Block Buddies

A brick hero adventure for kids, with two stories (8 chapters, then 6 more). It has over 50 heroes to collect, five connected islands, a water park island, a Hero Castle to explore, a Sky Kingdom in the clouds, Dino Valley, a rocket to the Moon and about 100 quests. Up to 4 players can play together online.

Play: https://ahamze123.github.io

Story Mode

• The Glitch King stole Blocktopia's five Power Crystals and locked the roads with glitch force fields. A picture story explains it at the start, and 📖 (next to the menu button) opens the Story Book any time, with every chapter, its prize and a Show me the way button.
• There are 8 chapters: The Bank Robbery (Brick City), Puppy Rescue (Mushroom Forest), Robot Factory (Canyon Desert), Frozen Peaks, Slime Farm (Happy Farm), Glitch Castle (Glitch Island), Rocket to the Moon and UFO Showdown. Each one breaks the next force field and opens a new place, until the whole world (the towns, the Moon and the Sky Kingdom) is open.
• Each chapter gives a big prize, and the prizes grow: new heroes, a puppy and a bunny, the police car, hot rod, monster truck, hover bike and hero car, and coins. Then a friend calls on the hero radio to say where to go next.
• Show me the way (on the hero radio after a chapter, and in the 📖 Story Book) draws a glowing trail straight to the friend who gives the next chapter.
• The glowing trail always takes the way around a force field, never through it.
• Glowing purple laser fences show where the force fields are, and the big map shades the places that are still locked. Quests, jobs and trails only send you to places that are already open: if you pick a locked place (on the map, a hidden hero coin, the Moon), the game says which chapter opens it.
• Playing online, you all play one story: it goes on from whoever is furthest along, and every chapter you finish together counts on every tablet, also when you play alone again. Commander Nova's rocket parts and the Moon quests are shared too. Each tablet gets its own prizes.

Story 2: The Rainbow Thief

• Opens when Story 1 is finished: Mayor Pip calls on the hero radio. Professor Gloom hates colours and fun. His grumpy grey airship circles over Brick City, and his Gloom Ray is after the colours of five places (the places keep their colours on screen: the kids thought the grey was a bug).
• Six chapters, each with a friend, a Rainbow Gem and a prize. The 📖 Story Book shows them under Story 1, with Show me the way:
  1. The Silent Fun Park (Ringmaster Rico at the Fun Park gate): chase the Grey Bots out of the park, then ride the roller coaster and grab the gem at the top. Prize: the Rainbow Cap.
  2. The Lost Baby Animals (Ranger Rosa, Mushroom Forest): your pet sniffs out 5 baby animals in grey cages (no pet? Rosa gives you a puppy); open every cage. Prize: a Rainbow Foal pet.
  3. The Deep Blue Gem (Diver Dina, Coral Cove): swim out for the 5 glowing pearls.
  4. The Frozen Rainbow (Sven, Frosty Peaks): clear the grey slime and beat the Grumpy Yeti.
  5. Storm over the Sky Kingdom (Queen Celeste): chase away the storm clouds and fly through the 6 rainbow rings. Prize: the Storm Chaser trophy.
  6. Gloom's Airship (Captain Prism at Hero HQ): fix the 3 parts of the Rainbow Cannon, stand by it while it fires, and when the airship comes down, beat Professor Gloom in his Gloom Mech (friends online fight him together). Prizes: Captain Prism as a new hero, the Rainbow Crown, the Rainbow Hero trophy and 50,000 coins.

Missions that make you think

• Fixing things, rescuing animals, charging the factory sockets, pulling the big handle and building (trampolines, statues, the Crystal Bridge) are puzzles now instead of holding the button: memory, what comes next, counting, sums, putting things in order, finding the odd one out and connecting wires.
• Every Power Crystal sits in a glitch cage that opens with a puzzle, and quests that are only running around start with a puzzle from the friend who gives them.
• Menu → Settings → Puzzles sets how hard they are for each hero (Easy, Medium or Hard). It starts at Medium for the boy and Easy for the girl. After two wrong answers a hint lights up.

On an iPad

1. Open the link in Safari.
2. Tap Share ⬆ (on the newest iPadOS tap ••• next to the address bar first, then Share), scroll down the list and tap Add to Home Screen. If it is not in the list, tap Edit Actions… at the bottom and turn it on. Tap Add.
3. Open Block Buddies from the Home Screen icon. It fills the whole screen and a swipe never closes it (Safari's own full screen closes when you swipe down, which Apple does not let games stop).
4. The Home Screen app keeps its own save. To bring a game you started in Safari: in Safari tap Menu → Settings → 💾 My game → Copy my game, then in the Home Screen app tap 📦 Bring my game from Safari, paste and tap Load this game twice.
5. Keep a copy of the game safe. The game is saved only on the tablet, and Safari can clear a website's saved data after about a week without visiting it. Menu → Settings → 💾 My game → Save a copy saves the whole game as a small file (keep it in Files, or send it to yourself). Open a copy brings it back on any tablet. The game reminds you when there has been no copy for a week.

• Double-tapping or pinching no longer zooms the page on iPad.

Playing online: one player taps Play online → Host a game, the others tap Play online and Join. The You're hosting! card hides when you tap it, and by itself after 30 seconds. The online screen shows when it is connected and how many games it found. If a tablet's Wi-Fi drops for a moment (the screen locks, you switch apps), the game reconnects by itself and the Join button comes back. The tablets find each other through several free public services at once (the PeerJS server, five MQTT message servers and ntfy.sh, which uses the normal web port 443 like any website), so a tablet at home finds a game hosted from another house or from mobile data, and online play keeps working even when some services are down or blocked. If the tablets cannot connect to each other directly (some Wi-Fi keeps devices apart), the game data goes through those servers instead. The online screen shows a ✓ or ✗ for each server, how the last join went, and the game version (also shown on the title screen).

The App Store app

The iPad app on the App Store is the same game, free to start:

• Free: Brick City and Mushroom Forest with the first two story chapters, the Humongous Water Park, online play, and everything else you can reach there.
• The full game is one purchase that opens everything else for good: Canyon Desert, Frosty Peaks, Happy Farm, Glitch Island, the four towns, the Moon, the Sky Kingdom and Story 2. At the edge of the free part a glowing fence and a note say what is in the full game.
• A grown-up buys it from Menu → ⭐ The full game (or from the note at the fence) after answering a little sum, so little ones can't buy by mistake. One payment: no ads and nothing else to buy. Restore purchase brings it back on another iPad, and with Family Sharing every iPad in the family gets it.
• A friend who joins a full game online can go everywhere with the host.
• The app keeps a second copy of the save in its own storage (it is in the iPad's iCloud backup too), so the game comes back even if iOS clears the game's saved data when the iPad is very low on space.
• The website stays the whole game, free.

Finding your way

• Pick a mission or tap a place on the map and three things lead the way: a golden arrow on the ground in front of your hero that follows the glowing trail, a compass at the top of the screen that points where to go from where you are looking (it says Turn around when the place is behind you and Almost there! at the end), and a sign above the light beam at the destination.

Camera

• The camera follows your hero: it swings round behind them as they run. Turn it yourself any time (drag on the right side of the screen, or the mouse on a computer); a moment after you let go it starts following again.
• It sits high and far back so you can see a lot, and it looks a little ahead of your hero, so more of the screen shows where you are going. It aims the way you run, stays calm when you jump (only big jumps lift it), and widens a little when you go fast.
• Trees, lamp posts, mushrooms and small houses between the camera and your hero fade out instead of making the camera jump. Next to hills, cliffs and big buildings the camera tilts up and looks over them, and if it has to come closer it glides in (it never jumps right up to your hero). It also rides up over the ground instead of dipping into a hill, and it follows steps and stairs softly.
• Menu → Settings → Camera switches between Close, Normal and Far, and Camera follows me turns the following off. On a tablet, pinch with two fingers on the right side of the screen to zoom.

Graphics

• The picture is drawn as sharp as the tablet can keep up with: sharper while the game runs smoothly, a little softer by itself if the tablet starts to slow down. With the Balanced and Pretty graphics the edges are smoothed (multisampling), so lines and roofs are not jaggy.
• The shady sides of steps and cliffs get light from the sky, so they are never black. Shadows reach further ahead of your hero, and the sun on the sea makes small sparkles instead of a big white glare.
• Menu → Settings → Graphics switches between Fast, Balanced and Pretty. If the game gets slow it lowers the graphics by itself.

Holding ✋ Use

• Some jobs need you to hold ✋ Use (or E on a keyboard): helping the lost hikers, fixing things on quests, helping a knocked-out friend up and cooking. A ring fills up while you hold, so you can see it working. Tapping again and again works too, and if you let go the ring only drains slowly.

Heroes

• 🎨 Hero Maker: make your own heroes. Menu → 🎨 Hero Maker (or 🦸 → Make your own hero). Pick the skin, hair, suit, legs, trim, boots and gloves colours, a chest picture, a hat, a face extra, a cape, wings or a jetpack, legs, a dress or a mermaid tail, something to hold, two attacks, a special move, a super power and a walk (or tap 🎲 Surprise me). Your hero turns in front of you while you make them; drag to turn them yourself. Give them a name and tap Save: a picture of your hero becomes their card, and Play lets you play as them. Up to 12 of the family's own heroes are kept on the tablet (and in Save a copy), show in both the Boys and the Girls lists, can be changed or removed with Change this hero, and friends playing online see them too.
• 🌪️ Tornado Spin. Every hero can whirl into a tornado in their own colours: tap 🌪️ Spin (keyboard R, a gamepad's left trigger). For 2.5 seconds baddies that come close are hit and swirled away and enemy shots bounce off; then the button fills up again in 4 seconds. Friends playing online see your tornado too.
• Block heroes dressed like their cards. Every block hero wears the boots, gloves, legs and trims from their picture card: Astro Aya has her pink headphones, Karate Kira her red trims, Painter Sara her blue beret, cape and paint splashes, Robo Rina her pink buns, and long hair falls over the shoulders. Pick a different suit colour, a shop costume or a power suit and that shows instead.
• Every hero has a picture card, made by our family (Captain Prism's was made for her with Meshy, from her look in the game). The cards show on the first screen, in the 🦸 list and next to your name; tap a hero's picture in 🦸 to see the whole card.
• The first screen fits on the tablet without sliding: on a tablet lying sideways all your heroes are on the right and Play is on the left. On a small screen the whole menu shrinks a little instead of scrolling.
• Pick Boys or Girls on the first screen, then one of your heroes. Tap ⇄ any time to swap between your boy and girl hero, also when you play online, so you always have the right power for a job.
• There are 52 heroes: 25 boys and 27 girls. Each has their own look, a special skill and two attacks of their own.
• Luna the mermaid 🧜‍♀️ (a blue mermaid costume with a tail and fin, a pearl crown with a little moon; she swims fast and dives deep) and Butterfly Basma 🦋 (purple suit, blue hair, big colourful pink butterfly wings; she can fly) can be played right from the start. Both have picture cards made from the family's pictures.

Golden Gates

Golden bricks open giant golden gates to new islands. A golden force field covers each island until its gate opens, and each island hides a big prize.

• Titan Island (20 golden bricks): Titan is a gentle giant made of living rock, with a tiny bird living in a nest on his head. Walk up and wake him, and he becomes a hero that boys and girls can both play. He is slow and heavy: the ground shakes when he runs, his punch sends baddies flying, and his quake throws everything nearby into the air. Before his gate opens you can spot him around the islands lifting a car, carrying two cows and lifting a boulder. On his island, Titan's Workout (smash 8 training boulders as Titan) wins a bird nest hat.

• Dragon Peak (35 golden bricks): a volcano island where Blaze the Dragon sleeps on her nest. Wake her and she becomes a ride: hold jump to flap up, let go to glide down, hold power to breathe fire and tap attack to roar. Warm her three eggs with her fire and a baby dragon hatches to be your pet.

• Candy Island (50 golden bricks): gumdrop hills, lollipop trees, candy canes, giant cupcakes and a chocolate race track. The Rocket Racer waits in its garage by the track: the fastest car in Blocktopia. Power fires its rocket and jump makes it hop. Before the gate opens you can see it zooming along the highways. Once it is yours, take it out at any garage.

• Robot Rock (all 76 golden bricks): power up the Mega Mech, a giant robot you pilot. Walk and stomp, fly on jump jets, fire laser eyes and launch a rocket punch. A Mega Mech prototype stands in Star Harbor and waves at everyone who walks by.

• The trains also go to every golden island once its gate is open, and Menu → Golden Gates shows how close you are to each gate.

• Golden missions: one big challenge on each island, and each one wins a golden brick. Dragon Rings (fly Blaze through 10 rings around the volcano), Titan Bowling (knock down 10 giant pins as Titan), Sweet Rush (grab 12 giant sweets in the Rocket Racer) and Mech Training (beat 8 training robots in the Mega Mech). There is also the Candy Grand Prix race on the chocolate track.

• Crystal Caves: walk into the cave mouth at the foot of the Frostpeak mountains to find a glowing cavern of crystal towers, giant mushrooms, an old mine cart and sleepy bats. Three golden bricks sit on top of the tallest crystals.

• New costumes unlock at 30, 40, 50, 60 and 76 golden bricks: Crystal, Lava, Rainbow, Galaxy and Diamond heroes, each with a sparkly trail.

• is now marked with red and white buoys, a sign and a dashed line on the map. Swimming, dashing across the water, flying or sailing too far no longer throws you back to town.

The Hero Castle

Hero HQ in Brick City is now a castle. Walk through the big wooden door to find nine zones:

• Throne Room: King Brickley and the Quest Board. Tap a quest and a trail leads you there.
• Armory: buy power stars for your heroes. Each star makes all of that hero's attacks 20% stronger, up to 5 stars. You can buy boosts here too.
• Training Room: hit the practice dummies and watch your damage on the board.
• Pet Shop: meet the pets in their pens and adopt one.
• Costume Shop: hats, suits, capes and masks.
• Great Hall: the fountain, a hologram of your hero, and the hero shop.
• Garage: pick and paint a car. It waits for you on the street outside.
• Map & Travel Room: the big map, and train tickets to any town.
• Entrance Hall: a free snack that fills your hearts, and a super juice for double XP.

The world

• It is always a sunny day in Blocktopia: no night and no rain. The clock towers show the real time. (Photo mode can still take a sunset or night photo.)
• Brick City (the home island), Sunset Bay, Star Harbor, Frostpeak and Cactus Canyon, joined by highway bridges and trains.
• The Sky Kingdom: floating islands on towers of cloud. Take the hot-air balloon from the Sky Port in Brick City and meet Queen Celeste.
• Dino Valley in Cactus Canyon has friendly dinosaurs, a stepped volcano and Trixie the triceratops to ride.
• Coral Cove: a tropical island with a reef to explore by submarine.
• The Moon: build the rocket at the Star Harbor space center and fly there.
• Rides: boats, a jet ski, a helicopter, a biplane, a submarine, a horse, a camel, a unicorn, a sea turtle, the Nimbus Cloud and Trixie. Jump out of an aircraft and a parachute opens.
• Places to go inside: the Hero Castle, Pizza Palace, the Fire Station, Brick Bank, Scoops Ice Cream, Toy Town, the Dino Museum, the Space Museum, the Spooky Manor, the Moon Greenhouse and the Hall of Heroes. Each has missions that fit the place.

The Fun Park

A theme park on Sunset Bay, just north of the town (on the big map under 🎮 Fun, or What's new → Show me the way). Walk up to a ride and press ✋ Use to get on:

• 🎢 Roller Coaster: a chain lift, a big drop, a loop (upside down!), a banked turn and camel hills, about 45 seconds. The train leaves 6 seconds after the first rider sits down, so friends can hop in too; friends online sit in the same train. Jump to get off before it leaves.
• 🎡 Big Wheel: you get the gondola at the bottom and go once round (40 seconds), with the whole park below you. Jump to get out early.
• 🎠 Carousel: three times round on a horse that goes up and down. Jump to get off any time.
• 🚗 Bumper Cars: drive with the stick and bump the park's cars and your friends. ✋ to get out.
• 🌊 Water Slides: the lift pad takes you up the tower; then pick the Red Rocket (straight and steep) or the Blue Twister (twice round), and splash into the pool. On every water slide (here and in the water park) you lie back, feet first, with your arms up.
• The big wheel and the carousel turn the same on every tablet. Each ride's first go pays 500 coins, and riding all five wins the Fun Park Champion trophy (+5000 coins).
• Nothing can hurt you while you ride, and Menu → Go to Hero HQ (or going to a friend) takes you off the ride.

The Ocean

The whole sea around the islands is alive now.

• Sea animals everywhere: schools of rainbow fish, clownfish hiding in their anemones, pufferfish (they puff up when you come close), seahorses in the seaweed, starfish, crabs, lobsters, octopuses (they squirt ink), jellyfish (touch one and boing!), sea turtles, dolphins, friendly sharks and manta rays. In the cold sea by Frostpeak live seals on the ice and narwhals, and the big whale still swims between the islands.
• Every hero can dive: in the sea, hold ⬇ (on a keyboard Shift) to go under, let go to swim up. The camera dives with you. Watch the air bubbles: when they run out you float back up to breathe. Divers (Noor, Finn, Saif, Lulu) and anyone wearing the Diving Helmet never run out, and the Snorkel Mask doubles your air.
• The Sea Album (Menu → 🌊 Sea Album, or the 🐠 chip while you swim): swim close to an animal to add it. 16 animals to find, with presents at 4 (a clownfish pet), 8 (a pufferfish pet), 12 (the Snorkel Mask) and all 16 (a baby shark pet and the Ocean Explorer trophy).
• Ride sea animals: swim next to a sea turtle, a dolphin or a manta ray and press Use. Steer with the joystick; turtles and manta rays dive with ⬇ and come up with jump, dolphins leap out of the water when you press jump. Press Use again to let go. Friends see what you ride.
• Sea missions all around the world:
  • Captain Gill on the Sunset pier: The Treasure Map (find 4 torn map pieces on the sea floor, follow the map to the X and open the chest; a little octopus joins you) and The Dolphin Race (ride a dolphin through 8 rings; a baby dolphin pet).
  • Dr. Pearl on the beach east of Star Harbor: Turtle Rescue (free 4 baby turtles from old nets; a seahorse pet), Ocean Clean-up (the Ocean Cleaner trophy) and The Shark's Sore Tooth (the Shark Buddy trophy).
  • Iris the Ice Diver on the west shore of Frostpeak: The Lost Seal Pups (the Seal Friend trophy).
• Sea pets: the clownfish, pufferfish, seahorse, little octopus, baby dolphin and baby shark swim next to you in the sea, even deep down, and float in a bubble of water on land. They grow, learn tricks and dress up like every pet.

The Humongous Water Park

A whole island of water fun, just south of Brick City's harbour: walk over the sandy causeway from the lighthouse beach (on the big map under 🎮 Fun, or What's new → Show me the way). It is open from the start. Everything is real water you can swim in.

• Nobody needs to fly: every tall ride has a glass lift 🛗. Walk into it and stand still for a moment, and it takes you up; walk back in at the top to come down (or press ✋). The Racer and the Giant Duck have stairs too.
• 🗼 The Humongous Tower: 45 metres tall, the tallest thing in Blocktopia. The glass lift at its foot takes you to the top, where you pick a slide:
  • The Humongous Drop: almost straight down, the fastest ride in the game, into the landing pool.
  • 🌪️ The Tornado: four times round its own pole in a blue half-pipe.
  • 🌈 The Rainbow Ribbon: a long rainbow slide once round over the park, into the wave pool.
• 🏁 The Racer: four slides side by side. Walk up the rainbow stairs next to it (they start by the landing pool) or take the lift, tap Race!, and after the count-down race your friends (and racing kids in the empty lanes) to the pool. The first four places all win coins.
• 🌊 Wave Pool: a sandy beach at one end and a deep end with a wave machine. Every 50 seconds a bell rings and the waves come for 18 seconds: swimmers bob up and down and drift to the beach. Can't wait? Press the big red Make waves! button on the beach (friends online get the waves too). Take a float 🛟 from the rack on the beach, paddle out with the stick and let the waves carry you back: ride the top of a wave to surf (the Surf a Wave prize). Jump to get off.
• 🦆 The Giant Duck: a rubber duck as big as a house floats in the wave pool. Walk up the yellow stairs from the side of the pool to the platform by its head and slide down its back (or swim up to it and press ✋).
• 🛟 The Lazy River: a river all the way round the island. It carries swimmers along, and rubber rings float round it: hop in a ring and float round the whole park (jump to get out). Bridges go over it.
• 🏴‍☠️ Pirate Splash Ship: walk up the steps onto the deck, fire the water cannons at your friends, and stand under the giant bucket on the mast: every 30 seconds it tips over and soaks everyone below.
• 🏖️ Splash Beach: the whole west side of the island is a sandy beach that slopes into the sea, with umbrellas, towels, sandcastles, a lifeguard tower, a snack shack and beach balls that fly when you run into them.
• Rides to ride together (when friends are online, everyone who hops on before the count-down ends rides in the same boat):
  • 🪵 Splash Mountain: log boats for 4. Up the lift hill, round the top of the rocky mountain, then the big drop into the splash pool (everyone close by gets wet).

Pets that grow

• Tap 🐾 (next to the other buttons when you have a pet, or Menu → 🐾 My pet) to look after your pet. The camera turns to your pet while the panel is open.
• Your pet only comes out when you call it. 🐾 → 🏠 Send home puts it away; while your pets are at home the 🐾 button looks faded, and tapping it shows them: tap one to take it with you. A pet won on a mission or found in the sea waits at home until you call it (a pet you buy in the Hero Shop comes along straight away).
• Feed it (30 coins; it is full for a while), give it a bath, throw the ball and it fetches it back, or pet it with ✋ Use next to it. Adventures count too: beating baddies and finishing quests with your pet along makes it grow.
• Pets grow from Baby to Little, Big, Grown-up and Super, and get bigger at every level. Each level teaches a new trick (Sit, Spin, Jump, Roll over and a Super rainbow trick).
• Bigger pets help more: a Little pet fetches coins from further away, a Big pet sniffs out treasure chests, golden bricks and hero coins (follow its paw prints), a Grown-up pet pounces on baddies, and a Super pet sparkles and brings double coins.
• Dress your pet up (a bow, a party hat, a crown, sunglasses, a bell, a cape, a flower or a star), pick its colour and give it a name. Each pet keeps its own name, level and clothes, and friends playing online see how big your pet is and what it wears.
• A hungry pet shows a little 🍖 bubble.

Moving around

• Swimming: every hero can swim, and dive in the sea (hold ⬇ or Shift). Jump into the sea (or the Sunset Bay pool, the Fun Park's splash pool or any pool in the Humongous Water Park) to swim, and jump again to climb out.
• Flying: flying heroes (like Omar and Ruby) hold jump to go up and hold ⬇ Down (Shift on a keyboard) to fly down. With the Jet Wings gadget, the other heroes can glide. Tap 🦸 Land (or press L) for a fast super hero landing.
• Parachute: jump out of a plane or helicopter and a parachute opens. Hold ⬇ to fall faster, or tap 🦸 to drop.

Things to do

• A tidy screen: only your hearts, your coins and the map show at the top, with one ☰. Tap ☰ (or the hearts and coins) to open everything else: your hero card, golden bricks, the Power Crystals (tap the diamonds to hear what they are), friends online and all the buttons (🐾 🦸 🧱 ⇄ 😀 📸 📖 and the menu ☰). ✕ folds it again, and so does using one of the buttons. The keys (H, B, Tab, T, C, Esc) work either way. The guide that shows the way is one thin line at the very top: an arrow, how far, and who and where (for example 230 m · King Brickley · Hero Castle). In the world your quest is a small 📍 with how far it is.
• A calm world: the signs over shops, places and missions show only when you are near (about 30 metres), at most 3 at a time, the nearest first and never on top of each other or under the buttons. People's names show when you are close to them (your friends' names always show). A festival says hello with a small note at the top once a day instead of a big title in the middle of the screen.
• With the Car Whistle, hold ✋ with nothing near to call your car. The reminder only shows after you stand still for 10 seconds with no car close by.
• No baddies roaming around: you can explore in peace. Baddies only come in the missions, quests, story chapters and boss fights that need them.
• About 100 quests from people with a ! over their heads, or pick one on the castle's Quest Board.
• New missions all over the islands: catch runaway chickens, kittens and baby dinos, put out forest fires (only a water hero can), melt frozen fountains (only a fire hero can), take photos, train like a knight, a sea swimming race, sunken treasure and more. Each one has its own prize: 12 hats, 4 pets (a chick, a fox, a seal pup and a little alien), emotes and golden bricks.
• People react to you: people in the street wave and say hi, cheer when you beat baddies, run from monsters and shout "Watch out!" when you drive too fast. Some of them are quite funny.
• Combos: keep hitting baddies without a break for bonus coins. The hero of the day earns 50% more coins.
• Obstacle courses: Rainbow Steps, Sky Tower and Iceberg Hop. Beat your best time.
• Boss of the Week at the Champion Arena. There is a new boss every Monday.
• Festivals on special dates (Eid Lanterns, Pumpkin Festival, Winter Lights, Green Day, Flower Festival), with hidden things to find and prize hats. Fireworks go off whenever you win a trophy.
• Photo mode (📸): pose your hero, pick a filter, a frame and the time of day, then save photos to the iPad.

Mine and craft

• Every build zone goes down too. Tap 🧱, then hold ⛏️ to dig through dirt and stone. Deeper down there is coal, iron, gold, diamonds and rubies (and crystals in the Moon zone).
• Hold jump against a wall to climb out of a hole.
• Chop the trees near a zone for wood, then use the crafting table (⚒️) to make planks, sticks, four pickaxes (wood, stone, iron and diamond), swords, torches, helmets, crowns and TNT. Better pickaxes dig faster, and the hardest ores need them.
• Put TNT down in a zone, then dig it to light it. Run!
• Sell ores at the crafting table for coins. Your digging is saved, and friends playing online see it.

Music and sound

• Voices: people read their lines aloud with the tablet's best voice. Menu → Settings → Voices shows which voice is speaking and turns them off. For a more natural voice, download one on the iPad (Settings › Accessibility › Spoken Content › Voices › English, a voice marked Enhanced or Premium); the game picks it by itself.
• The music is our own songs: Skyline Exploration in the city, Gliding Over Green Valleys in the green and sunny places, Quiet Horizons in the snow, at Star Harbor and on the Moon, and Subtle Quests and Flying Capes in missions and boss fights. When a song ends the next one starts, and going back to a place picks its song up where it stopped.
• The songs stream from the music folder. Without internet the game plays its own calm backup music instead.
• Cars in traffic don't beep. Your own horn is a soft, low toot, and jumping makes a soft swish.
• People in the street cheer, say thank you and give friendly tips; they never say anything mean.
• Walking is quiet: footsteps are off unless you turn on Menu → Settings → Footsteps (soft, light taps on grass, sand, snow and wood, at most about three a second). You hear birds in the trees, waves on the beach and wind up high.
• Coins make a soft little jingle. The sea shore is calm (no whooshing waves, no clicking crabs; seals bark only now and then). Landings only make a sound after a real fall (not after every jump), jumps are soft, pets bark or purr by themselves at most every 25 seconds, coins picked up together make one jingle, and when lots happens at once the small sounds are left out.
• Attacks, coins, doors, splashes and landings each have their own sound.

Playing together online

• Up to 4 players. Each tablet opens the game and taps Play online. The tablets can be in the same house or in different houses, on Wi-Fi or mobile data.
• Family code: Play online → Family code → Change. Type the same code (4 to 12 letters or numbers) on every tablet that plays together, and only those tablets see your games. Tablets with no code all share the website's own.
• One player taps Host a game; the others tap Join next to the host's name.
• The host sees a card saying how many heroes are playing and how friends join. If the lobby says it is connecting, wait a few seconds: the host's name appears with a Join button.
• You can also host or join from the in-game menu under Online.
• You play one story together. A friend who is further along brings their chapters with them, so nobody plays the first chapters again, and every chapter, rocket part and quest you finish together is saved on every tablet.
• 🤝 Team games (Menu → Mini-games → Team games): whoever starts one brings everyone online into it, and you win together. 🌟 Star Hunt: find 12 glowing stars around you before 3 minutes are up. 🪙 Coin Rain: coins fall from the sky for one minute, catch 60 together. 🔘 Twin Buttons: two buttons, two heroes; stand on both at the same time to open the treasure, 5 rounds with the buttons further apart each time. Star Hunt and Coin Rain also work on your own.

Language

Tap 🌐 العربية on the first screen (or Menu → Settings → Language) to play in Arabic.

Progress is saved on each device.

Credits

• Captain Prism's picture card was made with Meshy; tools/meshy has the scripts. (The game also had 3D figures of the heroes made with Meshy, but the kids liked the block heroes better, so they were taken out.)
• Songs: "Skyline Exploration", "Gliding Over Green Valleys", "Quiet Horizons" and "Subtle Quests and Flying Capes" were made for Block Buddies by its owner.
• The backup music uses instrument recordings from the FluidR3_GM sound font by Frank Wen, as packaged in midi-js-soundfonts by Benjamin Gleitzman, under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence (converted to small MP3 files, one note every four semitones).