Hi! I'm Bart Bonte, a Belgian independent game designer and bontegames.com is where I blog about new interesting browser and mobile games. My own games are all in the left column (or at the bottom of this page on mobile). More info about me and my games on bartbonte.com.
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September 18, 2012

empty black

Empty black is a minimalist puzzle platformer by Mary Rose Cook. (note: this is a html5 game, so you'll need a recent browser to play)

27 comments:

  1. PK18 September 2012 at 09:16

    Cool, I was in the mood for a platformer! Hope this is a good one...

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  2. PK18 September 2012 at 09:51

    Huh. So, I guess when you get that poetry (or whatever) late in level 9, then wander around in blackness for a bit, the game is over? Or am I missing something?

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  3. -k18 September 2012 at 10:02

    Funny, I made it to the beginning of level 9 and decided that I just wasn't interested enough to find out how far the game went. I may have stopped slightly too soon, but, meh, it just wasn't all that great. Thanks anyway, Bart.

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  4. Anonymous18 September 2012 at 15:37

    Doesn't run on Explorer 8 :(

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  5. Anonymous18 September 2012 at 16:15

    how do you turn off the sound?

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  6. chefsinger18 September 2012 at 16:17

    Hooray for the Bob Dylan reference at the end!!! Good one...

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  7. Kati18 September 2012 at 17:08

    I liked it, it's cute ^^

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  8. jj18 September 2012 at 20:25

    Love this a lot, great design!

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  9. The Gordo19 September 2012 at 01:59

    Not a bad game at all. Creative minimalist product. I did think the end could have been just a tad more conclusive.

    Fun.

    Thanks, Bart!

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  10. Anonymous19 September 2012 at 11:05

    firefox 15.0.1 not recent enough?

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  11. Varg19 September 2012 at 19:48

    I simply cannot get past level three! How do I get to the little blue square (after the green one)?

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  12. Varg19 September 2012 at 19:50

    Oh my, never mind!

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  13. IkaTaii19 September 2012 at 21:50

    I normally love puzzle platformers, but for some reason I couldn't jump right and hold the box at the same time without doing some really weird keyboard kung-fu, which made the end of the one level where you have to toss the box up to the yellow boxes far too miserable to attempt to complete.

    Which is a pity because prior to that I was loving this little game.

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  14. IkaTaii19 September 2012 at 21:51

    I normally love puzzle platformers, but for some reason I couldn't jump right and hold the box at the same time without doing some really weird keyboard kung-fu, which made the end of the one level where you have to toss the box up to the yellow boxes far too miserable to attempt to complete.

    Which is a pity because prior to that I was loving this little game.

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  15. Anonymous20 September 2012 at 00:07

    how do I complete level 3?

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  16. Mantaraya21 September 2012 at 18:39

    IkaTaii, I had the same problem until I learned that I could just shoot the first yellow box with a rocket.

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  17. Yerk21 September 2012 at 21:53

    Third level!
    The trick is to shoot through a small hole and hit the purple square

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  18. Queen Fume-Boo22 September 2012 at 04:33

    I just ragequitted on level 7. Those confounded turrets.

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  19. MCG22 September 2012 at 20:26

    yeah, annoying ending, could of faded out or something...

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  20. Cyn22 September 2012 at 21:01

    I guess PK is right. The Dylan lyrics, then jump, then nothing? No credits, no "well done" or anything?

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  21. Anonymous23 September 2012 at 01:55

    on level 2, killed all the other squares now what? cant seem to find a way to the next level

    Hannah

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  22. Anonymous23 September 2012 at 01:57

    Take it back, found level 3 :)

    Hannah

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  23. Anonymous8 October 2012 at 22:19

    This is a good (and hard) game, but I would like to be able to reset the saved data and play it again. I have cleared the cache and deleted the cookies for the site, yet I start at the last save point everytime.

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  24. Anonymous7 January 2013 at 10:12

    Is the empty black screen really the end of the game? I've been jumping and shooting around a couple of minutes now and coudn't find any obstacle to climb up...? If that's the end, I agree with others that it could be indicated a bit better... :-)

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  25. Anne R. Bohan11 March 2013 at 06:15

    I like it for its simplicity of usage but the gameplay is back to basics and very enjoyable. It can be made into a browser game too.

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  26. Nat R.23 March 2016 at 20:35

    The empty black screen was an obvious ending to me, and very elegant too. I don't know what method the game's maker used, but I got the feeling I had just jumped off the edge of the world and I was falling infinitely, but at the same time I was just existing without any world (the game's graphics, movement code and the background of the website made it look like there just wasn't anything else on the page except the little box guy).
    That is, until I discovered an invisible wall to my right and killed myself by firing a rocket into it at close range. So much for design style. (If it were up to me, I would have the box guy enter a space with nothing in it that loops from bottom to top and right to left.)

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  27. Nat R.23 March 2016 at 20:36

    Great game anyway! (didn't want to sound like a critic- I actually did like it very much)

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