A simple but engaging type-matching puzzle game with an emphasis on customization. Above is a demonstration of the project at its core, with the basic gameplay loop and the capability for custom gameplay scenarios intact.
Project Details
Development Time: March 2023 - October 2023
Platform: Unity
My Goals for This Project
Create a game with an "easy to learn, difficult to master" gameplay loop.
Build support for customization into the heart of the game: create a system that could allow players to use their own assets in the game so that they can create their own scenarios.
Why Develop a Project Like This?
Approximately one year before starting this project, I prototyped a puzzle game in Unity with a gameplay loop similar to some of my favorite puzzle games. In it, differently-colored balloons fell onto a grid, with a goal of matching them together in a way that would remove the most balloons at a single time.
The gameplay loop of this prototype turned out to match very closely with the gameplay loop I wanted, so I used a refined version of it for this project.
Supporting customization became a central pillar of the project plan because I believe it to be a strong way to encourage creativity and community for a game with a simple but strong
gameplay loop.
What Has Been Completed?
Even though I had only worked on this part-time over a few months, a lot was completed:
Core gameplay is finished.
Dynamic board settings are fully implemented (board width, board height, piece width, block variety, number of matching blocks for a clear, etc.).
Every sprite currently present in the game is read through sprite sheets (one for the board, and one for each type of "block," including damage blocks), and then animated based on supplied parameters. This means that support for custom sprites could be added.
What More Could be Done?
There's more that I could add to this project if I wanted to improve upon it:
Add a "Custom Game" button that can take advantage of custom assets, and use them in the game. As mentioned, the game already supports reading sprites dynamically.
A two-player head-to-head mode to the game, with AI opponents that can run efficient calculations on the game state, and decide where to put their pieces accordingly.
A level-to-level single-player mode built upon the existing framework to give a player enough variety to have a satisfying experience of a meaningful length.