Mini compo with great* prizes!!!

(Read on for compo details; scroll down if you’re only interested in helping beta test)

I’m busy re-developing a game I created a while ago that was not very great, but with a little reworking can be pretty good. The game is a puzzle based game based around matching, special events and logic/planning. Originally the game was played over a never ending series of ever more difficult levels. Now I’m switching to a level based system with a different puzzle for each level. I am going to include 50 levels in the final game which is going to take a long time to design, so I thought – MINICOMPO! That’s right, I’m looking for people to submit level ideas to help ease the workload and allow me to concentrate on the development more.

Any level that is included in the full game will win you a full version of the final game, your name in the credits/readme as a level designer and a link to a site of your choice from the game’s website. Also, my undying love ;)

Download the beta of the game here:

Beta Installer (http://homepage.ntlworld.com/dave88/aztecgoldbeta.zip)
(6MB download – yeah I know it’s a bit sizey)

The beta version currently has no options, no support for resolutions other than 800x600 and is lacking music. Also, a lot of the graphics still need updating so expect to see the occasional really crappy graphic. It may also crash in the menus and while exiting, but should be stable during the game. There are only 10 levels in it so far (this is going to be the number of levels in the trial version) but there is no trial limit reached screen yet so level 11 will be unplayable. Also, the rune tiles in level 10 are lacking the sound/graphical notification that something magical is about to happen – it just kind of happens.

HOW TO PLAY:
You play the game by moving tiles into the gap (click an adjacent tile and it will move into the gap). On the right is your available movement allowance. It costs a small amount of movement to move a tile and when you run out it’s game over. More movement is made by matching tiles together. Match several tiles in a chain and the movement you gain increases. The ultimate goal of each level is to move the key tile over to the lock (simply move it adjacent to complete the level). All other advice is given in the pre-level hints.

I’m hoping to get the game to a complete state (minus the level designs) in about 3-4 weeks so I’m, going to have a closing date of March 25th for the compo.

The levels can be submitted in one of two ways, either as a word document or as a image. Here’s the image of the board:

board image (http://homepage.ntlworld.com/dave88/board.jpg)

And here’s a blank board in a word document:

Board Word File (http://homepage.ntlworld.com/dave88/board.doc)

To help you understand the board layouts more, here are levels 2-10 in word format (zipped file)

Boards.zip (http://homepage.ntlworld.com/dave88/boards.zip)

There are many special tiles that can be used to create levels. I’d appreciate it if you used the same format I have been using, but I am willing to accept level descriptions if they are detailed enough. The format I have been using is:

S = starting position for player
K = Key starting position
L = Lock starting position
Mv = Movement tile (match two together for movement bonus)
Ch= Chameleon tiles (they cannot be matched, instead they imitate the color of adjacent tiles – only destructible by explosives)
Cb = Colour Bomb. Causes nearby tiles to become red and then match for huge bonuses.
W = wall – immovable and only destructible by explosives.
M = match – used to light the fuse of bombs
B = Bomb – must be lit then 15 seconds later it explodes
Bl = Bomb Lit = a bomb that’s fuse is already lit
T = Time – when playing timed games, gives large time boosts
D = dud – a blank tile that cannot be matched only destroyed by explosives
V = Vine – a vine starts to grow around the tile. Eventually it will engulf the tile making it immobile and then starts to spread to adjacent tiles. Vines can be removed by vine bombs and by matching coloured tiles together that have vines on them.
SV = Super Vine – like normal vines but grow and spread much faster
VB = Vine Bomb – match them together to release a vine poison cloud that removes nearby vines.
Dy = Dynamite – explosives that are detonated using the detonator tiles
Dt = Detonators – when two are matched together all dynamite in the level explodes
R# = Rune where # equals a unique identifier, see runes explanation below:

Runes:
Runes are special tiles that when matched together they cause a sequence of events to activate. These events use a flexible scripting system I’ve developed and can effectively do anything. For example, in one level I have designed, a rune when matched starts swapping two tiles every 3 seconds. The player uses these swapping tiles to swap the key and the gap to the other side of a wall and so can match the key/lock together.
You can have up to eight different runes/sequences in a level which is where the # in the R# for a rune tile comes in. The different runes each look different and must be paired according to their sequence number.
Use your imagination. If the current scripting system doesn’t support your idea but the idea is good then I’ll simply program support for your idea :)

Also, if you have ideas for any special tile types that you think could improve the game; feel free to submit those too.

Please send your submissions to:

dave88@ntlworld.com (mailto:dave88@ntlworld.com)

And please use the subject “Aztec Gold Competition)

BETA TESTERS

(It’s not really a beta, more like a late stage alpha as a lot of the interface work still remains untouched, but the game is in place)

For those who only want to beta test, download it here:

Beta Installer (http://homepage.ntlworld.com/dave88/aztecgoldbeta.zip)

The beta version currently has no options, no support for resolutions other than 800x600 fullscreen and is lacking music. Also, a lot of the graphics still need updating so expect to see the occasional really crappy graphic. It may also crash in the menus and while exiting, but should be stable during the game. There are only 10 levels in it so far (this is going to be the number of levels in the trial version) but there is no trial limit reached screen so level 11 will be unplayable. Also, the rune tiles in level 10 are lacking the sound/graphical notification that something magical is about to happen – it just kind of happens.

Please provide information about performance, your system specs, any bugs you found, any ideas you have for improving the experience and any problems encountered such as display issues, sound problems, etc.

Submit errors and suggestions to:

dave88@ntlworld.com

And please use the subject “Aztec Gold Test”

Thanks for your time and help.



*When I say great, I do of course mean naff :)

The main menu screen looks nice but unfortunately none of the buttons work for me. No matter where I click, nothing happens. When I hit ALT_F4 to exit the game, it crashes.

Win2K, Athlon 850MHz, 512MB RAM, GeForce2 GTS

What might have happened is that you hit the options button first - at the moment the options screen doesn't exist and hangs the game if used.

Have you tried a second time going straight for the new game button? There's absolutely no reason why the buttons won't work because they are very simple windows messaging/mouse cursor position checks. However only the new game and exit buttons work off of the main menu.

I did try twice before but it looks like I might have clicked the option button the second time as well before htiting new game. Works fine now. The door animation is cool but please make it skippable. It gets old when the player has to view it every single time.

Starting the actual puzzle, I was intimidated. The instructions at the level start didn't tell me the purpose of the game, and merely told me to match colors. It took me a while to realize I was supposed to get the key over to the keyhole. You should also strongly consider having multiple grid sizes, and making the beginner levels "small". The first level has no real challenge and the player should be able to get through it fast. The large grid size made the level very tedious, since it was just a matter of clilcking enough times to get the key over, no brain power needed.

I haven't had a chance to play more than the first level. The game interface looks nice and overall your graphics are very good. I must say though that I don't like the bright common color fills on the tiles. It looks very 16 color. Some nicely shaded tiles with colors that dont have 0xFF for any of the color components would be great. These tiles just stand out too strongly and don't really go with the game's theme.

Out of all this, I think the smaller grid sizes is the most important. This is certainly a game with a good amount of polish on it, I like the graphics, but the gameplay can't be allowed to get dull or intimidating, especially on the first level. Tossing the player into this huge grid with little information is just a bit much.

I'm afraid I don't have time to participate in your contest, but I'll probably give your game a deeper play later on. Good luck!

Thanks - that's some top quality feedback.

I see your point about the first level getting repetitive because of the size. I will definintely shrink the first level down to make it a simple "this is how to complete a level" puzzle.

The lack of instructions is a fair point, but that may just be down to the fact I haven't completed the instructions page yet. All it needs is a quick pointers page. Although perhaps I'll convert the first level into a kind of tutorial.

I have been trying to get rid of the 6-bit color look on the tiles for ages, but everything I try tends to result in tiles that aren't immediately distinctive from one another (especially on later levbels where there are more variations of color). I'll keep tying to find the sweet spot there though.

I think you're right though - the game can't become too hard or too repetitive early on. That's going to be hard to accomplish. To break the monotony, the game has to throw in new elements, but these new elements could make the game intimidating. I'm going to have to do a lot of testing and tweaking to get the right balance of easing in and non-repetitive play.

The door has already gone - I'm trying desperately to get the installer under 5 megs so a lot of the "nice" but essentially useless features have been stripped :( It's amazing how quickly install sizes grow. I'm using compressed everything and still the thing is huge. :(

Thanks for the great feedback