Puzzle Codename: Gall

Contact
Username:	Benzene265
Additional contact info:	/tell Rhodin
Project forum thread:	[1]

Game concept

Cut shapes from a bolt of cloth by clicking on same-colored triangles.

Objective

Fill the Progress-O-Meter by clearing at least 100 triangles of cloth within at most 35 clicks. Don't click too much because you might ruin the cloth!

Gameplay

The game is played with the mouse. You move the cursor over an area of color that you wish to cut out and click on it. Easy

Rhodin loads up a new pristine board. Pirates are a tacky bunch, so the patterns are wild. Of course, she only likes the yellow, but personal tastes won't get the patterns cut. She clicks on those two red triangles in the middle and...

Poof! The pieces above slide down and more pieces appear from the top. Unlike other Collapse Puzzles, the pieces never stay disappeared in this one. >.> The Progress-O-Meter moves out a bit. Whether its noticabe or not is a different story. To spare the poor photoshopping hamster that runs the puzzle from inside her computer, Rhodin clicks on another two triangle area, namely the dark blue one in the lower left.

And Poof, things shift again, etc. The Progress_O_Meter moves a few more nanometers and Rhodin now has 4 whole points. At this rate, she'll be Able in 23 more clicks. Theoretically, she's just clearing the small stuff out so she can make a few huge clicks at the end.

The Perils of Clicking Too Much

If Rhodin, or anyone really, wastes their time clearing doubles, they'll run the risk of tearing the fabric. A row on the board gets replaced by a row of Torn Fabric which can't be removed at all. The pieces themselves will move down the board just like a regular triangle, but it sure is inconvenient. Worth -50 points.

-

Scoring

Triangles...Points

1................0

2................2

3................4

4................6

5................8

N................<math>2N-2</math>

I assumed it would be easier to code an equation for scoring rather than just assigning arbitrary points. The general idea is to make it worth more to clear a large number of triangles than it is to keep clicking 2s. Any extra triangles that are cleared with that final clear after the Progress-O-Meter fills are scored normally.

Variability

My special piece ideas:

The Autobandana. Removes a 4-triangle selection regardless of color. It's similar to a pufferfish. Those triforce-looking images are the area that gets affected by an Autobandana. Worth 4 points.

The Color Rotator. Clicking on this piece rotates the colors around it clockwise. The Rotator piece then turns the color of the piece that's to its left. A Rotator that affected a larger area might be interesting. Worth 0 points.

The Giant Color Rotator Well, I said it'd be interesting. It shifts 21 triangles clockwise before changing to the color of the piece to the left. That's 1/8 of the board. Worth 0 points.

The Gold Button The Gold Button is a straightforward, single-use bonus piece. It will give a x2 bonus to any group it's touching, so be sure it's a big one.

The Scrambler Sometimes, your board will simply become terrible after playing awhile. For those times, there is The Scrambler. Click it, and it will reshuffle the whole board for you before changing to a random color. Whether it actually helps or not is up to Fate. >.>

The Big Chart of Levels

...............................Special Piece Score Needed/Chances

.................Colors...AutoB.......CR........GCR.......Gold........Scram

Able...............4......0/1%.......N/A........N/A.......N/A.......100/0.2%

Distinguished......4......0/0.5%...100/0.2%.....N/A.....50/0.4%.....150/0.2%

Respected..........5......0/0.5%...90/0.2%......N/A.....50/0.4%.....200/0.2%

Master.............5......0/0.5%...80/0.2%...150/0.1%...50/0.4%.....250/0.2%

Renowned...........6......0/0.5%...70/0.2%.....0/0.3%...50/0.4%.....300/0.2%

Grand Master.......6......0/0.5%...60/0.2%.....0/0.3%...50/0.4%.....350/0.2%

Legendary..........7......0/0.5%...50/0.2%.....0/0.4%...50/0.4%.....400/0.2%

Ultimate...........7......0/0.5%...40/0.2%.....0/0.5%...50/0.4%.....450/0.2%

End criteria

When the Progress-O-Meter is completely filled, then the game ends. I suppose if you booch the whole board with Ripped Cloth, the game would be over, too.

Difficulty scaling

More colors will make it harder. Also, more scattering of colors and fewer large color groups in the starting board. A board full of Autobandanas would just be mean. >.>

Crafting type

Tailoring

Known problems

I am sure someone already suggested a Collapse-style game. I hope mine is different enough to make the cut. Another problem is a possible lack of keyboard controls.

Notes

A little bit of Physics. Gravity goes down. This simulates pulling more cloth off of the bolt at the top of the screen. Here are some pictures of how the triangles might react to each other after clears.