ChangeType()

changeType is a puzzle platforming game released on February 20th, 2014. The game was first announced on January 15, 2014 on the Nitrome blog.

Controls

 * left right Left and right arrow keys - Move
 * up Up arrow key - Jump
 * Space Spacebar - Select / swap blocks
 * X - Cancel Swap

Gameplay
changeType's core gameplay is about swapping the properties of objects to help the protagonist complete each level. All objects, from enemies to coins, can be interacted and swapped with. This also includes being able to swap the flagpole.

Level 1
This level introduces the game's swapping mechanic. The stage can be completed two ways.

Level 2
This level introduces flying robots and blocks, both which can be destroyed.

Level 3
This level introduces use of the X button, which cancels the swapping of the currently swapped objects.

Level 4
In this level, the player must either jump or use springs to avoid the spikes. The player must also swap spikes into springs, so they can pass the middle of the level. There are a lot of gems.

Level 5
Green robots appear in this level, which have to be jumped on to be destroyed. There are a lot of clouds that allow the player to get a lot of gems. The right part of the level is similar to the left part.

Level 6
In this level the player must swap metal blocks into cloud blocks, pass through the swapped metal blocks and then swap spikes into metal blocks or clouds.

Level 7
In this level there are a lot of gems that can be swapped into other tiles, so the player can continue their way in the level. Gems, spikes, green robots that move horizontally or vertically, bricks and other tiles make up this level's tiles.

Level 8
This is the first level where pink robots appear. The player has to reach the top of the level and swap the levitating spikes into bricks in order to break them. Then, disable the swap and swap gems into dirt. The player must be careful because they have to fall over the flagpole block. Another way to complete the level is to first select the robot and swap it with dirt. This makes dropping into the flagpole easier.

Level 9
In this level the player must avoid levitating spikes and the gem, because they will need to swap the game into flying spikes so they can reach the flagpole at the top of the level.

January 15 2014
Nitrome announced that they will be making two brand new games that are not related to any series. They also released a preview image of the games.

January 17 2014
Nitrome released more information about one of the previously mentioned brand new games. They announced that it will involve swapping, and release another two preview images.

January 24 2014
Nitrome released a preview track of the game's music and a preview image, alongside announcing the return of the musician Lee Nicklen, who had not made any new Nitrome music since the release of Worm Food.

February 14 2014
Nitrome announced that the game would be released in the coming week (between February 16th and 21st), and also commented on how the game's game mechanic is "the best twist idea we have had since Faultline and Mega Mash!". For this blog post, the regular Friday update picture was changed to a purple wire frame background that has the swapping game's main character on it saying "Friday!".

February 20, 2014
Upon the game's release, a video showing changeType's core mechanic was uploaded to Nitrome's YouTube account. It is likely that Nitrome intended to upload this video for the game upon its release with the aim of advertising/promoting it, given the words seen in the end, "changeType - Play now".

Checkpoint
The checkpoint interactive object, first seen in the game's January 17th 2014 preview image, is actually still present in the game's files. It has three animations associated with it. The checkpoint is named "checkpoint" in the name of the final animation, which is named "CheckpointMC". The checkpoint has the appearance of a blue saucer shaped base with three red objects placed at the base of its base. Above the saucer is a blue sphere.

The first sprite of the checkpoints shows the top part of the saucer slowly rotating up, then rotating downwards. During the vertical movements of the saucer, the orb also moves in the same directions. The second animation shows the blue orb moving quickly in a circle, the speed of its movement creating a blue blur which soon turns to green. As the orb comes to rest, it turns green and flashes. The final animation is the same as the first, only the orb is green instead of blue.

The reason for its exclusion from the game is likely due to the size of the game's levels, as the smallness of the levels would not warrant the need for checkpoints. From the three animations of the checkpoints, it can be seen that checkpoints have to be passed in order to be activated, and prior to being activated the orb is blue. It is likely that checkpoints would have served as a place for the player to spawn if they passed a checkpoint and then died at another spot, which would cause them to respawn in the checkpoint area.

Along with possibly of being cut due to the smallness of the game's levels, it may have also been cut because it may have been used more for passing dangerous or impassible objects in the level, rather than used as a checkpoint.

Yellow blocks
Also seen in the January 17th 2014 preview image, these blocks appear as yellow blocks with a red X on them. This block is still in the game's files as a sprite. It is not known its function, or if it had any such function. It is possible it would have prevented the player from pressing X, hence the red X on the block. It is not known why it was cut out of the game.

The name of its sprite is WallMC25, which is quite notable as WallMC# (# being replaced with a number) is used to name the sprites corresponding to dirt platforms. Thus, it is likely it was a variation of the dirt block found in the game.

Red spike platforms
Present only in the January 17th 2014 preview image, these platforms are red coloured and have small spikes on them. They are no longer present in the game's files. These platforms were perhaps cut out from the game perhaps because there was no need for them, as the platforms may have been used to present spikes in the air without the spikes looking strange.

Diamond
Also only present in the January 17th 2014 preview image is an orange diamond situated on the ground in an alcove at the bottom left side of the image. This diamond is not in the game's files. The diamond's possible purpose is unknown, as it does not correspond to any object in the final game.

It's placement in the picture being in an alcove, its non-block appearance, and not being in the player's possible route through the level, suggest that it was supposed to be used as some sort of interactive object. The lack of triangles in the treadmills in the preview image (treadmills in the final game have triangles to indicate direction of movement) perhaps suggests that the diamond was used to control direction of the treadmills. Alternatively, the diamond may be some sort of pick up.

Level 30 level select button
Present in the game's files is a level select button for level 30. If this button were to be used, it would have been placed on the level select screen and when level 30 was unlocked, take the player to the level. The existence of this button does not prove that Nitrome intended to include a level 30, rather, it is likely that Nitrome may have intended to make 30 levels for the game and thus made level select icons for all 30 levels, but later changed their mind and only made twenty nine.

Unused level
The January 17th 2014 preview image of changeType shows a level from the game. This level does not appear in the game, and no level in the game remotely resembles it. Level 7 slightly resembles the level in terms of the placement of platforms, and level 13 also slightly resembles the unused level.

What is notable about the level is that it appears to have no solution, based on the mechanics seen in the final game. Although it is not known if something in the preview image serves as where the player spawns, regardless of where the player is spawned, it is impossible to complete the level.

Furthermore, although the final version of changeType has alternate methods of completing levels evident by level design, both lower sides of the unused level apparently have no way of getting out of them.

It is quite likely that the level was not meant to be part of the final game and was simply created to show on the Nitrome blog what Nitrome had accomplished in development of the game up to that point. This is suggested by the impossible level design and also how the upper right dirt platform is glitched (two blocks have a black line under them despite being inside the platform). It is possible that this level may have been made at a time when gameplay mechanics were different, as this preview image contains a large amount of content that was cut from the game.

Finished level pause glitch
If the player pauses the level when the "Level complete" screen is shown, the screen will disappear. The player will not be in the level, and cannot interact with anything. The pause menu will only contain the music, sound and resume buttons. This forces the player to refresh the page the game is being played on, as they are unable to continue the game.

Score glitch
The player's score may change when going to another level.

Spring glitch
When the player swaps a block type into springs, the spring that they used for the swapping will still play the spring animation even if the player is not using it.

Name origin
changeType is named after the changeType function/method name used in many programming languages.

Trivia

 * changeType is one of the three games that has more than one punctuation in their name, the others being B.C. Bow Contest and J-J-Jump.
 * changeType is the only Nitrome game to begin with a lowercase letter.