You see that picture of the half-naked Mario above? It's one of the most disturbing things to ever grace the PSP. Luckily, that one picture has absolutely nothing to do with the gameplay whatsoever, serving as the menu screen for the Mario Edition of Dragula96's alternative to Lumines.

Unlike other versions of LUAmines, this is a stripped-down version of the game, allowing for a smaller filesize while retaining all the gaming goodness LUAmines has to offer. As you can see, this is the Mario Edition, paying homage to the original Super Mario game with the background. While this is meant to be a more accessible version of the game, it does have some graphics currently unavailable on other versions, making it the perfect way to fall in love with both homebrew and the ever-growing puzzle genre among handheld games today.

The only thing we wish this version had, however, is the option to use a black screen for a menu. Heaven knows we can only look at half-naked Mario for so long before needing a trip to the therapist. Still, feel free to download and enjoy the game, and don't hesitate to visit the forums and see if you can convince Dragula96 to make a lite version specific to another game.

Download: [LUAmines v0.06c Lite: Mario Edition]
Discuss: [Forum Release Thread]

Dragula96 from our forums has sent word about a patch update to his PSP homebrew game LUAmines. The game has now been updated to v0.06b to fix some general errors.

Yesterday's update (v0.06a) to the popular Lumines-alternative added a new set of skins, new "Single Skin" mode of play, and enough music for each stage to have its own soundtrack. For some users, the last bit of addition made the gameplay slow down a bit so it appeared "choppy". Dragula96 has been hard at work fixing this bug and has provided a patch to prevent choppy gameplay and add a new feature. Here's the changelog:

• Optimized control scheme -controls less choppy now and act more like the real game
• Added Shadow Effect when moving left/right
• Game is now running on a good 54 fps

Just copy the index.lua from the patch into your LUAmines directory on your PSP and it's done. If you haven't got LUAmines v0.06a yet then make sure you download it below before applying the patch. We think you'll have a lot of fun with this one!

Download: [LUAmines v0.06a]
Download: [LUAmines v0.06b patch]
Discuss: [Forum release thread]

We've always associated this Lumines clone, Luamines, with Dragula96. But this version of the game is brought to us by a new developer,  x_JesusOfSuburbia_x. His version still exhibits the same elements in Dragula96's version 0.05, like the neon light effect on the scanline, the addition of a main menu and the new "Level by Level" play mode, but now with a few modifications in a line of code, you can now run the game via eloader.

Also, if you want to be involved in future Lua projects with x_JesusOfSuburbia_x, leave a comment in this article saying how wonderful this version is and I'm pretty sure he'll get back to you.

Thanks to x_JesusOfSuburbia_x for the email!

Download: [Luamines v0.05a]

If there is one word to describe this game it will have to be dynamic. Dragula96 always keeps us on our toes with incessant updates on his Lumines clone, Luamines. The addition of the main menu gave the game a very solid look. It also gave gamers options to play the classic game or to try the new Level by Level play thus paving the way for new challenges. The changing neon lights on the scanline with the number of blocks deleted is superb.

What's new on this version:

• Added new color "effect" on scanline.
• Added main menu.
• Added new play mode "Level by Level" new mode is same as "classic" but blocks clear from grid area after every level up. However blocks needed to level up get increased every level. (This mode was inspired to keep the game running smoother for longer.)
  

Download: [Luamines v0.05]

Here's an updated version of Dragula96's homebrew game for the PSP, Luamines, version 0.04 alpha. This version is exactly the same as the last release, version 0.04, but comes packaged as a standalone 1.5 EBOOT, meaning that Luaplayer is not required, and you can launch the game directly from the PSP's XMB.

You can enjoy this bug-free version as a standalone EBOOT with all of the version 0.04 updates as follows:

• Optimized code for speed (reduced scan cycles). As a result game runs smoother and music plays way better.
• Rewrote scanline animation, scan line now moves smoothly across the screen.
• Fixed rotation buttons (now piece only rotates once per button press).
• Added high score keeping.
• Added high score and level display in hud.
• Added intro screen ;)

The credit for making Luamines into a 1.5 EBOOT goes to Zouzzz!

NOTE: This is for 1.5 users only.

Download: [Luamines v0.04a]

Luamines by Dragula96 just keeps getting better and better. After releasing Luamines v0.03 just two days ago he's back with a much-improved version. The Rob Zombie-esque intro screen was a nice touch, setting things off for v0.04. And remember that problem that I had about being in the middle of the game and the blocks just suddenly changed and so did the background? Well, it has been taken care of in this version with the inclusion of the "Next Level Loading" warning. This way you won't just get flipped to the next stage unprepared.

I was going to say something about the background not being able to accommodate the addition of the High score and Level Display, but according to the log, this is one of the things that is in the works. I'm mostly looking forward to the title screen and the new play modes.

Changes made in this version are:

• Optimized code for speed (reduced scan cycles). As a result game runs smoother and music plays way better.
• Rewrote scanline animation, scan line now moves smoothly across the screen.
• Fixed rotation buttons (now piece only rotates once per button press).
• Added high score keeping.
• Added high score and level display in hud.
• Added intro screen ;)

Known issues/Bugs/To Do:

• Need to re-draw backgrounds to support new high score and level display.
• Block delete calculation is still not perfect.
• Need to add main title screen.
• Need to add new play modes.

Download: [Luamines v0.04]

Dragula96 comes out with the third incarnation of his highly successful homebrew game coded in Lua aptly titled Luamines, that takes after a very popular PSP title called Lumines.

After playing Lumines (I was about to say original but that'll be just asking for it), I found Luamines to be a worthy replica. By replica I mean a copy or reproduction, especially one on a scale smaller than the original. In other words, it was a representation of Lumines to Lua without stripping it of its original intent.

With that said, let's move on to the game. The controls are more or less similar to the Lumines, so for those already familiar to the game, this part's a breeze. For those who are new to the game, instructions on how to play the game are provided in the readme file.

While in the middle of playing the game's first round for some reason the background and the blocks immediately changed from the yellow-gray combo to a silver-green one, with pre-stacked blocks on the play area already. I'm not sure if this was either the bonus or combo system mentioned in the log, but it confused me, so it was game over for me just after a couple more blocks.

The pause function was a very nice addition to this version. I can't imagine having finally reached the last stage and have to start all over again just to get a glass of water. I don't want to say anything about the visual skins because we have already been forewarned by the developer of his limited Photoshop skills. But including a visual skin template, for individual users to customize is more than enough to make up for it. Maybe in the future, artists can contribute their original artworks as visual skins.

As a round up, I was challenged and entertained by the game, which puts in a category of non-time killers. Lumines players, in my opinion, will have no difficulty getting acquainted with its Lua counterpart in no time.

Changes made on this version are:

• game goes up to 10 levels after that same skin just repeats
• slowed down timeline a bit
• added bonus system
• added combo system
• centered playarea
• added "next" block
• added 10 different visual skins
• added 5 different sound and music skins
• Fixed bug where last line of blocks would never get checked for deletion
• added a pause between when the block drops and
• when the next one can drop (gets rid of many accidental "deaths" :P )
• added a "pause" function (press start to pause)
• Optimized engine even more you can now delete more than one square at a time

Download: [Luamines v0.03]

Luamines, developed and emailed in by Dragula96, is a homebrew game coded in Lua (as you've probably guessed), and follows the Tetris-like theme of the PSP launch title, Lumines. This version is still quite buggy, and at the moment there is no way to lose.
It needs optimization, as it can be little slow at times, and as you can see from the screenshot, for some reason the game doesn't cover the whole screen of the psp - but it is still very fun to play. Although it has its bugs, it is still as easy and as fun to play as Lumines; and personally, i can't wait until the next release!

Note: Lua Player is required to play this game.

version 0.02
------------
YOU CAN LOOSE NOW :p
Optimized engine
sound now plays "smoothly"
added some sound events
added a "shadowy" effect when pressing down
reduced the size of the playgrid to 16x10 blocks
redesigned skin01
redisigned "timeline"
added score system
added number of blocks deleted count
GAME IS NOW FUNCTIONAL

Download: [Luamines v0.2]