the numbers on PlanckMan himself indicating the remaining moves/length, with a bit of Slither.io thrown in. It naturally benefits from modern graphics and palettes, but PlanckMan really does feel like — as the website says — “The Retro Game That Never Was.”
bl3i’s PlanckMan is intriguing
Developer bl3i has created a video, detailing not just the game, but the steps he took to create the arcade machine version — which relies on a Raspberry Pi Pico for the controller.
I chatted with bl3i for a short time about the game and about his arcade machine version — essentially a laptop with a custom keyboard replacement — and I was left feeling really intrigued. It’s like a game that might have been released in an alternative 1990s, with an optional self-built arcade controller.
PlanckMan is available now on Steam, where you get various customizations and a high score table, for just £1.69 (or local approximation). The full list of enhancements with the paid version are:
- Your high score will be saved and displayed prominently on the main screen.
- You can customise your controls to whatever buttons you like.
- You can enable or disable Fullscreen mode, Glow effects, Deep Blacks and Sound Effects.
- The colours of PlanckMan, and the food and multiplier pellets can be set to your liking.
- RGB MODE is also included, if you want a nice, new, vibrant experience.
- You can set the window size of the PlanckMan game window to whatever you want, and save this resolution as your preference so the game will always load to that resolution
You can also play the browser version at planckman.com to get a feeling for it. I recommend you avoid doing this during working hours, however…
If you like builds and quirky projects, subscribe to bl3i’s YouTube channel, too.
Affiliate Disclosure: Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission if you make a purchase through those links. This comes at no extra cost to you. Thank you for your support!
Christian Cawley is a writer and editor who covers consumer electronics, IT, and entertainment media. He has written for publications such as Computer Weekly, Linux Format, MakeUseOf.com, and Tech Radar.
He also produces podcasts, has a cigar box guitar, and of course, loves retro gaming.