I know last time I said we’d look at the Pattern mode of SofM, but instead I’m going to show you a more unique mode called Color Bars.
The basic idea of SofM wouldn’t be inherently interesting if it not were for the many modes I’m going to be adding to the game, all of which are different in their own unique way. Color Bars simply locks a random color on the board every time you finish a chain. With a color locked, you cannot manipulate the gem at all…you must work around it and try to clear it off the board with surrounding open gems.
I realize I can’t explain anything without making it sound a thousand times more complicated (hooray for my Communications degree, hah) so here’s a video of the mode in action. You’ll also sneak a peek at the new GFX showcased a few weeks back as well as the early level select menu:
The game is coming along great, and I look forward to sharing more with you in the coming weeks.
“The game is coming along great…”
You’re not wrong about that. As far as presentation goes, this has to be one of the best games you’ve ever made. I loved the blurry effect as you selected the level at the beginning. =D
Man, this looks superb! In terms of percent, how fair through SoM do you think you are?
That’s harder to say than my previous games. Usually I make the game first, then go back and polish. This can lead to having to change multiple instances and causing longer dev times, or leads me not to polish certain things because it would take so long to do.
This time, I’m polishing the game engine first until it’s ready for release, then I’m building the levels. I’m 100% done on the hard part (polishing), 10% done on level building. That doesn’t sound like much, but I did six levels in one day so it won’t be all that much longer.
Shouldn’t there be a time bonus of some sort?
Oh man! That looks great! I can’t wait to play it(even though I’m terrible :D)!
@ minmay: There are three difficulty levels with Color Bars. The first is the one you see in the vid (easy mode), the intermediate grants you time instead of points (and is the only way of earning time in that mode) and the hard difficulty forces you to clear all the tiles off the board. Miss eight and its game over.
I think you’re missing my point. What I’m saying is that there should be a time bonus for all modes, that is, completing a level with time still remaining grants additional points. (And a higher difficulty level gives more points, or, alternatively, scores are tracked seperately for each difficulty level.)
Come on, there IS a scoreboard for each and every level, isn’t there?
I like the Level Complete thingy, it looks rewarding
Ah, I get what you’re saying minmay. There is indeed a time bonus, however that only applies to the free play levels (of which there is a high-score for each level) and not the “journey mode” levels, which you see here.
The time bonus is 10x whatever you had left on the clock.