Someone has actually made that crazy math action game you saw on YouTube

Formula Warriors is a new browser-based puzzle game involving mathematical equations. The brain-bending title is free to play on either your computer or smartphone. If the game’s blue and red swarms of soldiers look familiar to you, that’s because it was inspired by a game that often pops up in ads on YouTube.

In Formula Warriors, you start out with an army of blue-clad soldiers that are running along a track on the screen. At regular intervals, the player must quickly choose one of two formulas displayed on either side of the track. The “x” in the formula stands for the current number of warriors in your army, and this number will either increase or decrease depending on which formula you chose. You can only clear the level if your army is bigger than the enemy army encountered at the end of the stage.

This game features 5 difficulty settings, ranging from “Beginner” to “Insane”. The mathematical formulas that appear in each stage vary depending on the difficulty. The game becomes drastically more difficult from the third difficulty setting (“Advanced”) onwards, requiring the player to quickly work out complex mathematical formulas. The hardest setting, “Insane,” is said to feature formulas that would not be out of place in the entrance exams for Tokyo University, Japan’s top ranking higher education institution. The game is designed so that there is only one possible route to the correct answer.

https://t.co/AP9SAAsnTQ

この正月休みを利用して、以前ポストしたこの数学カジュアルゲームのアイデアを実際に作ってみました！ブラウザで即座に遊べますので、是非上記リンクから試してみて下さい。

CSS 3D での実装です。Android 対応はちょっと弱いので、出来れば PC からプレイしてください。 pic.twitter.com/O5j4LygpBy
— Takuo Kihira (@tkihira) January 3, 2024

Post Translation: I took advantage of the New Year’s holiday to make a casual math game based on the idea I posted about before! You can play it instantly in your browser, so please try it out using the link above.
It’s implemented in CSS 3D. The support for Android is a little weak, so please play on your PC if possible.

Formula Warriors was created by a single developer, Takuo Kihara. He develops casual games and has an active YouTube channel where he shows how programming can be fun. Kihara previously released a block-breaking game called Block Pong, playable in browsers and on mobile platforms (iOS and Android). According to his post on X, he was inspired to make Formula Warriors because he thought it would be fun to actually make “that game” that is often seen in pop-up ads.

なお、レベル 1・2 は良ゲームだと思いますが、私の問題作成能力が低く、3 以降はクソゲーになってしまいました。最終レベル 3 問目、1999 年の東大数学の入試問題だったりします。このゲーム、ポテンシャルはかなりあるけれど、レベル設計（数式作成）が難しそうですね。楽しい正月休みになりました。
— Takuo Kihira (@tkihira) January 3, 2024

Post translation: I think levels 1 and 2 of this game are good, however it turns into a “crap game” from level 3 onwards because my problem making skills are not so good. The third question on the final level is from the 1999 entrance exam to Tokyo University’s School of Mathematics. This game has a lot of potential but the level design (i.e. creating formulas) is difficult. It made for a fun New Year’s break.

The developer himself refers to Formula Warriors as a “crap game,” describing how it was difficult to make a game with mathematical formulas as a gameplay feature. Although the difficulty level collapses in the latter half of the game, the easier settings feature simple formulas that make it easy to play. Why not try it as an exercise to get your brain ready to tackle 2024?

Formula Warriors is free to play in your browser on Game5.

Written by. Verity Townsend based on the original Japanese article (original article’s publication date: 2024-01-04 12:23 JST)