Over the last couple of months Devilishgames been developing a handful of games for the BBC series 'The Code' that aired last August. We've been working closely with the lovely people of Six To Start who integrated the show with a website, social media, group challenges, puzzles, our games and much more. to create an interactive treasure hunt leading to a real prize hidden somewhere in the UK. Have a look at the amazing result on http://www.bbc.co.uk/tv/features/code/

The four games accompanying the series are all based around maths and the fun stuff you can do with it. No zombies or blood, the target audience wants raw maths as their opponent. Here's a short description of each of those games:

In Froghopper we have to tightly pack different shapes of leaves into the pond so Fermat the frog can reach the objects waiting for him on the other side. Collect all items and Fermat can join the Summer Games Long Jump Championship. Be sure to be accurate because Fermat can easily slip into the water if he lands slightly over the edge of a leaf - and the fish are hungry!

 

Prima Pizzeria is about prime numbers and dividing. Chef launches random batches of ingredients in the air and it's up to the player to catch them on the pizza that can hold the ingredients evenly over all the slices. The second part of each day is for the prime numbers, get the glitter ball out and turn on the disco floor, happy times in the Prima Pizzeria.

 

Master of Mosaics is a puzzle game where the player has find rotational symmetries in 16 colourful levels. The game will reveal it secret ( in the form a codeword ) when you manage to break the final mosaic. One of the more challenging games I ever made ( code wise, that is )

The Open University has the sequel of this game ( 'Grandmaster of Mosaics' ) on its site with additional mosaics and types of symmetry.

 

Use Newton's formulas in Kingdom of Castles to keep the enemy at bay. Defend your castle with just a basket of fruit and a catapult. The enemy wants to get their hands on the secret you keep in your castles.

Finally we did a couple of 'Code Breakers' which the participants of the treasure hunt have to operate to obtain the final passwords that unlock the Ultimate Challenge PDF. Moving the handles on these devices to the answers also changes the password. Save me the trouble of having to explain how the Code Breakers work and have a look for yourself here. - The treasure hunt is already over, so it's just for fun now :-)

We put a whole bunch of little details in all of the games and had a lot of fun making them. Working with Six to Start was real joy as well; They seemed to be 24/7 on the job, instant feedback and really helpful chaps. Special thanks to Adrian, Matt and Alex for all the laughs we had :-)