Dr Newton's Maths Wiz

kurtkz

Hi guys,

it's been a while since I posted something new here :)

I finally decided to dust off my HTML5/js engine and make something...and that something is called: Dr Newton's Maths Wiz. It's a slightly different take on Tetris and match-3 mechanics. It's probably been done already, but I figured it would be the perfect sized game to do in a weekend.

It's playable online over here. I have a working Android build, but I'm still waiting on my BB keys. I'll check with the guys in the office on Monday about Apple keys. That being said, it should be playable on your phones/tablets too (in your browser).

If you have 2min, give it a whirl and let me know what you think.

Cheers
Kurt

PS if anyone would like to collaborate on HTML5 games, give me a shout.

PPS it's missing sound - I can't think of appropriate sound effects and music. If anyone out there can point me in the right direction, that'd be great!

dislekcia

Gave it a play. Had to hunt back through the menu to find out what the keys were to put blocks down, couldn't seem to remove blocks though.

I was trying to figure out how the matching worked for a bit, only got 1 set of 26 even though I was pretty sure I had reached that total a couple of times earlier. Then it crashed when I got a 2x chain (1 horizontal, 1 vertical) no idea what caused that...

kurtkz

Thanks for testing, dis :) Will give it a look a little later. I'm not sure why it crashed...

EDIT: The match total should be 21 btw :) I'll check the help screens. I wonder if I made a booboo.

kurtkz

Alrighty - I think I solved the crash that dis pointed out. I've also finally managed to sort out crossplatform-ish sound. Please excuse (and ignore) the sound effects. You can turn them off in Options. They're just placeholders for now :)

Web Build
Android APK

Cheers!
K

Nandrew

Okay, cool! Really great to see this coming out of just one weekend and there's a few paths your idea could take from here.

I'd suggest perhaps just showing players the additive totals of rows / columns at all times and tightening the constraints on getting 21 (namely, requiring that ALL SIX blocks in a particular row or column have to be filled and reach exactly 21).

I wouldn't think this erases the challenge, per se, but rather moves it to a more interesting place: players will need to think ahead more and make sure they don't go "bust" on a particular rowcolumn too soon. It still requires some mental arithmetic to perform properly while lessening the (IMO) more tedious chore of keeping tracks of ten different totals at once.

Before I understood your rules properly, I was actually playing the game this way and I can assure you that it still requires a bit of numberthink and calculation. It's like Blackjack and Sudoku having a baby and I found that rather fun.

kurtkz

Thanks, Nandrew, that is awesome advice. I'm throwing money at my screen but it's not going through :)

I'll make the changes in a bit. That's exactly the feel I was going for but it's pretty clear that I lack game design nous :)

kurtkz

OK, so I made a few changes last night:

- row & column totals are shown when the Hints option is enabled
- to match a row or column you need to fill the row/column, i.e. you need 5 blocks to total 21
- removed a row from the board, it is now 5x5
- added a local hiscore table
- options are saved
- fixed bug when resizing the screen

I think the game is a little too difficult now that you need to match an entire row/column though...any thoughts?

Cheers
K

Tuism

I really like the game, it was confusing at first, but after reading instructions it was manageable, but I would maybe put bare basic keyboard instructions in the play screen, or make the players have to see it before getting to the play screen, because its so unusual. I like the unusual method of block delivery!

Maths has never been my strong suite, so it was quite taxing for me. There are two parts to the difficulty problem - previously, playing the game was hard cos you had to make mental calculations on all the blocks all the time. The new mechanic of adding up a whole row/column to 21 is technically harder, BUT seeing the total made up for you makes doing it a lot easier. What I would love is if there were a way to play the original mechanic, but with some kind of assist... I'm not sure how, but I actually prefer mechanic 1, it feels more combo-y like Puyo Puyo and its ilk and less sudoku-y. More arcadey. But then that could be, again, a personal preference thing.

Maybe having hints at where you're dropping say the Number you need to get to 21 from either column or row... Or... Can't think of anything right now, I'll come back if I think of anything :)

kurtkz

Thanks for checking it out :)

Yeah, I'm also not really sure which way I'd like this game to go - the first mechanic makes for a much easier & more casual game whereas the second one is more like a Sudoku-like challenge. I like the idea of both, but I'm not sure which one is more fun.

Maybe I could add another mode? The first mechanic could be Casual and the second Hardcore?

Regarding the hints, that's definitely doable. At the moment it only tells you where you need to put a block to complete a row/column and score the maximum points. If you let the player idle for 3s you'll see a tile outline in gold if it's possible. I'll see if I can add another hint though. Maybe the best spot to put a tile to maximise the number of possible row/column matches?

EDIT: And I'll definitely update the help screens. Maybe even force the player to go through a controls tutorial on the first run?

Tuism

Re: control hints, you only really need to tell people about left/right keys and drop/remove, so just a small hint while you play would be good enough, I think.

Re: Hints... I'm quite torn, I don't want it to be an easy spoonfeeding experience, nor do I want to make it so damn hard doing mental arithmetic constantly... It would be cool if the hint were an integral part of the game rather than a "3 seconds gone past and you haven't figured out what to do yet" thing. Like the line in Puzzle Bubble or like the trajectory in Angry Birds... Making it part of the gameplay.

But I don't have answers XD Maths is hard for me :P

kurtkz

Yup, that makes sense. I'll implement some kind of mini-tutorial as you play.

Yeah, I agree on the hints problem. I'm really not sure what to do. I love maths but I struggle to juggle the combination of rows and columns...unless I restrict the player movement to the top of the board?

AlphaSheep

I spent the last 20 minutes or so playing it. Overall I agree with most of what's been said. Just a couple points:

- Under the help screen, put the controls on page 1, not page 4.
- The bit where you get to set your initials for the high score didn't seem to work. I tried clicking the buttons, pressing arrow keys, etc, but I couldn't change my name from A.A

kurtkz

Thanks, AlphaSheep :) I'm definitely going to revamp the help screens. That's pretty weird that the buttons didn't work...which browser were you playing in?

Nandrew

Since you can effectively place wherever you need to by sticking to the top of the board, I'd recommend it. Helps simplify some things.

Interesting that you chose to go 5x5 (I can see the reasoning, it's always helpful and less overwhelming to work with smaller grids).

However! I'd recommend that if you stay in the vein of filling up columns entirely for your 21, you should do two things to make things mathematically "click" more:

(1) Return the grid to a 6x6 setup
(2) Decrease the number range to 1-6 instead of 1-7

This has the cool effect of being, umm, "statistically neat". If we assume that each number has an equal chance of generating (which it does), and the *actual* generation is perfectly in line with this statistical probability, then you can get blocks 1-6 spawning to fill a single column. Boom. Adds up to 21.

This would also reinforce the Sudoku aspect, as players can take the approach of simply trying to fill a column / row with each unique number to complete it. Not a *perfect* technique for solving this sort of game, but it's a nice trick.

---------------

I should also point out that I do not play your game on timed mode, and requiring the columns to be filled completely may well make it too complicated for your time attack. But I much prefer playing this as a slower and more considered experience and I get the most reward from that. :)

kurtkz

@Nandrew: Hehe, my thinking was completely different :) I was basing it more on a skewed distribution as it's easier to sum 21 with "mid" ranged numbers on a smaller grid. Your thinking makes sense though. I'll test it out a little later and see how it works :)

Yeah, I'm not sure that the time attack mode makes much sense either. I'm thinking of scrapping it. Either that or introducing the original mechanics for that mode where you don't need to match all 6 blocks to clear a row/column...

AlphaSheep

@kurtkz: Was playing in Chrome version 28. I tried again in Firefox, and the high score thing seems to be working fine there. I'll try set a high score in Chrome again and see if it happens again.

Regarding strategies for playing, there are often opportunities to remove a block to get a row/col of 21, but doing so results in a net loss of points. Unless I really needed to free up some space on the board, I found myself avoiding those moves, even though I sort of felt smart when I spotted them. Maybe make it so points don't get deducted if removing that block completes a row/col. It always feels a bit unfair when a game punishes you for doing something you thought took skill.

Also, regarding balancing, it looks like at the moment you've got it at 290 points awarded for finishing a row and value*100 points deducted for removing a block. Assuming all of the blocks have an equal chance of appearing, that means you get to remove an average of 0.82 blocks for every 1 rows/cols you clear. I'd suggest you up the points for completing a row to 350, since then you'd be able to remove 1 block per 1 row/col completed.

I agree with the timed mode. I found it insanely difficult. Then again, I am a slow thinker.

kurtkz

Thanks for the feedback! That's great stuff. I'll try to clean it all up tonight and put up another version tomorrow.

kurtkz

OK, so I've made a few changes:

- the Next section shows the next 2 blocks (so you can plan 1 move ahead)
- changed fonts, etc.
- added a gold line to show which block will be affected by a removal operation
- made the board 5x6 again
- removed Timed mode
- reduced the cost of removing blocks
- increased the score from matches

Cheers
K

PS - the Android and web builds have both been updated. I'll include a build number next time :)

kurtkz

Hi everyone,

I posted another update this morning:

- fixed highscore table bug where you can't change your initials
- numbers generated randomly should be more forgiving on higher levels
- optimised rendering, so it should be smooth on mobile now
- fixed cookie support

Cheers
K

PS - I just realised I haven't included a build number. Next time :)

kurtkz

Another small update :)

- updated help screens
- removed game mode screen
- changed title font

Cheers
K

Nandrew

My feedback at this point will be primarily interface-related. Nice to see you polishing this.

(1) I'm still not sure what the mechanical significance of placing blocks from the *sides* actually is. Can't we just trim that feature and force the Doctor to drop blocks from the top? It covers all possible placements well enough.

(2) It seems unnecessary to force two hands for this game's controls when one should suffice. The buttons for block placement and movement are stuck on opposite ends of the keyboard, when it seems more than intuitive enough to just bind some commands to the Up/Down arrows (or A/D keys) instead.

(3) Less significant, but I'd like some visual distinction regarding which of the two "Next" blocks is the *actual* Next (maybe by making one smaller than the other). Admittedly, though, I'm not sure how necessary the second layer of Nexting really is. It allows for extra planning, but I don't think the game suffers without it.

kurtkz

Thanks, Nandrew :)

Yeah, there's no real value in placing blocks from the side. The sides are more meant for removing blocks. What I can do is make the player place blocks from the top and remove blocks only from the sides? That would also tie in nicely with your second point about simplifying the controls.

I find that it's much easier when I can see the next 2 blocks available. Maybe I can scale the 2nd one down? To like half the size?

Nandrew

Yeah, something like that.

Also, D'oh, I keep forgetting you have the remove block function (like, I don't test with it). In which case, yeah, kay, there's mechanical significance.

Have you given thought to maybe only allowing removal of top blocks anyway, game balancing permitting? Heck, I'd suggest not letting blocks be removed at all -- it'll make sessions shorter and more difficult / intense, which isn't necessarily a bad thing because sometimes people want to start and finish their games in as short a burst as possible.

In fact, I'd say in general that anything you do to make a game easier only increases its session length, and that can be a surprisingly bad thing for some titles.

kurtkz

Hmm, I had it like that in my very first prototype but it was extremely difficult due to the random nature of the game. I could make the game generate "correct" blocks more often and then take away the ability to remove blocks? I'll give it a go and post another prototype.

kurtkz

Alrighty, just uploaded another small update:

- only one button (Q); when on the sides (gold line) you can remove blocks, when at the top (white line) you can place blocks <- I'm just testing to see if removing blocks is a worthwhile mechanic (I'm leaning towards removing it completely)
- the next next block is scaled down in the HUD to prevent confusion
- some performance improvements on mobile