[WIP] Sifteo Cubes Match Game

Fengol

I'm working on a game for the Sifteo Cubes. It's written in C++.

I've still got a mechanic to add to the game but at this stage I need an artist to help get the look and feel going. I also want a bit of audio of a countdown getting faster towards the end of the timer.

I'll be bringing the game to the next JHB Community Night (9 April 2013) for people to play on the physical devices.

If anyone has any feedback, please share it with me.

Attached is the game which you can load if you have the SDK (free with registration) or device.

Fengol

This is a gameplay video of my latest build that I presented at the last JHB Community Night. The build is attached if you want to play on your own device or in the emulator.

I'm in desperate need of an artist (if anyone is available for free please PM me). I also got in touch with Sifteo and they sent me the icons for common actions which I must add to the game.

My next job is to investigate adding sounds.

Tuism

TBH I would love to work on this, but the shapes nature of this is turning me off :P I'm gonna give it a think as to how to make this mechanic a bit richer in theme... More interesting to me :)

And goals... If it's just "match more times in time limit X" .... Hmmmm feels like it needs a bit more!

I'll try my brainjuice :)

Good proto btw! Much smoother than the other stuff you showed us :)

Fengol

The shapes were just the simplest I could do that gets the idea across. With Sifteo's philosophy being "digital meets boardgame" I image this game as something you'll play with friends; taking it in turns to see who can get the highest score. This is ultimately a multiplayer game and I worry if it's too complicated it might not be as fun.

mattbenic

Thanks for showing these cubes, and your game on Tuesday @aodendaal, I really am stoked to get hold of and work with this SDK :) I'm a bit swamped right now, but hopefully in a month or so I'll dive in too.

On your game, to contradict @Tuism, I actually quite like the time limit. I'm not really that experienced in a variety of boardgames, someone like @Chippit would probably be in a better position to comment, but I find games that lack some kind of limited resource tend to start out well, then just get boring as everyone's points/power/whatever spirals until everyone's bored. Using time as a limited resource here means you can keep each game exciting-though it would be nice to really build the sense of whose turn it is into it as well, so maybe having an explicit multiplayer mode that records best of 3 time limited turns each or something.

One thing that may be interesting to try is having a central cube being the master that needs to be matched, and having the others act as a "hand" for each player, and giving them a limit number of shakes per turn to try for a different hand? Perhaps each shape (or whatever you end up matching) could have a different value, and the aim is to get the highest total score in a limit time-that introduces the conflict between getting matches as fast as possible, and risking a redraw to try for a different (higher value) hand? Maybe that's just a totally different game to make after this one? :)

Tuism

Errrr, no that's not what I said, I didn't say I didn't like the time limit! The time limit isn't what I was talking about at all, I was referring to the general gameness, like having a micro goal of more than just matching 2 sides of 2 cubes, or a macro goal of more than do X matches in X time, and repeat until you make more matches than the last time...

So what I'm talking about is varying mechanics, or theme, or something. Maybe sometimes it's matching numbers sometimes sword/shield, sometimes dog/cat, sometimes whatever... Mixing just the theme up may produce something more interesting. Or some kind of resource/use system that lets you collect power as you match that you can use to some end... Or something.

So no, not dissing the time limit at all :)

Fengol

I like the idea of changing the match types after each connection (shapes, animals, colours, etc).

I'm worried I'm starting to the upper limit of video memory already although I think might I'm doing something wrong and I'm sure there can be some optimization somewhere as well.

What I really think I need to add next is sound and some animation which should bring the game to life and make it feel a lot more interactive.

Sifteo have a matching game using all 3 cubes where you need to make a formula equate; but it feels like an educational game and I'm really aiming for something simple and fun you'd play with friends. I'll try find or create a video of their game for you.

mattbenic

My bad @Tuism, I misunderstood, sorry about that :)