Heron: Steam Machine
Encyclopedia
Heron: Steam Machine is a puzzle
video game by Triangle Studios, released for WiiWare
and iOS. It is a new take on the Pipe Mania concept, adding arcade elements such as multiplayer gameplay and changing the format to a filled board with rotatable blocks rather than being able to place new blocks on the board.
produces rubber ducks. The player is represented by the factory technician Ron, who has to keep the machine in check. While producing ducks, the steam machine's four color coded systems (green for steam, yellow for electricity, blue for water and red for oil) grow and the player has to keep them down by connecting entry and exit points for the respective colors. This is done by rotating the blocks on screen. When a link is completed, the gauge for that system will go down, the blocks will be removed from the screen and new blocks will be added from the top in a Tetris
style.
The goal is to keep the machine running as long as possible, while the difficulty increases both by adding more systems that fail at once (which then need to all be connected before they will cool off) and increasing the rate of failure for the systems.
Sometimes certain blocks will appear in the game grid which have special properties other than connecting adjacent blocks. Such properties include having the destruction slowed down or adding score multipliers if they are used in the path. Bomb blocks will also appear, which can be triggered to destroy a portion of the grid and have new blocks dropped in.
on the Wii
or by touching the screen to rotate a block clockwise on the iPhone
. When playing on the Wii, two styles of control can be used. holding the remote horizontally allows the selection and rotation of blocks by using the D-pad
and the 1- and 2-buttons to rotate clockwise and counter-clockwise. When holding the remote vertically, players can point at the block they want to rotate and then rotate it by holding the A-button while turning their wrist. The game automatically detects which type of control the player is using.
multiplayer for up to four players. This is done by dividing the board among the players and having each player only able to access their own portion of the screen. The players will need to work together to still make the pipes match, having their scores added. Separate scoreboards are kept in the game for one, two, three and four player games.
No multiplayer gameplay is currently available on the iOS version.
Puzzle
A puzzle is a problem or enigma that tests the ingenuity of the solver. In a basic puzzle, one is intended to put together pieces in a logical way in order to come up with the desired solution...
video game by Triangle Studios, released for WiiWare
WiiWare
WiiWare is a service that allows Wii users to download games and applications specifically designed and developed for the Wii video game console made by Nintendo. These games and applications can only be purchased and downloaded from the Wii Shop Channel under the WiiWare section...
and iOS. It is a new take on the Pipe Mania concept, adding arcade elements such as multiplayer gameplay and changing the format to a filled board with rotatable blocks rather than being able to place new blocks on the board.
Gameplay
The game features a story about a factory in which a steam engineSteam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...
produces rubber ducks. The player is represented by the factory technician Ron, who has to keep the machine in check. While producing ducks, the steam machine's four color coded systems (green for steam, yellow for electricity, blue for water and red for oil) grow and the player has to keep them down by connecting entry and exit points for the respective colors. This is done by rotating the blocks on screen. When a link is completed, the gauge for that system will go down, the blocks will be removed from the screen and new blocks will be added from the top in a Tetris
Tetris
Tetris is a puzzle video game originally designed and programmed by Alexey Pajitnov in the Soviet Union. It was released on June 6, 1984, while he was working for the Dorodnicyn Computing Centre of the Academy of Science of the USSR in Moscow, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic...
style.
The goal is to keep the machine running as long as possible, while the difficulty increases both by adding more systems that fail at once (which then need to all be connected before they will cool off) and increasing the rate of failure for the systems.
Sometimes certain blocks will appear in the game grid which have special properties other than connecting adjacent blocks. Such properties include having the destruction slowed down or adding score multipliers if they are used in the path. Bomb blocks will also appear, which can be triggered to destroy a portion of the grid and have new blocks dropped in.
Controls
Heron: Steam Machine can be controlled with the Wii RemoteWii Remote
The , also known as the Wiimote, is the primary controller for Nintendo's Wii console. A main feature of the Wii Remote is its motion sensing capability, which allows the user to interact with and manipulate items on screen via gesture recognition and pointing through the use of accelerometer and...
on the Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
or by touching the screen to rotate a block clockwise on the iPhone
IPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
. When playing on the Wii, two styles of control can be used. holding the remote horizontally allows the selection and rotation of blocks by using the D-pad
D-pad
A D-pad is a flat, usually thumb-operated directional control with one button on each point, found on nearly all modern video game console gamepads, game controllers, on the remote control units of some television and DVD players, and smart phones...
and the 1- and 2-buttons to rotate clockwise and counter-clockwise. When holding the remote vertically, players can point at the block they want to rotate and then rotate it by holding the A-button while turning their wrist. The game automatically detects which type of control the player is using.
Multiplayer
The WiiWare version of the game features local cooperativeCooperative gameplay
Cooperative gameplay is a feature in video games that allows players to work together as teammates. It is distinct from other multiplayer modes, such as competitive multiplayer modes like player versus player or deathmatch...
multiplayer for up to four players. This is done by dividing the board among the players and having each player only able to access their own portion of the screen. The players will need to work together to still make the pipes match, having their scores added. Separate scoreboards are kept in the game for one, two, three and four player games.
No multiplayer gameplay is currently available on the iOS version.