Post by GooRoo on Dec 5, 2003 22:17:15 GMT -8
Gruntz is a "puzzle-powered brain game", in which you have to find a special object (called a "Warpstone") and bring it to the King.
The Gruntz the solver can control are kind of orange (surprise!). There are obstaclez placed in your way; Rockz
(breakable); Holez 
(Fill-in-able) and Moundz 
(Dig-up-able); poolz of Water 
(Gruntz can't swim), deadly areaz (Tar Pitz, Quicksand, Hot Griddlez, etc.); (un)helpful flying Objectz that drop thingz (on you!); Hazardz (such as Lava Geyserz); and enemy Gruntz (you tell those by their coloring).
When a Grunt stepz onto an Arrow
it must go to the place where that Arrow is pointing ... frequently another Arrow 
. Some Arrowz have two pointz 
; one active, the other inactive; a Yellow Switch 
will change the direction of the Arrow 
. A Switch with a curved arrow on it (Toggle Switch) will change the direction of any Two-Way Arrow(z) (TWA) 
associated with it; a switch with a straight Arrow on it 
will change the TWA only as long as a Grunt is standing on it (Hold Switch). Blue Switchez 
cause Bridgez to raise (or lower); Red 
/Green 
/Black 
Switchez cause Red/Green/Black Pyramidz 
to raise (or lower). A Grunt may only walk on certain Tilez safely ... Pyramidz are not safe, when raised.
Gruntz may start out possessing a Tool, or find one on a 'safe' Tile, use a Megaphone to call for one, or find one within a Rock or a Hole. Gauntletz break thingz; Shovelz (you know what Shovelz do ); Bombz can blow some thingz up that Gauntletz cannot break (safely); and there are other Toolz that may be used as weaponz to fight enemy Gruntz.
Gruntz are 'baked', not born, and one getz the materialz to bake a new Grunt by sucking up "Goo", using a Straw ... called a "GooberStraw" in this game. It takez four puddlez of Goo
to make a Grunt 
. There is a special Tile called a "GruntCreationPoint" where a new Grunt enterz the game. When a Grunt's health goez to zero, it leavez behind a puddle of Goo. So the solver wantz to retain the health of his own Gruntz, while reducing the health of enemiez to zero. Gruntz get renewed health by drinking "Zap Cola", which is served in canz (about 25% health recovered), bottlez (about 50% health recovered) and kegz (100% of health recovered), so Gruntz just love Zap Cola! 
Oh, and the name of the game is "Gruntz", not "Grunts", so anything plural endz in a "z". I bet you couldn't tell that from my message.
Gruntz was designed to be playable alone (Questz), or on-line against up to three opponents (Battlez). Today, Battlez are usually played alone (if at all) against three computer-generated 'opponentz'. Most of the Battlez Levelz I have seen allow only the very lowest level of intelligence to the computer combatantz ... not very challenging at all. That is likely due to lack of expertise of the Battlez Level designer ... too few WayPointz, used to guide the 'opponents' to attack enemy Fortresses. A Battler can increase the 'stress level' by allowing more Gruntz on the enemy 'teams', but that doesn't make the Gruntz smarter ... only allows more dumb ones roaming around. In Battlez, any Grunt of a different color GruntGruntGrunt is an enemy. Questz, on the other hand, have been quite popular. Custom Levelz now outnumber the Standard Levelz built into the game by over eight to one! (Slightly less, if one countz the four 'training levelz' as part of the Standard Level set.)
The game is out of print now, and becoming more and more difficult to find the CD version. A downloadable version is available from RealArcade ... best I can do to give you a lead ... I have the CD. The price of the CD has been reported to be as low as $14 (when found) and about $19.95 is the high end price. I do not know what the RealArcade price may be. There are attempts being made to negotiate rights (of various levels) to Gruntz, so that it may be possible to legally buy Gruntz CDs through this Forum. For now, that is purely a pipe dream ... but who knows, dreams sometimes come true!
[shadow=orange,left,300]Screen shots![/shadow] 'Gruntziclez'
'Trouble In The Tropicz'
'High On Sweetz'
'High Rollerz'
'Honey, I Shrunk The Gruntz'
'Miniature Masterz'
'Gruntz In Space'
The Gruntz the solver can control are kind of orange (surprise!). There are obstaclez placed in your way; Rockz
(breakable); Holez (Fill-in-able) and Moundz (Dig-up-able); poolz of Water (Gruntz can't swim), deadly areaz (Tar Pitz, Quicksand, Hot Griddlez, etc.); (un)helpful flying Objectz that drop thingz (on you!); Hazardz (such as Lava Geyserz); and enemy Gruntz (you tell those by their coloring).When a Grunt stepz onto an Arrow
it must go to the place where that Arrow is pointing ... frequently another Arrow . Some Arrowz have two pointz ; one active, the other inactive; a Yellow Switch will change the direction of the Arrow . A Switch with a curved arrow on it (Toggle Switch) will change the direction of any Two-Way Arrow(z) (TWA) associated with it; a switch with a straight Arrow on it will change the TWA only as long as a Grunt is standing on it (Hold Switch). Blue Switchez cause Bridgez to raise (or lower); Red /Green /Black Switchez cause Red/Green/Black Pyramidz to raise (or lower). A Grunt may only walk on certain Tilez safely ... Pyramidz are not safe, when raised.Gruntz may start out possessing a Tool, or find one on a 'safe' Tile, use a Megaphone to call for one, or find one within a Rock or a Hole. Gauntletz break thingz; Shovelz (you know what Shovelz do ); Bombz can blow some thingz up that Gauntletz cannot break (safely); and there are other Toolz that may be used as weaponz to fight enemy Gruntz.
Gruntz are 'baked', not born, and one getz the materialz to bake a new Grunt by sucking up "Goo", using a Straw ... called a "GooberStraw" in this game. It takez four puddlez of Goo
to make a Grunt . There is a special Tile called a "GruntCreationPoint" where a new Grunt enterz the game. When a Grunt's health goez to zero, it leavez behind a puddle of Goo. So the solver wantz to retain the health of his own Gruntz, while reducing the health of enemiez to zero. Gruntz get renewed health by drinking "Zap Cola", which is served in canz (about 25% health recovered), bottlez (about 50% health recovered) and kegz (100% of health recovered), so Gruntz just love Zap Cola! 
Oh, and the name of the game is "Gruntz", not "Grunts", so anything plural endz in a "z". I bet you couldn't tell that from my message.
Gruntz was designed to be playable alone (Questz), or on-line against up to three opponents (Battlez). Today, Battlez are usually played alone (if at all) against three computer-generated 'opponentz'. Most of the Battlez Levelz I have seen allow only the very lowest level of intelligence to the computer combatantz ... not very challenging at all. That is likely due to lack of expertise of the Battlez Level designer ... too few WayPointz, used to guide the 'opponents' to attack enemy Fortresses. A Battler can increase the 'stress level' by allowing more Gruntz on the enemy 'teams', but that doesn't make the Gruntz smarter ... only allows more dumb ones roaming around. In Battlez, any Grunt of a different color GruntGruntGrunt is an enemy. Questz, on the other hand, have been quite popular. Custom Levelz now outnumber the Standard Levelz built into the game by over eight to one! (Slightly less, if one countz the four 'training levelz' as part of the Standard Level set.)
The game is out of print now, and becoming more and more difficult to find the CD version. A downloadable version is available from RealArcade ... best I can do to give you a lead ... I have the CD. The price of the CD has been reported to be as low as $14 (when found) and about $19.95 is the high end price. I do not know what the RealArcade price may be. There are attempts being made to negotiate rights (of various levels) to Gruntz, so that it may be possible to legally buy Gruntz CDs through this Forum. For now, that is purely a pipe dream ... but who knows, dreams sometimes come true!
[shadow=orange,left,300]Screen shots![/shadow] 'Gruntziclez'
'Trouble In The Tropicz'
'High On Sweetz'
'High Rollerz'
'Honey, I Shrunk The Gruntz'
'Miniature Masterz'
'Gruntz In Space'
...Ha! Ha! Scared ya', didn't I?
Since the CD-ROM version of Gruntz has been so hard to find, I sprung at the opportunity to buy these on eBay (postage was about half the cost!), and waited (somewhat impatiently) for 5 weekz for the first package to arrive. (Still waiting 
for the second package.)
...you can read all about spellz and powerupz and more in the Gruntz folder sign with (?)