Rumble Box
Rumble Box is a freeware computer game, created by Patrick Hackett and Joe Bourrie at DigiPen and released in 2004. The player is represented by a crude skeleton with bounding boxes at each of its joints. The goal of the game is to attempt to escape from a deep pit, or Rumble Box. The pit constantly fills itself with enemies that are graphically designed in the same manner as the player. When defeated, said enemies fall to the ground, leaving cube "body parts" behind. These cubes accumulate, allowing the character to escape the pit by climbing a pile of his fallen opponents' dead "bodies". Once you make it out of the pit, you are presented with a Mini Game such as 'How many opponents can you kill in 30 seconds' or 'Dodge the bombs for a higher score'. When you finish these Mini Games you get put back in the stage after the stage you completed. There is also a Challenge Mode in which the opponents come at you a lot quicker than normal. This is 'Only for Rumble Box Masters' explains the game. The Challenge Mode is the easiest way to get a high score on the Normal High Score Table.
Gameplay
The gameplay is similar to a beat em' up, but with elements found in professional wrestling video games, such as WWF Royal Rumble or TNA Impact!.
The player has a base attack which is executed by pressing the space bar. The attacks are context-sensitive, and which attack is performed is chosen based on where the enemies are in relation to the player. The player also has grappling moves that are executed by pressing Control or Alt. When grappling, the player will either grab onto a nearby enemy or throw an already held enemy. When the space bar is pressed while holding an enemy, the player will spin the enemy around 360 degrees and throw it across the arena.
All enemies can be killed with a single hit. When the player is hit, their pieces scatter and then reform a moment later and the player loses one health point. If the player runs out of health points before the end of the level, they lose the game. At the start of the next level health points are restored.
Enemies
- Fodder: Purple - Basic enemy, slow-moving and does not attack.
- Thug: Dark grey - Bigger and slower than the purple enemies, its attack has longer range and it attacks more frequently. They will occasionally pick up smaller enemies to throw at the player.
- Bodder: Bomb-head - The same as the purple enemy, but with a bomb for a head. The bomb starts at the death of the bomb-head.
- Ninja: White - Quicker moving than the others, they stay away from the player and dive toward the player from a distance.
- Wildman: Green - They often appear in twos or threes, and work together to surround the player. When the player attacks one of them, the others will dive at the player from behind.
Music
The game contains music by three musicians, Josh Billeaudeau, Jeep Barnett and Pete Dunshee.
The tracks are as follows:
- Peter W Dunshee - "Experimental Fusion"
- Josh Billeaudeau / +ANoMALY+ - "The New Circus"
- Jeep Barnett & Josh Billeaudeau - "Gumption In A Box"
Jeep Barnett's work is also featured in another DigiPen game called Narbacular Drop where he did both audio and programming work. Josh Billeaudeau also did the title music for Narbacular Drop.
Awards
Rumble Box is the winner or finalist of two awards:
- 2006 Independent Games Festival Main Competition Innovation In Game Design Finalist
- 2006 Slamdance Guerilla Gamemaker Competition Winner Outstanding Achievement in Physics
Rumble Box was also featured at the Indiecade independent games booth at E3 2007.