GCPP:Proposal-Silverside
Puzzle Codename: Silverside
| Contact | |
| Username: | PogoBeta |
| Additional contact info: | On Midnight as Pogo, on AIM as PogoLikeAMofo |
| Project forum thread: | http://forums.puzzlepirates.com/community/mvnforum/viewthread?thread=46120 |
Game concept
A rotating matching puzzle
Objective
form rectangular blocks of matching color or shape
Gameplay
The player is given a square-based grid, seven cells high, ten wide. Each cell in the grid contains a commodity tile. Commodities include Cloth. Herbs, Ore, and Paint, which can occur in various colors (Red, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple, White, Black), Wood, and Iron. The cursor is a 3x3 square that rotates its contents 90 degrees around its center when the player clicks (clockwise with LMB or Z key, anticlockwise with RMB or X key). Creating a 2x2 (or larger) rectangle containing tiles with all matching shape or all matching color (or both) results in a "match". The tiles included in the Match are removed from the board, tiles above the resulting gap cascade downward, and new tiles spawn at the top.
A panel to the left contains visual objectives in the form of commodity or color (or a commodity of a particular color). If one objective shows "cloth", the player must activate a cloth Match by forming a 2x2(+) square of cloth pieces (of any combination of color). If an objective indicates "green", the player must form a Match of green pieces (of any combination of shapes). If a specific Match is not requested (Herbs, for example), and still occurs, the Matched tiles will still disappear from the board, but the player will not be any closer to filling the objectives. Objectives shown may be filled in any order.
Wood and Iron pieces also exist in the board, but they do not spawn with any inherent "color". Iron can only be Matched in combination with more Iron or with wood, or with Gold (explained later). Raw "Grain" Wood can only be matched with more Wood, or with Iron.
If a Paint tile exists in the square directly above a Wood tile, the Wood will take on the color of the Paint, and the Paint tile will be removed from the board. Such colored wood can be matched with more wood, and/or with iron, or with other commodities or the same color.
In the lower left, there is another panel with silhouettes, which represent Objective Sets. When the player executes all the matches that fulfill the current Objectives, the "Set" is considered complete, and a new Set appears. Each of the Set silhouettes exists in the shape of either a crate, a chair, or a table. The shape indicates the difficulty of the Objective set, and the Sets are listed chronological order from bottom to top. This means that if the lowest hole is a crate, the first Objective Set will be "easy". The order of the silhouettes will always be from easy to hard (that is to say, the player will not begin with a table-difficulty and then move on to crate-difficulty).
Scoring
Each "Move" (as in Alchemistry) has a small negative effect on score. Each Match has a small positive effect on score. Filling an objective has a positive effect on score based on difficulty. Matches caused by cascades are worth more than regular. Objective Matches caused by cascades are worth exponentially more. Objective Matches triggered together in a single click are worth more than the sum of the individual Matches. Multiple objective Matches occuring in a single cascade are worth more.
Variability
wood can be altered with colored paint. A red paint piece, when placed above a wood piece, will disappear and color adjacent wood red. The affected wood can then be used in red breaks. Wood or that has been colored can be colored again, but colored Wood is impervious to its corrseponding color of paint (Red wood will not absorb a Red paint.)
Gold Ore can spawn as a bonus piece. It may spawn at the top (either randomly, or as a reward for an impressive combo/chain of Matches). It will disappear (without penalty) if it is not Matched in a limited number of moves ("Moves" taken in the sense of Alchemistry where multiple actions in a single location only count as one "move"). Gold can only be Matched in combinations with Iron and Grain-Wood.
End criteria
When the current list of objectives is complete, the current hole is filled and a new list of objectives appears. When all the holes in the panel are filled, the session ends.
Difficulty scaling
In the initial level of the game, Cloth, Ore, Herbs, and Paint only occur in Red, Yellow, Green, and Blue. Purple, White, and Black can be added as difficulty increases.
The higher the difficulty of an Objective Set, the more Objectives it will contain. (crate might require 3 matches, chair 4, and table 5, just to pull out some numbers) As standing increases, the player will be more frequently presented with higher-difficulty sets (as is the case in Alchemistry).
Additionally, at higher levels of difficulty (Objective Sets at the highest level), one might be required to complete a specific commod-color combination (a block of nothing but Red Herbs, for example). In that example, there might not be enough red herbs on the screen to form a Match. In such an instance, the player would ideally try to fill the other objectives, hopefully causing more red herbs to spawn. If there still isn't enough, the player would be expected to make non-objective Matches until enough red herbs spawn to make a Match. There will not be an objective to complete a Match of all like-colored Wood (unless developments in the game's design warrant reconsideration).
Higher-level Objective Sets may also include Objectives requiring two simultaneous Matches (a red and a green Match completed in the same Click, for example). If a simultaneous objective requires a color match and a commodity match, it is not enough to simply make a single match that satisfies both criteria (A requirement for simultaneous Green and Cloth Matches can not be filled by making a Match out of all Green Cloth, unless there were two separate matches made at the same time).
Crafting type
Furnishing
Known problems
The graphics must be established in a manner that accomodates people with vision impairments. In its current state, people with difficulty seeing colors would have an extremely difficult time distinguishing tiles. Commodity tiles have been updated to reflect this concern, but their .
In its current state, neither time nor moves are limited with any penalty. A move penalty seems more appropriate for this puzzle, but the penalty is currently undecided.
Notes
Images
Note: The image below is outdated, and shows the original tiles and cursor, from when the cursor was only a 2x2 square instead of 3x3. It also shows an Enamel tile, which have since been removed from the game.
