Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Tile-o-maze
Using some obstacles (first of all, Rocks), increasing the number of empty entries in
the array, and introducing a control mechanism to move isolated tiles over the game
board, a new game can be designed on the familiar basis of match-three logic. Ima-
gine that Rocks and Bricks form structures that look like a maze but several colored
square tiles are scattered over the screen and a player can move them separately.
The objective is to guide them through the maze and to match them together, elimin-
ating them from the game level. As you see, this is an improvised tile-matching ver-
sion of
Sokoban
: the crates are replaced with color tiles, but the main objective is to
remove items, not to place them into the right position.
The behavior of tiles depends on the floor they stand on:
•
Normal
: Identical tiles are removed as soon as at least two of them have dir-
ect contact with each other.
•
Sorting zone
: The tiles are not matched and eliminated on this surface until
the player additionally taps them.
In other words, the Normal floor uses the active array, but the Sorting zone works
with the passive one. To teach the player the difference between them, a special alert
can appear periodically above elements assembled on the Sorting floor, displaying a
memo:
Tap to connect tiles
. This can be done on the first levels and in situations
when the game feels that the player is stuck (he does not produce any effective move
for a period of time).
The behavior of floor surfaces can be displayed via logical expressions:
• Floor tile + Floor tile = Identical color squares are eliminated
• Sorting zone + Sorting zone = Nothing happens
• Floor tile + Sorting zone = Identical color squares are eliminated
As you see, a tile connected to a sequence in the Sorting zone from outside being
placed on the Normal floor can eliminate the sequence. Depending on the situation
and strategy, this can be an advantage or an obstacle for the player. The following
figure shows a simple version of the Tile-o-fall mode, there are four rows, elements
moving evenly, and multitouch input:
