The Basic Idea and Structure:

  • The game will comprise of 20 levels.
  • The Player will have 10 or more lives.
  • Each level will contain 24 on screen tiles , so 12 pairs to match.
  • Each level will have a set amount of time to eliminate all cards (Countdown timer) when the timer reaches 00:00 a life is lost and the level is restarted
  • As the player progresses through the game each level will have less time to eliminate all cards.
  • In the very later levels, there will also be a time penalty system whereby if you match 3 pairs incorrectly (in a row) a certain amount of time will be taken off the countdown time leaving the player with less time to complete that level.
  • After each successful elimination of all tiles on each level the background image will fade from dark to bright and full color, so the player will see a full screen fractal design after every level.
  • The 20 levels will be broken up into 4 sections.
  • Each “section” will have its own specific background ambient music (not music per say,, more like.. ambience as not to clash with the below paragraph…..
  • Each tile (card) will have a specific melodic sound sample that will theme with the each “sections” background ambience music (so as the player clicks tiles it will “appear” that they are interacting with the ambient music.
  • Each “section” will have a different set of melodic sounds and different ambient music in the background
  • Each “section’s” tile design will be different, for example the demo level I am using a rock texture, where as other “sections” will have perhaps metal, gel/glass, plastic gloss, or wood.
  • Each “section” will have a set of different fractal designs,. So for example on the first “section” of 4 levels there will be about 20 designs that will variate over that “section” .. then on “section 2” there will be a new set of designs.. and so on.
  • As the player progresses though the sections the fractal designs themselves will get harder to match, in terms of similar color or pattern.
  • After each “section” there will be a bonus level (assuming a score or time target as been met for that section) … Although I have not figured out any solid ideas for these bonus levels they may comprise of something like an 8 tile speed level where the player only gets 8 clicks .. or perhaps a full 24tile bonus level only using 2 designs so like another speed round. Let me think more about this.

 

Other Global Game Features and Ideas:

  • On every level the tiles should be randomly placed.. so if the player restarts a level or would like to play the game again all the tiles will be rearranged, but still using the same set of designs for that level/section.
  • Fractal spoken word in the middle of each level In between each ambient sound track I will have some spoken word samples of someone talking about something related to fractals, either in a philosophical, artistic, nature, or scientific context.
  • The Game will have a zen mode, meaning no countdown timer or penalties.
  • Power ups / Time combo rewards & hazards

-  if the player gets a certain amount of  matches one after the other in under a certain amount of time, the remaining tiles will reveal themselves for an instant.

-  If the player eliminates the last pair of tiles with the same design as the background image, the player gets an extra life or something

-  If the player guesses a sequence of 8 pairs (16 clicks) in a row incorrectly in a certain amount of time the tiles will rearrange themselves randomly as a penalty.

 

  • The whole game will have a nice quick and smooth play to it, in terms of not having to wait for an incorrect pair or eliminated pair to stop its animation sequence to keep clicking other tiles. Meaning someone playing the game who is good at it will play with a nice flow. Also this will make it easier for me to develop the Musical notes idea to fit with the background ambient music (hard to explain)
  • The game will be themed to a idea I had a while ago called fractalscapes.net .. using the designs I have already made (see gallery section) .. so the game gui and presentation will kind of link in with the website in terms of look and context.
  • The game will have a chilled/zen/ambient/atmospheric feel about it as mentioned above I will put a lot of work into making each click go with the ambience in terms of  sounds and other graphical effects.
  • The game will be in HD .. either 1024 x 768 or 1360 x 768
  • The game may have animated foreground animations such as a smoky alpha feathered boarder animation or something.. not thought much about that yet.
  • The game may have some particle effects on some mouse interactions.
  • I'd like to keep the effect to a minimum so the look of the game doesn't end up feeling tacky

 


Playable One Level - Limited Functionality Prototype (Windows)

You can try out a one level, limited functionality prototype here. I was made on an older version of Windows but it should work on most versions of Windows now. It dose not feature any of the above mechanics. I have made some music and sound effects also for this.

The Controls | F12 = fullscreen mode | F11 = window mode | Backspace = restart level | Esc = Exit |

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