Game: BlockQuest Maker BGM
System: Nintendo Switch
Developer/ Publisher: Wonderland Kazakiri
Price: €11.99| $14.99 | £11.99
Age Rating: EU3| USA E
Release Date: January 10 2019
Also Available on: IOS, Android, Steam
Review code kindly provided by Wonderland Kazakiri
If you have a interest in designing your own mini dungeons with fiendish traps then this might just be the game for you. Released on the Nintendo Switch, BQM-Block Quest Maker is full of all the elements you would need to achieve this.
How to describe the game? Think of a cross between old Legend of Zelda games and Super Mario Maker and you have BQM. A create & play dungeon RPG maker, with dungeons of all levels of difficulties, where you can create puzzle or action stages and let that design flare loose.
Part one: trying the dungeons others made
If you are not into designing your own dungeons and sharing them online or with friends nearby via local connection, there is still plenty of puzzles to play. In challenge mode there are 120 dungeons already built for you to play. Or you can check out the online dungeons and see what other people have made. Published dungeons can be searched by different categories, ranking or upload order. Choosing which game to play is entirely up to player.
You use the A button to attack and the B button to block. Your character plays through one floor level dungeons. Some have enemies in them or traps, switches, movable blocks, locked doors: there are lots of different ways to stop you getting to the end. And to the few coins you get as a reward. The camera can be zoomed out so you can see all of the dungeon at once.
Part two: designing your own
Using the touchscreen for designing your own dungeons works very well. There are lots of different items to use, from different floors to shrubbery to floor traps to boss characters and NPC’s. The list just goes on. You can choose a 10×10 square dungeons to start designing. Or, if you’re feeling confident, the largest one of 32×32 square.
The Map section of the build menu shows you all the flooring and walls available to use and the Event section is where to find switches, traps, spikes, monsters and other nasty things to add to your dungeon. It’s all laid out well and clearly and is simple to use.
Coins make the dungeon world go ’round
After creating your own mini dungeon you can charge a small fee for other people to play it, usually 10 or 20 coins or you can make it free. When you have collected enough coins you can then use these coins to purchase new items to create dungeons with…..but there is a catch.
In BQM you are part of a builders guild where you are either a builder or a diver ( someone who plays the levels) or both. So you create a mini dungeon and then you have to pay a fee to the guild to upload it online using the in game coins. When someone plays your dungeon they pay the 10 or 20 coins of a fee you are charging. Depending on how well they do, you receive a percentage of the coins as the guild takes their cut.
The example given in a tutorial screen is set a fee of 10 coins and if the player completes your dungeon you would get 5 gold coins back and 7 coins if the player fails. Yes you read that right, more coins back if they fail the level.
This I feel hinders the gameplay and leads to other people making annoying one-try dungeons that you have no hope of completing. Dungeons you have paid coins to play, so in the end they receive more coins. There should be more attention to making creative dungeons instead of unbeatable hair pulling dungeons and a coin grab.
Retro graphics and retro music
The graphics are old school retro as you can see from the picture’s. The music is retro as well and it does get repetitive very quickly, so my answer to that was to turn the sound off.
While playing the dungeons your character not only collects coins once you have completed the dungeon, you also collect meat which will unlock better weapons for your character to use. With the coins you earned you can also buy your character some new skins. In the shop you will find items to buy that you can add to the build editor, which gives you more variety of items to add to your dungeon while building.
Conclusion
Wonderland Kazakiri inc have done a good job with this wee game. Lots and lots of hours could be lost building creative dungeons or playing all the dungeons posted online.
When I first stated to review BQM there where not many dungeons posted online. But since the games’ release there are loads posted. In fact according to the Developers web site there are over 5000 dungeons online and there are daily updates, so that number will increase.
For the price of BQM it is worth a look if you are interested in designing dungeons. Other than the guild taking a cut of the coins my verdict is: I like this game
