here's a wip of another take on my tetramino-making mechanic (T-Factory 1)
hopefully a little more appealing / a little less awkward (?)
Interesting to see how you solved the challenge of diagonal movement, offering the player various choices. In Bumble Bots I used yet another approach, which I quite like. However, it may be less appropriate for your game, as turning the robot, and the time this requires, is irrelevant for the gameplay in your game.
What's your reason for using the 2.5D projection view? As height is not relevant in this game, a 2D view would be easier to realise. This would also uses the screen more effectively. Was it to make the game stand out from other 2D symbol-filled matrix-based puzzle games?
yes, I definitely tried something else to shift expectations.
I'm kind of struggling with that game mechanic. people seem to like T-Factory1 when they do get it, but most expect a bejeweled/candycrush mechanic and deem it too complicated without looking further. so I tried something "cute" that couldn't be related to candycrush, to try and alleviate that friction. That seems to work regarding the mechanic, but now I get comments about the perspective being confusing (irl, you're the first to comment here), so you're spot on :)
I'm thinking I should go with a top-down perspective (something like the pengo game in capcom's three wonders).
thanks!
The controls take some getting used to, but if you tilt the keyboard, it's okay. I do like how in this version the tiles are more distinct, due to the colors used. You do need to offer the option to play on smaller boards as well, as you did in the earlier 2D version, as once you get the hang of it, this is too easy. I stopped my game once I had a score 200 and full health. Anyway, I am interested to see how this game evolves.
um yes, there was a color missing. updated to 6 colors in 7x7 for now. thanks!
I still managed to get to 200 with full health in the new version. The risky bit is at the start, when you are at low health, and with a random board. But once past 10 health it's all under control. There's the occasional tricky situation but nothing fatal.
Btw, this doesn't mean that the game is broken. Determining a good strategy is fun and it's not mindless execution once you have one. In fact, I am tempted now to write an AI for this game.
actually there's an AI in T-Factory1: launch a game by pressing up+x.
I just ran it a few times to refresh my memories (I locked the gameplay 8 months ago and only did some polish ever since). it either fails fast or easily goes 200+. I even got a 550+ in tiny marathon!
you need a bit of luck with the starting layout and then there's a warm-up effect since the "free moves" tend to re-order the board to your advantage. so it can get a little boring after a while, when you're on the "highway". (that's where the "twenty" mode comes from btw, limits but still room for better scoring)
but I just realized I had a fix I totally forgot about: add a color every 50 points or so. maybe also start with one less color to ease up the start. well, I'm usually working in bursts on 10 differents projects and my todo lists are either buried in my head or on loose sheets of paper ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
thanks a lot for the very good feedback!
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