“This little chick is feeling stuck[.] […] Help him find ways to get rid of his [creative block].”
Do you remember “Uballto”, the physics game that interacted with different window layers, which was submitted to the forty-fifth Ludum Dare and won the fourth place in the innovation category of the Compo section? “BLAWK” has a very similar concept to it, but it uses its own actual window. By dragging it up and down or left and right, you are able to create an acceleration for the small bird inside of it; that way it is able to run, jump or even crouch through narrow passages.
Those movement styles will be needed, as “BLAWK” has some tough levels for you to get through. With the right timing and some foresight you have to guide the chick through spikes and holes. But this jam submission is not to be taken literally, as it is not about a baby bird that wants to travel to another point – it is actually a metapher for handling a creative block.
The spikes are the obstacles you have to overcome in the artistic process, while the strait passages are the pressure you might feel when you have to finish a project soon because of the deadline. However, “BLAWK” does not completely focus on the dark sides of creativity, as it also shows how important it is to exercise a bit or to take a break. This concept makes it a cute little game, that knows how to use its mechanics to do the storytelling in a clever way. [PLAY]
