GCPP:Proposal-Mackerel
Puzzle Codename: Mackerel
| Contact | |
| Username: | Tcarr |
| Additional contact info: | on Midnight as Lordkalvan, otherwhen@frontiernet.net |
| Project forum thread: | Discussion |
|
A game gardens puzzle is available for this proposal. |
| Play it and help as a tester! |
Game concept
Build lengths of cloth from available threads, wasting as little as possible, under no time pressure. Variation of Pickerel
Objective
Make consecutive perfect rows, match patterns shown.
Gameplay
When game starts, 12 threads of various lengths in three different colors are generated for the spool tray. As spools are used, new random spools are generated, as long as the game is in play (so there are always 12 spools in the tray except during the "overtime" period at the end).
The player may choose any of at least three possible loom widths available for the current difficulty level. See difficulty scaling for more information on loom widths.
Choose a color to weave, and place any thread from your tray in that color onto the bottom of the loom. The first thread will start on the left edge of the bottom row, and use one inch for a knot to start. Add threads until the row is finished. Attempt to choose threads that will exactly fill the row. For example, if the loom is 7 inches wide, and you first place a thread that is 5 inches long, you will want to look for a thread 4 inches long (one inch of overlap for the knot).
If more than one inch is dangling off the side, the thread wraps to the next row. There is no penalty for wrapping, but one inch is used.
Perfect rows give a bonus. Consecutive perfect rows give even nicer bonuses.
If you want to change colors, the best way is to finish a perfect row. At this point, you may start a different color on the loom without breaking your combo-chain. If you have one inch dangling, you may start a different color with no penalty, but the combo-chain breaks. In any other case, all thread on the current (incomplete) row is wasted, with a penalty, and the combo-chain breaks.
You may place a maximum of 10 rows on the loom at any given time. If you place a spool on the loom that finishes the 10th row and has thread left, all the leftover thread is wasted, with a penalty.
At any time during the game, you may click the scissors then click a completed row on the loom. This will remove the row clicked and all completed rows above it for a few points. Any incomplete row is also removed, with a penalty. Using the scissors resets your combo-counter.
There is always a target pattern in the upper left corner. Form the pattern on the loom, click the target, then hover over the area of the loom that has that pattern and click to remove the matching rows. Matching the correct alternation of colors using the wrong colors gives a "Zebra" bonus. Matching the colors as well as the alternation pattern scores twice as many points. At this point, the target pattern will disappear, and a new one will be generated randomly.
Beads have a chance of appearing any time that a perfect row is made or a target pattern is matched and removed. At most three beads can fit in the bead tray. One type of bead ("Any") lets you splice two threads of the same color (but color is not specified) without using any overlap. A second type of bead "Specific": one of the three colors) lets you splice two threads of a specified color without using any overlap.
A third and very rare type of bead ("Wild") lets you splice two threads of different colors, with the resulting new spool the color of the second spool spliced.
Splicing spools: A player can choose to use a bead to combine two spools of thread. Click a bead, then click the first spool, then the second spool. The lengths of thread are added, and one spool with the combined lengths appears in the spool tray, with a random spool replacing the other spool. There is no bonus or penalty for doing this. The bead disappears after being used once. This is the only way beads are used in Mackerel.
Changing loom size: At any time during the game, a player may choose to change the size of the loom to another of the set allowed for the current difficulty level. The same spools will be in the tray, but any thread on the loom will be lost, with a penalty. The player should use the scissors to remove any completed rows before resizing the loom. The player has a choice of loom widths determined by the difficulty level.
Storyboard
Story with Screenshots, Level 2
Cantra has played Mackerel before on level 1, but this is her first game on difficulty level 2. Cantra has gotten pretty good at making consecutive perfect rows and using the beads to splice, but doesn't always spot the best moves to make.
Before starting to weave (difficulty level 2)
Play the green 10 for a perfect row
Play the purple 5 for a double
Second purple 5 for a triple and a red bead
There are twelve spools near the bottom of the screen, in four different colors. Each spool is marked with the length of thread on that spool. Cantra sees 4 vertical woof threads on the loom. Cantra knows that the first inch of any thread will get knotted, so she looks for a spool of length 5. There are several 5s and two 10s, but no 6s and only one 12, so leaving the loom at width 4 is the best choice even though the bonuses on wider looms are larger.
The target pattern is one green row and three purple rows. Cantra plays the green 10, which gives her two green rows at the bottom of the loom and a "Perfect Row!" bonus. She wants to continue making perfect rows as much as possible, but balance trying to match the target pattern. She uses the two purple 5s next, getting a Double, then Triple and a red bead.
Play purple 11 which breaks the combo string
Placing the pattern over the matching rows
Tapestry!
Using the green bead to splice the green 4 and green 6
Cantra needs one more row of purple to match the target pattern. No purple 5s or 10s, and no bead that could be used to splice the purple 3 to the purple 7. Cantra fails to notice that playing the purple 4 (breaking the combo chain) and then the purple 7 would give her a Perfect Row bonus; she uses the purple 11 instead.
Now she has the rows that match the target pattern, so Cantra clicks the pattern then hovers it over the matching rows and clicks. The rows are removed, the top purple row moves down, and she gets a "Tapestry!" bonus of 64 points. The target pattern is now two purples and two blues. There aren't any blue spools at all. Cantra could decide to use the scissors to remove the two rows from the loom, then click the + to widen the loom and make a Double then Zebra by using the red 12 and the green 12. She decides to gamble on getting blue spools instead, and uses green bead to splice the green 6 to the green 4, making a green 10.
Spliced!
Green 10 for Perfect Row and a wild bead
Red 10 for Double and a blue bead
Placing the pattern over rows that match pattern but not color (Zebra)
A blue spool appears, but it's a 12. Cantra decides to use the green 10 and the red 10 to form a Zebra match of the pattern: the same two rows of one color and then two of another, but the colors are wrong. The green 10 gives her a Perfect Row and a wild bead. Wild beads can splice any two spools, even if they are different colors (the second spool determines the color of the new spool). The red 10 gives a Double and a blue bead. Cantra places the pattern over the two green and two red rows, clicks, and gets a Zebra bonus of 32 points.
Using scissors
After clicking the + to make the loom wider
Using the wild bead to splice the red 11 to the purple 7
Spliced!
Now Cantra looks at her spools, trying to see if she can extend her combo-chain of perfect rows. There's only one 5, but there are several 12s. Wider looms give bigger bonuses, so she decides it's time to make the loom wider. She clicks the scissors, then clicks the bottom row which removes that row and any thread higher on the board. Cantra gets 8 points for snipping the two rows. If there had been a partially filled row, she would have lost some points from that.
Cantra clicks the + at the bottom right corner of the loom, making it width 5. This width needs 6s and 12s to form perfect rows. The current pattern is three rows of purple with one row of blue on top. She doesn't have enough purple thread, and none of the purples would make perfect rows. Cantra decides to use the beads in hopes of getting purple spools. She uses the red bead to splice the red 8 to the red 3, getting a red 11 - but the replacement for the red 8 is a red 10 which doesn't help. Wait! What about the wild bead? She can splice the red 11 to the purple 7 to get a purple 18 which would be a perfect row!
Using the purple 18 then the blue 12, for a double and a Tapestry setup
Last star almost filled
Filling the loom as much as possible
Spools vanish when the last star is filled
Incredible!
Cantra continues playing, occasionally changing the loom width, and sometimes being forced to waste a few inches of thread. Each time a row is removed from the loom, she gets another star partially filled on the side. After taking a Zebra, the new pattern is a Zebra match for the remaining rows on the loom, but Cantra knows if she takes it immediately the game would end. She decides to fill as much of the loom as possible. Only ten rows fit on the loom - anything extra is wasted. Oh nice - a Tapestry!
Taking the Tapestry fills the last star completely, and all the spools vanish. The new target pattern doesn't match the rows on the loom, so Cantra uses the scissors to remove the rows, and the game ends. Incredible!
Videos
Videos are available of games on level 1 and level 2.
Scoring
Perfect row bonus = (current loom size) * (number of consecutive perfect rows + difficulty level)
Scissors score for single row = (width of current loom)
Penalty for incomplete row = 2 * (inches removed)
Target pattern score = (current loom size) * ((number of rows in pattern) + (difficulty level)^2) * (2 if matches color, 1 if not)
Variability
Spools are generated in random colors and lengths. Beads are randomly generated, and do not always appear for every perfect row.
Each time a perfect row is completed, if there is room in the bead tray, a single bead might being generated. The probability is a function of the number of consecutive perfect rows. The type of bead is chosen next, with 25% chance of ANY, 10% chance of WILD, and the various possible specific color beads evenly distributed among the other 65%.
End criteria
When the target number of full rows of cloth have been removed from the loom, all the spools in the tray vanish. The player continues cutting patterns or using the scissors until the loom is empty. When the loom empties, the game is over. Progress is measured by the filled stars on the left; when the last star fills, the spools in the tray vanish.
Difficulty scaling
Target number of rows = 20 + (difficulty * 4)
Number of stars = 5 + difficulty
Level 1:
- Widths 4, 5, 6
- Only pattern is "solid" of four rows: AAAA.
Level 2:
- Widths 4, 5, 6
- Each target pattern has exactly two stripes and four rows, and is chosen randomly from those possible: AAAB, AABB, ABBB.
Level 3:
- Widths 4, 5, 6, 7
- Each target pattern has exactly three stripes using two colors and six rows, and is chosen randomly from those possible: AAAABA, AAABBA, etc.
Level 4:
- Widths 4, 5, 6, 7
- Each target pattern has exactly four stripes, using two colors and six rows.
Crafting type
Weaving
Known problems
Notes
Yes, this is very similar to Pickerel.
Probability of a bead appearing from a given perfect row:
n = (# Perfect rows) + (loom width - 4)
if n < 5, probability = 1/(6 - n)
else probability = (n - 3)/(n - 2)
Assuming a bead is generated, it has a 10% chance of being Wild, 25% chance of "Any", and the remainder of the time the different specific colors used on that level have equal chance.
Images
- Image Files for Coding
Background
Left column of loom
Center column of loom
Right column of loom
Spool tray
Bead tray
Done button
Yarn
Knots
Left wrapping
Right wrapping
Spools
Beads
Patterns
Progress star
Scissors
Plus
Minus
Woof
