LET’S PLAY: TNT ARENA

Ow! With no weapons to hand, you have to use your, well, hands to punch your way past these stingy-tailed terrors. Survive long enough and you’ll be able to flee into the next room. What’s in there then? More scorpions? An apology and a nice cup of tea? Sigh… it’s never the latter, is it? :( 

Instead we meet Hal, a flying robot who initially doesn’t seem too happy to see us, because he thinks we’re an attacker (“I have a rock and I’m not afraid to use it!” says Hal, in what has to be the lamest threat of all time). But Hal quickly realises you’re no scorpion/threat and then becomes far more friendly.

Hal’s apparently been down here for a looooonnngggg time. So long, in fact, that they’ve put together the TNT arena of the title. Hal invites you to leap upon a platform. They then explain that the objective of the game is to swiftly jump to another platform whenever a TNT block lands on the one you’re standing on. 

Unfortunately, the game teaches you this lesson by dropping a TNT block on the only platform, making escape impossible. One explosive lesson later, you’re ready for a more fair challenge.

You start off with a 3x3 arena of platforms, with TNT constantly plummeting atop them. Naturally, you wanna jump off the dangerous platforms and onto the temporary safety of the TNT-free ones. And if you’re not used to doing running jumps in Minecraft then goodness gracious you’d better start practising or you’re never going to win in this one.

Thankfully, it’s not just death and despair raining from above. These platforms also occasionally play host to our old friend, cold hard cash. If you collect enough coins while hopping between these deadly squares, you’ll be able to unlock more platforms, and buy items from vending machines. We bought something called ‘Updraft’ and gave it a quick GAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Ahem. Maybe an item best saved for emergencies, that one.

AND NOW FOR AN UNSOLICITED LESSON ON GAMESPEAK TERMINOLOGY, COURTESY OF YOUR FRIENDS AT MINECRAFT.NET (YOU’RE WELCOME!)

TODAY’S LESSON: GAMEPLAY LOOPS

The ‘gameplay loop’ or ‘gloop’ as thankfully no one calls it, is the core gameplay experience in your game that ideally everything else is designed around to make said loop more fun. E.g. The gameplay loop in Pac-Man is ‘avoid ghosts and eat pellets’. Everything else in Pac-Man - the power-ups, the fruit, the increasingly challenging mazes - is designed to make that core ‘avoid ghosts and eat pellets’ gameplay loop more fun and interesting.

TNT Arena has a brilliantly simple gameplay loop of ‘jump from platform to platform to avoid being blown up by TNT’. Oreville Studios have then built on that solid loop with ideas like an ice bomb that leaves the platform it explodes on more slippery for a while, or a green slime bomb that makes the platform stickier. These bombs are both total meanies and we wish them nothing but despair and spiders >:(

Play enough of TNT Arena and survival strategies thankfully do start to emerge. Here’s some tips!

GOLDEN LIGHT MEANS MONEY MONEY MONEY

See a golden light emerging over a platform. Surprisingly, that isn’t God popping down from Heaven to cheekily demand a go. That’s the sign money is about to generate - go grab it!

SPEND SPEND SPEND!

There’s absolutely no point in hoarding your coins. As soon as you have enough money to unlock more platforms (250 coins each! In this economy!!!) do it. The larger the arena is, the more opportunities you’ll have to escape.

WATCH WHERE YOU STAND

Waiting on the edge of a platform so you can jump off it quickly may seem smart. But it leaves you oblivious if a TNT block lands on the platform you’re standing on right behind you.

BOINGGGGG

Look, falling off the platforms isn’t ideal. Though you’ll bounce back up from the floor, you will also take some damage. However! Getting caught in a TNT explosion is lethal. So if you find yourself in a situation wherein you can either get blown up, or take a little fall damage, always opt for the latter!

HAVE AT LEAST ONE LIFELINE

They’re expensive, but they’re essentially an extra life! Make sure you’re always carrying one. Can’t afford it? Uh oh…

ICE BOMBS MAKE A FUNNY NOISE WHEN THEY DETONATE

OK, this is admittedly not much of a tip. But it did make us smile :) 

Wish your life contained more TNT and explosions? Er, of course you do! In which case search for ‘TNT Arena’ by Oreville Studios in the Minecraft Marketplace - or click this very sentence to be taken to its store page directly. Hope you have a blast!