Thursday, January 15, 2015

[PhD] Game is Running! Please give me feedback!

As I said in my previous post, I have started a day (or two, but who's counting?) early in making my game, and I have finished implemented all of the major gameplay elements! That means that, while I would not call the game "finished," you can now play it here.

Not trying to brag or anything, but that's a pretty good score...



The rules are pretty simple. You click and drag to draw paths among the various symbols. Each symbol has three distinguishing properties:
  1. Color:   Green, Purple, or Red
  2. Shape:   Circle. Square, or Triangle
  3. Shade:   Open, Solid, or Striped
After you have selected a symbol, to continue the path you must drag onto a new, unvisited symbol that shares NONE of the properties of the previous one. For example, you could connect a Purple Solid Circle with a Green Striped Square, but you could not connect a Green Solid Circle with a Green Striped Square. Continue dragging along a path until you cannot choose a valid symbol to move to, and then let go of the mouse button. You will be awarded points based on the length of your path! If you drag onto an invalid symbol, your path with be broken. But don't worry! You will still be given points.

The game ends after 60 seconds, then you can click on the replay symbol that appears to play again! This game is very hard at first, but I find it can be quite addicting. I'd really like to get your feedback on how I can make it better, so please play and comment and help me improve!

For the remainder of the Jam (which for me is not very long), I'd like to polish the game by adding the following features:
  • A Main Menu, all games needs one of those
  • An interactive Controls page
  • A Versus mode, where the board is always the same so you and a friend can compete for a higher score on a level playing field
  • A "Shuffle" button, that swaps all symbols out for new ones, in case you get a bad board
Once this is done, I may try to publish this project as a simple free mobile game. I originally envisioned the game being played on a tablet, so if you have one of those it may be more fun!

BONUS POINTS: If you can name the video game I got the sound files from.

Don't forget to leave comments and suggestions! I also still need a title!
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3 comments:

  1. MorganJanuary 15, 2015 at 10:55 PM

    That is neat! At first I thought my brain couldn't work that way, but it works after a few seconds.

    The main feedback needed is of course some way of showing what has just disappeared and what is replacing it. Maybe the classic match-three style of sliding remaining blocks down and having new ones emerge from the top? That allows some strategy because you can effectively relocate things within the playing board.

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  2. UnknownJanuary 16, 2015 at 12:16 AM

    This is great!
    I agree with Morgan though, it's hard to see the removal and there isn't a way to have present actions affect future ones.
    Also it's really hard. I don't know how you got that score. Geeze.
    Honestly, if you had the Candy Crush "suggest a move" feature, I don't think you would even need to have instructions.
    Looking forward to future updates.

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  3. phdmntJanuary 16, 2015 at 2:00 AM

    Thanks guys! My priority for tomorrow then will be implementing the falling blocks. I agree that this will add some strategy to the game and make it feel more like the player is in control.

    I have been wondering about how much instruction I should provide the player before tossing them into the game. I like the "suggest a move" idea, but I don't think that properly explains the touch and drag input. Hmm. Perhaps there is a happy medium...

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