Icebreaker

Despite the name, ice appears only in a fraction of the game's levels, and cannot be broken by any means. The game was so named because it was thought that its combination of simple objectives, intense action, and intellectually challenging design would make it appeal equally to casual gamers, hardcore gamers, and even non-gamers, and thus serve as a social icebreaker. Icebreaker 2 was created but never released and, until recently, the only existing copy was in a custom built arcade style machine at creator Andrew Looney's house. Andrew Looney's Icebreaker 2 was made available for the 3DO by Older Games on August 3, 2007. The game has a "peppy" soundtrack of simple electronic music.

• Title — Icebreaker • Developer — Magnet Interactive Studios • Publisher — Panasonic Fox Interactive (Windows) • Designer — Andrew Looney • Programmer — Andrew Looney • Platforms — 3DO Interactive Multiplayer Macintosh Microsoft Windows • Released — 3DO Windows31 October 1995 • Genre — Action-strategy • Modes — Single-player

• Illustration — 3DO Interactive Multiplayer version screenshot. The player controls a sliding white pyramid (called a "Dudemeyer") on an isometric/diametric projection level. The goal is to eliminate all other pyramids (called "dudes"), starting with the stationary pyramids which line the field, and then the mobile pyramids (called "seekers") which move towards the white pyramid. Each kind of pyramid has its own weakness and specific way to be destroyed. The game consists of 150 levels. A demo version was created which contains five representative levels from various parts of the game. Features present in the game include: • White PyramidThe unit controlled by the player, which can move in eight directions and shoot fireballs from its point. • Blue PyramidStationary pyramids. They shatter when touched by the white pyramid. • Red PyramidStationary pyramids. When shot with a fireball, they vaporize. If the player's white pyramid touches a red pyramid, it "dies". • Green PyramidStationary pyramids. Cannot be destroyed by the white pyramid, only by seekers. • Red, green and blue pyramids change into each other over the course of the game, with early levels being an exception as they "teach" the concepts of the pyramid types separately. Every few seconds, a randomly selected pyramid shifts color. The new color is dependent on the pyramid's old color; the shifts go from red to blue to green to red. • Purple PyramidStationary pyramids. When shot with a fireball, they turn into a pit. • Concrete PyramidThese are gray in color, and take a total of 10 fireballs to destroy. • Rainbow PyramidWhen touched by the white pyramid or shot with a fireball, they turn into either a Red, Green, Blue, Purple, or Seeker pyramid. If they turn into a Red or Seeker Pyramid, they will immediately be destroyed. • SeekersMobile pyramids which consistently move towards the white pyramid. Touching one is death. They can be destroyed with fireball shots, and in some cases by luring them into hazards, but will respawn the same instant that they are destroyed unless all immobile pyramids on the field have been wiped out. Seeker types are differentiated by color (yellow, pink, light blue, light green, green, light purple, mottled, and orange), speed, AI, and "death" animation. In addition, while most seekers are destroyed with one shot, mottled seekers (called "zombies") take 3 shots to destroy, and orange seekers (called "meanies") split into halves and then quarters when shot, changing both speed and AI with each split. Though AI varies among types, all seekers move in a straight line towards the white pyramid until they encounter an object. The differences are in how the seeker acts when it encounters an object; depending on AI, it will either run into it, slowly work its way around it, or hide behind it until the white pyramid comes near. • HazardsPits, pools of lava, and carnivorous green slime appear as board hazards; they also destroy certain seekers.

The game was developed by Magnet Interactive Studios, a company based in Georgetown.