At first, solving a puzzle can be as simple as drawing a line between the ball and the star and clicking on the ball to get it to start rolling. But you will quickly learn how to draw objects that fall, as well as platforms and ramps.
As you progress through the puzzles, new concepts are introduced through drawn instructions. In one, you will see a small round pushpin and a dotted picture of how to draw a mallet around a pin. When you draw it, the mallet rotates around the pin, hits the ball and makes it roll over to the star. From there, the puzzles get more challenging by introducing levers and pulleys.
The puzzles are distributed over eight islands that slowly unlock as you solve the earlier puzzles. Puzzles can be solved in many ways and that is the genius of this game. As explained by Purho: "Coming up with creative solutions is what the game is really about."
When you succeed in rolling the red ball over the yellow star, you earn that star. But for each puzzle, you can earn an additional star when you find solutions that qualify as "Elegant," "Old School," and "Awesome."
An "Elegant" solution is accomplished by only drawing one object, and an "Old School" solution means that you didn't click on the ball to start it, didn't draw an object under it, and didn't use pushpins. You decide when to give yourself the "Awesome" designation.
The game also provides you with a way to create your own puzzles and allows you to upload them to the Crayon Physics Playground.
I have a feeling my son Alex (6) is going to go apeshit on this one.
On February 14 2009 08:26 white_box921 wrote: i used to get thrilled with lego and toys from kinder eggs when I was 6, kids are so lucky these days.
so lucky? Lego is far superior to any computer game a kid can play imho at least I can't imagine that I would have had more fun with any computer game than I had with Lego. Though I guess it was better back when I was young, since as far as I can tell from walking through the toy's department once or twice a year they use more big bricks (so less possible variety). I still have plenty of legos stored in the basement of my mom's use. If I ever have kids... :p
It was always better back when we were young. He doesn't look a thing like Jesus, but he talks like a gentleman and the fact of the matter is we know only our own childhoods. I personally love these kinds of games, and I think they would be good for kids too.
On February 14 2009 08:26 white_box921 wrote: i used to get thrilled with lego and toys from kinder eggs when I was 6, kids are so lucky these days.
so lucky? Lego is far superior to any computer game a kid can play imho at least I can't imagine that I would have had more fun with any computer game than I had with Lego. Though I guess it was better back when I was young, since as far as I can tell from walking through the toy's department once or twice a year they use more big bricks (so less possible variety). I still have plenty of legos stored in the basement of my mom's use. If I ever have kids... :p
Legos just keep giving and giving, I wish I was a kid and could just play with them all day again.
Tetris Arkanoid Missile Command Sokoban Supaplex The Incredible Machine aka TIM Dr Brain (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Brain) Caesar Saga (Sierra entertainment) it's not too violent
These will give your boy the necessary skills (strategy, micro and macro) in order to star his SC life
Finally if you can get these games let me know: http://www.epistemicgames.com/eg/?cat=5 Sodaconstructor is a really cool idea. I didn't explore too much these options because my 3 years old daughter is not ready.