GCPP:Proposal-Paddletail-Multiplayer

Multiplayer Paddletail

Ok, this is a multiplayer variation on GCPP:Proposal-Paddletail.

Since this isn't a full proposal by itself, I'm just using this page as a dump for ideas that could be incorporated into it as a co-operative puzzle.

Gameplay changes

Ok, so first and foremost, this needs to function fully as a single-player game (in the event that someone goes foraging by themselves) and then scale up from there.

So, to this end, I've thought up a play area that scales depending on how many people are playing (up to six(!) players at the same time).

Game board

The single-player board is more or less triangular, but still made out of the hexagon pieces from GCPP:Proposal-Paddletail. In this mode, during the cascade after clearing tiles, all new tiles are spawned from the hexagon at the peak of the triangle (the red hex in the images). This tile cannot be clicked on.

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  The black box is where the player's view is.

Since players start foraging from a ship, I figure players on board the same ship will join the same foraging board. It's possible for foraging to work the same as card games, with someone setting up a 'table' and people joining before the match starts, but I think it would also be cool to let people join a forage on the fly... Not sure about this. (Discuss!)

Anyway, when another player joins, whether it be in real-time or before a game starts. The 'board' spawns an additional triangular section for player 2 to work on.

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  Second player joined!

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  The view from player 2's perspective

Boards would continue to be added for each new player that joined.

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  A full board of 6 players.

Note that each player's area overlaps. Players may only click in their own zone, except for this edge area, which both touching players share.

Gameplay

Having multiple players working on the same board would require players to take turns (probably in a clockwise/counterclockwise fashion).

A player can make as many clicks as they want during their turn, but their turn ends immediately if they make a clear. However, once more than once player joins the board, the option to 'Pass' becomes available.

Passing ends the current player's turn, and goes on to the next player. Ostensibly this is to be used if the current player is unable to make a match, however, it can also be used to deal with players having connection issues, so a disconnected player doesn't ruin a board for others. Also, creative players can work together by passing turns to create large overfills and combos.

The container size (number of items required to finish a round) also increases with the number of players. Maybe add 10 onto the total with each new player? So, a single player's basket holds 50, 2 players together hold 110. 6 players would need 350 units.

Storyboard

Text-only at the moment (sorry). I'll work on getting the images up before too long.

• A player vessel arrives at an uninhabited island, and the captain goes to the hold and clicks on Forage.
• The captain gets into the game, with their own section, and begins playing.
• A second player joins the foraging, and has their board attached to the first player's. Player 1 hasn't finished their turn yet, but the new board section is populated with tiles, so the captain's moves now affect those tiles as well.
• Player 1 makes a set, and the turn passes on to player 2. Since there's already a number of tiles revealed on player 1's section, it doesn't take many moves to make another set.
• Tiles fall into each of the sections from the center, player 1 gets their next turn.
• During player 1's next turn, 2 more mates join the forage, and have their sections added on.
• Play goes around the board, with players clearing tiles.
• When play gets back to player 1, they want to make a set of a specific fruit (say Rambutan), but since they can't see much of the other boards, they're not sure how many they need. Hopefully this will encourage talk between players during a round...

Omissions

In a multiplayer setting, having randomly generated Salt water tiles would be more troublesome than anything, and restrict interaction with other players' tiles. So, I think in multiplayer it would be best if they were eliminated completely.

Multiplayer Scoring

Individual score vs. group score.

Issues

Dealing with afk players, disconnects, etc etc.

-- Blatantly stolen Borrowed from McGarvery's forum post

• Player doing average
• Player doing exceptional
• Player doing poorly
• Disconnected player
• AFK player
• Malicious player
• Quitting player