GCPP:Proposal-Bellfish
Puzzle Codename: Bellfish
| Contact | |
| Username: | MasterDinada |
| Additional contact info: | Dinadan on the Cobalt Ocean, Dinadan87 on AIM |
| Project forum thread: | GCPP forum link |
Game concept
A variation of the elevator puzzle in "Zoombinis Logical Journey."
Objective
Pirates attempt to sew seams on hexagonal tiles by placing pieces of fabric on each end. Fabrics must meet certain criteria in order for seams to be completed.
Gameplay
The playing area is divided into hexagons (lined up in rows, unlike the Apothecary puzzle which has hexagons lined up in columns) of three different types: cloth, seams, and gaps. Seams are always connected to exactly two gaps, and may be connected to any number of other seams. Initially, all of the seams are unstitched. Gaps are always connected to at least one seam, and may occasionally touch other gaps. The cloth hexes are merely places where no play occurs.
The left side of the screen has two bins of fabrics. Each bin contains one piece that may be played, but also shows the next two pieces available in that bin. Each piece of fabric in the bin has 3 characteristics: color, shape, and texture. There are 4 or 5 possible options for each characteristic. For example, an orange square fabric with striped texture, or a red triangle fabric with plaid texture, etc.
Each seam on the board has one or more symbols depicting requirements that must be met in order for the seam to become stitched. The most frequent symbols will demand that pieces in the adjacent gaps must share a certain characteristic. Occasionally, there will be extra symbols that indicate additional demands in similarity, or sometimes will demand that certain qualities be different. When the requirements of a seam are met, the seam is stitched. If fabrics are placed in such a way that the seam's requirement is not met, the seam is torn.
Whenever one or more rows at the top of the screen becomes complete (all gaps filled and all seams either stitched or torn), the puzzle slides up to reveal another row at the bottom, containing seams and gaps following the requirements above.
Scoring
Every seam completed will add a bit to the score, with more difficult seams adding more to the score.
More importantly, points are gained by clearing rows at the top of the screen. Few points will be scored if the row being cleared has any tears. Points are multiplied if many rows are cleared at once. If a player completes the second and third row before completing the first, for example, they will all be pushed up at the same time when the first row is complete.
There is one more type of bonus, and that is chainging stitches. In order to score this bonus, you must create a stitched seam with a fabric, and then stitch another seam connected to the same fabric on your next move. You can continue this process off of the fabric you placed and chain further.
Variability
Obviously, the board is randomly generated and different every time, as well as the pieces given to the player, but there are a few rare bonus pieces to help the player.
First is the scissors: Scissors allow the player to remove a piece of fabric he's already placed on the board (similar to the "Drinking" Hook). This allows the player to correct a mistake if he tore a seam or made the board too difficult
Another piece is the needle: The needle allows the player to instantly stitch a seam. No bonus is provided for the difficulty of the seam, and this will not count as part of a chain... but it is very useful for fixing up a seam in order to clear a row perfectly.
Last is the Magnifying Lens: Using this piece on a fabric already placed on the board will place an exact duplicate of that fabric in the front of the bin you picked the Lens out of. In other words, the lens acts as a copy of any fabric already on the board!
End criteria
After a certain number of torn seams are pushed off the board, the game ends. As rows are cleared, new seams introduced are more and more difficult to clear, so even experienced players will be unable to keep all seams stitched after a while. Since staying in the puzzle longer means more opportunity for points, players should try to avoid tearing seams.
Difficulty scaling
New players will be dealing with fewer variations of color, texture, and shape than experienced players will. In addition, their boards will be less complicated, and their seams will have easier requirements to fulfill. They may also receive bonus pieces more often to help them correct mistakes.
Crafting type
Probably Tailoring, but possible Weaving as well
Known problems
Since the game's end is triggered by errors made by the player, or mere bad luck of getting pieces that don't match enough, it is possible for a player who is lucky and plays well enough to continue scoring points without making any progress towards ending the puzzle. Once they finally finish, they will have a very high score, but it may have taken them a very long time...
The bonus piece scissors may not always be useful, since sometimes you won't want to remove a piece and it will be clogging up the bin. This isn't necessarily a problem as it requires the player to be ready for what comes up.
Notes
Images
