Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Tile-o-fall
Tile-o-fall is a game mode that is relative to the Moving columns that features some
new ideas. The tiles are falling down like a waterfall and move with equal speed. Fig-
uratively speaking, thecolumnsareindividual waterflows. Theycannot bestopped by
a tap, but the player may interrupt a flow by touching it; this means that all tiles found
above the finger are stopped, but the tiles below fall down, exposing some content
underneath the column (imagine you put a flap inside a vertical water pipe and see its
walls). The underlying content consists of tiles as well; it can be static or dynamic, fea-
turing elements that move horizontally. So, there are two layers in the game: a fore-
ground, which moves vertically, and a background, which lies under the first layer and
moves horizontally (or stands still). Here is the idea: the player breaks columns, trying
to find useful tiles, which lie beneath. Once the tiles are aligned to each other, the roll
call function is called and the player obtains some points if there are some suitable
sequences. The codename for this mode is
Tile-o-fall
, but the tagline is
Browse for
tiles
.
The following screenshot shows a simple version of the Tile-o-fall mode, there are
four rows, elements moving evenly, and a multitouch input:
The game can use both single-touch (coherent) and multitouch control of columns;
the latter is of course more exciting.
Potentially, the game can hold more than two layers; the player must search through
this stack to find something useful. To motivate him, each layer should have special
features. For instance, the second layer can include only green and red tiles; the third
one, only blue and green; the fourth, green, yellow, and red; and so on. It is better to
use coherent control for such a variant of the game.
