Match3 Game - Dragon's Cavern Puzzle Quest

[Matty]

Good Morning peoples.

Here is the current game I am working on for the competition.

I'm using graphics obtained many years ago from a variety of sources, but they seem to work quite well.

This is after 1.5 days work (yesterday and this morning).

Image:


Link:

https://www.mattiesgames.com/games.php?r=0001&game=match3

Very early stages...

[blinkok]

That is looking very nice. The coloured tiles and characters really pop in front of the monochrome bg.
I don't think the vector font style matches though. Maybe something like this?

[Derron]

I assume the colours of the matched 3 (or more) define what unit is moved and attacking?
So later on - like with the sword, have a spellbook (in blue), a demonish potion (yellow) etc.

but ... this might already look too "different" amongst the tiles, so give them some more abstract looks so they can look a bit more "similar" -- many many many ...many years ago I started "knights n blocks".

(flames animated)





As you see, I simply used "shields" there ... your shields could have the symbol of the attack type (a black sword, a book , ...) but with the shields defining the "outer".

As your units are "pixel style" I would try to do the same with the match 3 blocks ... you might even "draw" them first. But later on your computer you need to do the pixel art (layer on top).



Nonetheless: assets can later be modified, get it working first - so people could check out the game play and give hints where it "lacks". This then defines what you actually need - and how things could be joined and glued together.

bye
Ron

[Matty]

Kind of Derron.

Lightning adds bonus damage which is stored under the heroes for use when an attack is made.
Cross heals the heroes.
Dagger attacks one monster.
Green bolts attack all monsters.
Scary face attacks monsters and gives bonus damage.

The actual hero who attacks is kind of irrelevant....

The tiles don't move exactly like match 3 games - you can slide them around as well as swap them.

The tiles fall from the top whenever the top row is clear.

The level is complete when all the monsters are eliminated.

Game over, which is rare, occurs if all the heroes die.

Monsters spawn whenever a new row appears.

[iWasAdam]

really REALLY slllloooooooowwwwwww on safari

[Matty]

Optimisation comes later....once gameplay sorted.

[iWasAdam]

when i say slow - I mean slow as in sllllloooooooooowwwwwwwwww. it virtually doesn't do ANYTHING, respond, draw. etc
Seems to be about 1 fps!

there is no user interaction, ones you 'touch to start' you can't do anything else....

[Matty]

Not sure what that could be.

I've tested on:
Pc with chrome, pc from 2013.
S4 galaxy phone from 2014.
Samsung Tablet from 2018....

And it runs better than that on all of them.

Don't have safari so can't see why that browser slows diwn and I doubt your pc is slow.

I know it is not optimised but even on my slowest device a phone from 2014 it does better than that.

[blinkok]

Works fine for me

[Steve Elliott]

when i say slow - I mean slow as in sllllloooooooooowwwwwwwwww. it virtually doesn't do ANYTHING, respond, draw. etc

Yes on PC and Chrome something is seriously wrong, hardly any response from the program.

[Matty]

Perhaps Ctrl-F5 to refresh the cache? An old script might be cached causing the program to be wrong.

[Steve Elliott]

No, that didn't fix it.

[GfK]

Hard to say how fast it's running, since the controls seem very vague and unresponsive.  Tried in Chrome, IE and Edge - all the same.

Also, I got thousands of points, a 10-second long cascade and a 6-combo just by clicking start - I didn't actually make any moves.  So I'd make sure the grid isn't populated with matches at the start

I also don't like how the falling tiles lurch from one square to the next one below.  If a tile is falling through, say, 4 empty spaces then it shouldn't slow down and stop in each one, before continuing to fall.

[Derron]

- block field "jitters" (randomly moves by a pixel or 2 to the right/left and then back)
- controls only work "randomly" - so I hit an element and then click on the next, nothing happens, trying "swipe" (mousedown + movement) but also no reaction, trying both again - and it works
- when it works, animation is smooth

Maybe "for now" add a highlight to the active game block - so people know when they are "moving" it (and you see if controls are borked)


bye
Ron

[blinkok]

I also don't like how the falling tiles lurch from one square to the next one below

I think that's because they move one square, check for combinations and then move on