During my recent trip to Apps World, I dug up a few games like Solar Warfare and Revel that will make their way to Windows Phone before long. Naturally I kept asking the indie developers in attendance about future Windows Phone and Windows support.
Of those developers I spoke with, the makers of Puzzle Raiders and Pata Pata were especially interested in bringing their games to Windows Phone. Puzzle Raiders is a clever match-3 puzzle game with actual controllable characters, while Pata Pata mixes a simple board game with African themes. Learn about both games and their current stages of development after the break.
Puzzle Raiders
The mobile market is filled with match-3 puzzle games in the style of Bejeweled and Candy Crush Saga, so any new match-3 puzzler needs a good hook in order to stand out from the crowd. Indie developer Shiny Shoe’s hook for Puzzle Raiders centers around the game’s titular Puzzle Raiders, a group of treasure hunting explorers.
The raiders actually move around and interact with the environment while players match items and solve puzzles. Your goal is to clear a path for your character from one side of the screen to the other by making matches. You only have a limited number of matches with which to reach the level exit, so careful play becomes important. Run out of lives and it will take time for them to recharge, as with Frozen Free Fall and Candy Crush.
Sometimes the level’s path is blocked not by sand that must be cleared away but by enemies like mummies. Instead of making matches with the enemies themselves, it takes adjacent matches to hurt the bad guys.
Players have a few more tools to destroy enemies and obstacles, including items purchased form the shop. Drop a bomb or a barrel of monkeys onto the playing field and the tide will turn in your favor. The heroic raiders can also unleash attacks of their own after making enough matches. Charge up the whip to take out a foe Indiana Jones-style.
Shiny Shot still has to finish up the Android version of Puzzle Raiders before moving on to other mobile platforms. As CEO Mark Cooke explains in our video, they’re quite eager to make Windows Phone one of those platforms. All they need is an actual Windows Phone to test it with… How about it, Microsoft? We could always use another good puzzle game like Puzzle Raiders.
Pata Pata
This one comes from Saintoon, an indie developer from Zimbabwe, Africa. Pata Pata is a simple board game in which up to four players take turns rolling dice and moving up the game board. Roll a six to get a free turn.
Squares with pictures represent different aspects of Africa, such as tourist destinations and wildlife. Some are beneficial and will move players up on the board. Others, such as the space representing elephant poaching will cause the player to drop behind.
Graphically, Pata Pata falls on the simplistic side of things. But it does have some cool African influences, such as the player pieces based on cave paintings and traditional African music. It’s a free game on iOS with no In-App Purchases in sight – just the goal of teaching players a few things about Africa.
Pata Pata is already available on iOS. Saintoon plans to release Pata Pata on Windows Phone and Windows 8 after they complete the upcoming Android port.
