Topic: any puzzle gamers out there?

Any of you rp'ers out there also play puzzle games?

I am asking becuase I am currently in the progress of making a puzzle game together with a few others. The basic idea of it is a ripoff from bejewlled (ie, make 4 similar blocks get next to eachother and they will disapar and you will score points) but there are also some new and semi-original stuff in it wink

I would really appriciate it if some of you would check it out and give some feedback either here or in our forums(or on IRC). Linky to download: here

Its pretty important that you read the install notes. The game is still very much a work in progress and we are still missing a lot of stuff, so basicly what I am looking for is comments on the basic gameplay and the whole look and feel of the game.

For some basic information about the game check out this link

And last, a link to our front page to the lazy people out there wink

All feedback is welcome! If you think it sucks then say so, if its boring then say so (actually I think it is a bit boring in its current state, as i said its work in progress) - you are even free to comment on it if you arent a puzzle game!! cool

Re: any puzzle gamers out there?

Whoops, I somhow thought that it was two player competitive.
Can't comment much on it as it is, though.

Last edited by Wheri (2007-08-24 09:05:27)

RP in MMOG's looks like this when trying to base it on in-game activities:
"Let's go <activity>!"
"Yay, <activity>!"
"<motivation>!"

Re: any puzzle gamers out there?

So, um, where are the install notes?

Re: any puzzle gamers out there?

heh.. good question! wink

On the website in the download section, "If you get an error saying the software is not configured correctly, you probably need to run one of the vcredist_*.exe installers first. Which one you should install depends on your operating system; for a 32-bit OS run vcredist_x86.exe, for a 64-bit OS run vcredist_x64.exe."

Re: any puzzle gamers out there?

Well, I tried it and it seemed kind of neat. Not very challenging, maybe, since you can always get any set of pieces to touch if you make enough moves. I also suppose the increasing of difficulty as the game progresses hasn't been implemented yet, since now it was very easy to keep the piece count at minumum.

Re: any puzzle gamers out there?

thanks for trying it out kryg smile

Yeah, it isnt very hard right now at all. We are going to have to really consider how many points you score upon removing blocks (the score basicly dictates how fast new blocks drop)
Apart from increaseing the drop rate have you got any suggestions on how to make it harder as time progress?

Re: any puzzle gamers out there?

Maybe add more colors to increase difficulty?

Still, the basic gameplay IMO is not very puzzlish. More like a clickfest in how fast you can move the pieces together. At least that's my current impression - not too much thinking involved. Unless you make it worth it to create over-four-piece blocks, which requires a bit less straightforward thinking. However, if difficulty is dictated by points alone, then gaining points slowly by four-piece blocks is just as useful as gaining them more quickly from bigger blocks.

But even as it is, it's a nice addictive pastime.

Re: any puzzle gamers out there?

Guess I might as well explain the game in some more details so you can give more feedback on it if you want smile

The version on the website right now only features only one play mode. The final version will feature at least 4.
Free play: the one that is in the game now
mission mode: complete different kinds of missions, ie, remove X amount of blocks in Y seconds, or create X amount of chains in Y seconds... these are just bad examples, but in our design doc I think there are details on more then 10 missions
Skin mode: Similar to free play. However once you reach a specific score the skin (background and the blocks) changes to a new skin which is then unlocked for use in free play
Chain limit mode: Create X number of chains in Y number of seconds

Except from mission mode these are actually already coded (have been for a while) and will be selecteable from the game menu in the next version that is put on the website. Hopefully this will help move the game away from the clickfest that you point out it very easily turns into

-----
Hm wait, upon re-reading your post kryg I am not sure you played it with the thought of 'chains' in your head? If you remove 4 blocks of one color, which then leads to an other group of 4 blocks being removed your made a chain which provides a lot higher score then simply connecting 4 blocks
I guess we should make this gameplay element more clear smile

Re: any puzzle gamers out there?

The chain way of thinking would be more useful if you didn't punish for such success by increasing the difficulty level in direct relation to the score. After all, players usually aim at gaining maximum score during one game, and the speed at which they gain that score is secondary. That way, if you tie the difficulty level to, say, time instead of score, the player will be rewarded for making these chains and larger groups of blocks.

I personally don't usually even bother with the score, but get my entire enjoyment from keeping the game going as long as I can. Thus, even though making chains happen is cool, I don't aim at it very much if it doesn't help me in my goal of keeping the game alive.  (Getting to different levels or their equivalents, on the other hand, is interesting to me, especially if there's some new tricks on the higher levels.)

Re: any puzzle gamers out there?

The chain way of thinking would be more useful if you didn't punish for such success by increasing the difficulty level in direct relation to the score. After all, players usually aim at gaining maximum score during one game, and the speed at which they gain that score is secondary. That way, if you tie the difficulty level to, say, time instead of score, the player will be rewarded for making these chains and larger groups of blocks.

That is a very very good point actually!! I will suggest this to the rest of the team (and try my best to make them agree with this idea!)

We do have some 'special' blocks implemented right now, perhaps the spawing of these should be saved (or increased) untill later levels to provide the player with more reason to keep playing.

Thanks a lot for the feedback kryg! smile

Re: any puzzle gamers out there?

Also, you might want to consider adding a keyboard control such that you can select a block and then move it multiple times by pressing the arrow keys. That clicking gets pretty tiresome when you want to move a block multiple steps.

Re: any puzzle gamers out there?

actually you can drag move a block. Simply click on a block and drag the mouse in either direction to move it multiple steps.

But thanks for pointing it out, shows that it isnt a feature that users figure out by themselves smile

Re: any puzzle gamers out there?

How about difficulty tied to the number of blocks removed? That way chains are definitely the better way to keep the game going longer.

RP in MMOG's looks like this when trying to base it on in-game activities:
"Let's go <activity>!"
"Yay, <activity>!"
"<motivation>!"

Re: any puzzle gamers out there?

Nothing quite beats a clock ticking down while you try to play a game imo smile

But thats an other pretty interesting suggestion, I will forward it as well! I guess its a question of how much focus we want to have on the chain creation vs making people stressed wink

Thanks for the idea! Do keep it coming!

Re: any puzzle gamers out there?

Well, another option would be to combine the two. Something like every block removed has a chance to increase the level, depending on the time spent since last level-up.

And if there's ever going to be a competitive 2-player mode, it's going to be soooooooooo good!

RP in MMOG's looks like this when trying to base it on in-game activities:
"Let's go <activity>!"
"Yay, <activity>!"
"<motivation>!"

Re: any puzzle gamers out there?

Time-based and block-removal-based difficulty increases wouldn't differ so much in the end. After all, the player has to get rid of a certain amount of blocks in a certain amount of time in order to keep the game going. So it doesn't really matter which system you use. Basing it on block removal might make it a little quicker to get to the tough levels for good players, so it might be a good choice.

Re: any puzzle gamers out there?

Hm good point.

wheri how would you make it 2 player? 2 players on the same playing field with the simple goal of getting more points then the other?

Re: any puzzle gamers out there?

No, more like two separate playfields. When a player removes some blocks from his field, some "penalty" blocks fall to his enemy's field. If he makes a successful chain, even more blocks drop. "Penalty" blocks can only be removed when a normal block is removed next to them or after they stay for over 5 seconds.
Something like that's more or less standard practice with such games. Gotta get original now, it's pretty used.

For one playing field, I imagine something like this. There are blocks assigned to each of the players. The point is to remove your opponent's blocks by removing normal blocks next to them, while keeping yours safe. Freedom must be somehow limited here, for example with a turn-based mode or only being able to move blocks adjacent to your ones, or a recharging energy bar (You can only make so much moves until you have to wait and recharge). In any case, you can't move opponent's blocks.

Now that I think of it, there it actually a lot of possibilities. I'm somewhat sure many of them aren't playable or fun, but still worth a try.

RP in MMOG's looks like this when trying to base it on in-game activities:
"Let's go <activity>!"
"Yay, <activity>!"
"<motivation>!"

Re: any puzzle gamers out there?

pretty good ideas smile

Will copy it to our forum and see what the others think... Now that I think about it, it does have a lot of possibilities as you say.

20

Re: any puzzle gamers out there?

http://static.dropline.net/cats/images/puzzled-kitty.jpg

SWG: CL90 Smuggler, Crimson Phoenix Ace, CL90 Engineer, Europe-Chimaera
AoC: L70 Guardian

Re: any puzzle gamers out there?

haha that is awesome! smile

Btw a new version is up on the website if anyone is still interested in trying it -now featureing a fancy menu, tons of particles (need adjustments! Can change how they look by pressing 'p' ingame) glow effect and some other minor modifications

edit: btw if anyone got suggestions for 'awards' that can be given to players feel free to post them, we are currently designing that part of the game. For example an award could be given to someone after having played for a total of 2 hours, an other award could be given to someone if they managed to make a large chain and so on. Basicly a nice little award that is given to people after having grinded their ass off wink Ideas for awards that dont require grinding are *very* welcome!

Re: any puzzle gamers out there?

For one, an award for cleaning the whole screen once. It can be made harder by requiring a minumum of n colors in play prior to the cleaning.
Another, similar one: cleaning the screen completely after it was almost filled (Up to 90%?).
Or an award for removing several sets of blocks with only a minimal delay. No more than 200 millisecs between two sets.

Off to test the new version.

Added: the blur and particles are pretty nice, if somewhat extreme. One minor thing: sometimes new blocks fall down onto blocks of the same color and remove them. It's not exactly a bad thing, but it certainly can thwart long combo setups. And it looks weird if it happens with starting blocks.

What about a puzzle mode, where you have a set "map" and have to arrange the blocks so that they all are removed? Or all of a certain colour are removed. Or some special blocks (Like "penalty" blocks I mentioned in an earlier post). Or something else like that. From your earlier description, mission mode's different.

Last edited by Wheri (2007-08-31 01:11:03)

RP in MMOG's looks like this when trying to base it on in-game activities:
"Let's go <activity>!"
"Yay, <activity>!"
"<motivation>!"

Re: any puzzle gamers out there?

Cleaning the screen sounds nigh-impossible, since it'd require you to have three of the same color on board at once, and then by sheer luck getting a drop of the same color.

Maps sound like a really fun concept. Like have some well-known pixes image such as a lemming or a space invader as a model and have the player build that out of the different-colored blocks. (It'd probably require that blocks stay there even in sets of four, since most such images have large areas of one color.)

Re: any puzzle gamers out there?

Heh yeah I agree the effects are quite extreem as it is, we will have options to fine tune all those settings to the players own desire, something I will most likely start codeing today smile

Maps are a cool concept! Will forward the idea, again thanks a lot for the feedback