------------------------------------ Builder's Block (Sony Playstation) FAQ v1.0 (10/8/00) Norman Richards http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/orb ------------------------------------ Table of Contents: ================== 1.0 - General Game Information 2.0 - Puzzle Mode 3.0 - Arcade Mode 4.0 - Battle Mode 5.0 - Author's Notes ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1.0 - General Game Information Builder's Block is puzzle game from Taito, published for the Sony Playstation in Fall '00 by Jaleco. This FAQ covers only the US release of Builder's Block for the playstation, though certain parts may be relevant to the arcade version or to other systems. Game play consists of shooting colored blocks across the field of play, attempting to connect like colored blocks to form large buildings. Buildings are constructed similarly to the way power gems are constructed in super puzzle fighter, except that cities are square - 2x2, 3x3, etc... The largest building size is 7x7. In addition to creating buildings, buildings (or groups of buildings) can be destroyed by placing a block on a diagonal of a like colored group. When buildings are destroyed, prizes will be left behind according to the size of the building and the game mode. There are three modes of play in Builder's Block: puzzle mode, battle mode and arcade mode. Puzzle mode is a 1 player quest to build 12 cities across the various continents and increase the population of the planet. Battle Mode is a 2 player game where players build buildings trying to collect as many coins as possible. Arcade mode is a 1 or 2 player vs. competition where players build buildings to attack the other player by causing his playing field to fill up. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2.0 - Puzzle Mode The goal of puzzle mode is to build the population of 12 cities scattered over the globe. The first 6 cities are available for play immediately, the remaining 6 become unlocked only after reaching certain goals in the game. The twelve cities are: Maroon Forest, Good Luck Field, Hillside Village, Mount Base, Gechtmogiv, Plus Wisteria, Riverfront, Shach, Bang Ceng, Blackwood, Shing Shee, and Le Hikat. Building each city consists of building buildings over 6 stages of 3 fields. Each field has a challenge of building a building of a certain minimum size. Once a building of that size or greater is created, a clear symbol will appear. Hitting the clear symbol ends the stage. 2.1 - Scoring Your population increases for each building you create. After you complete a round, a population bonus is given. There are three bonuses: difficulty, retry and advanced. 2.2 - Population increases for each building made SIZE PEOPLE ---- -------- 2x2 100 3x3 1000 4x4 10000 5x5 100000 6x6 1000000 7x7 10000000 2.3 - Difficulty bonuses PUZZLE TYPE BONUS ------ -------- A 10000000 B 5000000 C 2000000 D 1000000 E 300000 [NOTE: add chart of puzzle types for each city here] 2.4 - Retry bonus The retry bonus is based on the difficulty of the puzzle and the number of retries used to complete the puzzle. (M = million, K=thousand) 0 1 2 3 4 5+ <-- number of retries ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- A 10M 5M 4M 3M 2M 1M B 3M 1M 800K 600K 400K 200K C 1M 500K 400K 300K 200K 100K D 300K 100K 80K 60K 40K 20K E 100K 50K 40K 30K 20K 10K 2.5 - Advanced Bonus An advanced bonus is given if you construct a building larger than the size required by the puzzle. (For example, a construct a 6x6 building when the challenge was to construct a 4x4 building gives an +2 bonus) BONUS POPULATION MESSAGE ----- ----------- ------------- +0 0 +1 10 million wonderful +2 30 million excellent +3 100 million unbelievable The +3 bonus is very difficult to achieve. The maximum building size is 7x7, so this bonus can only be achieved for a puzzle challenge of 4x4 or smaller. The total number of each type of bonus is not yet known, but the following is a list of known achievable +3 bonuses. (please send others if you know of them) CITY ROUND ---------- ----- Maroon Forest 5-3 Hillside Village 3-1 Mount Base 3-1 Gechtmogiv 4-3 Wisteria 1-3 Riverfront 2-3 Shach 3-2 Bang Ceng 2-3 2.6 - City Goals After completing all 6 stages of a city, the total population of the city will determine the type of city you created. This ranges from a small village to a large capital. The following are estimates of the population needed for each city type. POPULATION CITY TYPE ---------- --------------------- 400M Level 6 Capital 350M Level 5 Metropolis 300M Level 4 City 200M Level 3 Town 100M Level 2 Village 0M Level 1 Small Village 2.7 - Population Grade After each level, you receive a grade based on the total population of the globe. The following population ranges are estimates, and will be refined in future version of the FAQ. GRADE POPULATION ------ ----------- A+ 3B + A 2B - 3B B+ 1B - 2B B 500M - 1B C+ 100M - 500M C 25M - 100M D+ 6M - 25M D 2M - 6M E+ 1M - 2M E 0 - 1M 2.8 - Unlocking Cities Cities 7-12 unlock only when you reach certain goals in the game. I don't yet know what these goals are, but will document it when I figure it out. 2.9 - Techniques Hints are available in the game for each puzzle, which makes completing most puzzle fairly easy. Achieving the advanced bonuses requires a little extra effort. Building large buildings requires a lot of space, so it is important to keep the playable area of the field as large as possible. The main trick is in carefully manipulating the scroll counter. The scroll count is indicated by the small blue triangles in the left side of the screen, which tell you how many blocks you can send onto the playfield before the field is advanced one. The scroll counter is reset when you achieve the puzzle challenge goal and is additionally reset the first time you build a building of each size greater than the puzzle goal. For example, if the challenge is to build a 4x4 building, your counter will be reset when you create a 4x4 building and reset again if you make a 5x5, 6x6 and then 7x7 building. Don't waste pieces by reseting the counter before it is just about to run out. If the scroll count is 3 and you are 1 piece from a 5x5 building, use the extra 2 pieces to begin working on the 6x6, then reset the counter by creating the 5x5. If you are lucky you may be able to complete the 6x6 before the new scroll counter expires. Etc... Careful management of the scroll counter is the way the achieve higher bonuses. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3.0 - Arcade Mode [NOTE: this section will be added in a future version] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 4.0 - Battle Mode [NOTE: this section will be added in a future version] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 5.0 - Author's Notes This FAQ was created by Norman Richards. (orb@cs.utexas.edu) Corrections, additions and comments are are gratefully accepted and will be credited accordingly. This document is copyright 2000 by Norman Richards. You are free to distribute it under the terms and conditions of the open content license. The OPL is available online at the open content website. 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