Fissionquest: Sokoban in 3D

FissionQuest (and its lite version FissionQuest Lite) present another take on Sokoban-like puzzles (see my earlier posts on such puzzles). This game is like Sokoban in 3D, though you also have to watch out not to fall down to death.

iEscape: Sokoban on the edge

An interesting puzzle concept is available in iEscape, iEscape LITE, and RabbitEscape (the last one is shown here to the right). They are all from the same developer, and basically just different packages around the same puzzle concept. The puzzles are closely related to Sokoban (see my earlier post on classic Sokoban ports for the iPhone). The difference to Sokoban is, in a nutshell, that the “blocks” to be pushed around are now placed in the edges of the graph, instead of on the vertices. So, one could call this “Sokoban on the edge”-puzzles.

Chip’s Challenge: a Sokoban Laboratory

For those of you who like the idea of Sokoban, but find it a bit abstract, Chip’s Challenge is probably a good alternative. The original game was designed in 1989 by Chuck Sommerville for the Atari Lynx (in a sense an iPhone predecessor). In Chip’s Challenge, you guide around Chip McCallahan through a series of increasingly difficult puzzles. Many of the puzzles have Sokoban parts in them, but there are many other additions, like ice for sliding, conveyor belts, floors that only be passed once, and bouncing balls that ask for precise timing.

There are various games in the app store that take more or less direct cues from Chip’s Challenge, although I have no idea whether there are any direct links. None of the games even mention Chip’s Challenge. Only one of the games (Loopy Laboratory) cites Chip’s Challenge so directly that it is clearly inspired by it.

Sokoban: not just sliding, but pushing blocks

In his classic definition of Sliding Block puzzles, Edward Horden explicitly noted that “there must be no requirement that they be pushed or pulled by other pieces.” So, let’s change the topic from sliding blocks (as discussed in the last few posts) to pushing blocks.

The most well-known instantiation of a pushing block puzzle is Sokoban (Japanese for ‘warehouse keeper’), created in 1980 by Hiroyuki Imabayashi. In this puzzle, various blocks must be pushed to their destination in a twisted warehouse. The blocks cannot be pulled, so when a block is pushed into a corner it is stuck, and eventually the puzzle will have to be restarted.