Below is an example of a concept for a game, which I wrote in 2009. The "Number Puzzle Game" is a concept I designed to break away from the constantly-reproduced Match 3 games by changing the focus and organization of the game.
The goal to match 4 of the same color, or to make a sum of 8 or more with matching numbers. As well, the places where new blocks will enter the board will constantly change, rather than always predictably falling down from above. There are also Power-Ups to aid scoring and break out of impossible situations, as well as a bonus round that triggers when the sum of all blocks cleared reaches 88 or more.
I have not yet attempted to turn this document into an actual game, though I would be interested in collaborating with a team to make it happen in the future.
Number Puzzle Game
Table of Contents
I – Concept
II – Flow Chart of Gameplay
III – Controls
IV – How the Game Plays
A) Game Board Elements
B) 88 Bonus Round
C) Power-ups
V – Scoring
III – Controls
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This game is controlled exclusively with the mouse. During gameplay, the player must left click on one block, then left click and adjacent block, in order to swap their positions. If swapping their positions doesn't result in anything being cleared from the game board, then they are returned to their original positions. All buttons are toggled are accessed with left mouse button. When the game is paused, Sound and Music may be toggled, and Exit may be used, but clicking anywhere else will resume gameplay.
IV – How the Game Plays
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A) Game Board Elements
There are a few important elements that are involved with gameplay: the edges of the game board, the blocks on the game board, the clock, the 88 Bonus Round meter, and the power-ups on the game board.
The four edges of the game board each have a different color and number. The colors are Red (with horizontal stripes), Blue (with dots), Green (with wavy diagonal lines), and Gold (metallic highlights). The edges also have a 1, 2, 3, or 4 on them, which doesn't correspond to the color, but determines where blocks new will enter the game board. For example, if two 4s are cleared from the board, then two new blocks will enter from the edge that has 4 on it, and they will be the color of that edge. The numbers and colors on the edges are shuffled randomly every time a player scores points.
The blocks on the game board are a color and a number. The number is either 1, 2, 3, or 4. The color is Red, Green, Blue, and Gold (with engraved print instead of painted-on white print). To clear blocks and earn points, blocks of the same number must be connecting adjacent to one another, and add up to at least 8. Eight 1s, four 2's, three 3's, and two 4's, are the minimum requirements to score. The other method is to have 8 or more adjacent blocks of the same color.
The game clock begins at 5:00, and ticks down the five minutes except when the game is paused, the 88 Bonus Round is active, or the player is at the exit confirmation window when trying to exit during gameplay. Nothing can add time to the clock, or reduce time from the clock.
B) 88 Bonus Round
The 88 Bonus Round is activated when the 88 Bonus Round meter is completely full. This meter fills up every time blocks are removed, and is incremented by the sum of those blocks. For example, if three 4s are removed, then 12 is added to this meter. Once this meter is filled, the 88 Bonus Round is activated.
When the 88 Bonus Round starts, the clock remains locked at its current time, and the bonus meter starts ticking down from 88 at a rate of 11 per second (lasting 8 seconds if the player doesn't score). During the bonus round, all scores earned are multiplied by 8, and the blocks cleared during this mode will add their sum to the 88 meter, thereby extending the total time in 88 Bonus Round mode. No power-ups can appear in 88 Bonus Round mode, unless there are no more moves left on the board.
C) Power-Ups
There are two kinds of power-up: Clearing and Scoring. Some are activated and cleared by swapping with a normal block, which causes them to disappear and for a new block to appear from the side of the block with which it was swapped. This does not count as a scoring event because no score is generated for clearing the power-up, and this does not count against the duration of the power-up even if the move results in blocks being cleared (which will benefit from the power-up). Some are activated by clearing blocks nearby, in which case the power-up block will be replaced by another block by the same number/color conventions of the normal block(s) that cleared it.
Clearing power-ups are designed to help the player clear blocks when there are very few or no moves left, and is not meant to create high-scoring opportunities. These come up every time the player has reached a sum of 50 or more, except when an 88 Bonus Round is active, unless the player is out of valid moves (which automatically causes a clearing power-up to appear). These are the Fives of Fury, Single Color Bomb, Block Shuffler, and Wild Block.
Scoring power-ups are intended to allow for the player to set up for high-scoring opportunities, but require the player to strategize in order to capitalize on them. These come up every time the player has reached a sum of 30 or more, except when an 88 Bonus Round is active. These are the Golden Nugget, Color Lock, Stasis Generator, and Checkerboard.
Clearing Power-ups: Fives of Fury, Single Color Bomb, Block Shuffler, Wild Block
Fives of Fury – Activated by swapping power-up with a normal block, where that normal block will be adjacent to another number or set of numbers that equals a sum of 5 (which clears them) - The Fives of Fury block disappears, and a new block is generated from the side of the number it was swapped with. For the next 4 moves, only blocks that add up to a sum of 5, 10, 15, 20, or 25 may be cleared. Only blocks adjacent to the ones being swapped can be used for this purpose. Non-scoring attempts will count against the 4 move total for the power-up.
Single Color Bomb - Activated by swapping power-up with a normal block – The Single Color Bomb block disappears, and a new block is generated from the side of the color it was swapped with. All numbers of the color selected will immediately be cleared. Any blocks adjacent to each other being cleared will receive clearing bonuses, but single blocks will only count for as face value. The clearing bonuses only apply to the group of blocks that caused it.
Block Shuffler - Activated by swapping power-up with a normal block – The Block Shuffler block disappears, and a new block is generated from the side of the number it was swapped with. All of the blocks on the board have their locations completely randomized. This can never result in a combination of blocks that has no valid moves.
Wild Block – Activated by swapping power-up with a block – This block will act as a wildcard for any combinations. It will be the eighth 1, the fourth 2, the third 3, or the second 4, and will also chain together two sets of blocks being cleared. This doesn't count towards a number or color bonus, only as the face-value number.
Scoring Power-ups: Golden Nugget, Color Lock, Stasis Generator, Checkerboard
Golden Nugget – Activated by clearing blocks nearby – When cleared, this block will be replaced by another block by the same number/color conventions of the normal blocks that cleared it. This power-up is basically inert until blocks have been cleared near it. When blocks adjacent to the golden nugget are cleared, the resulting score it multiplied by 2 for each time the group being cleared is in contact with a golden nugget. For example, a Golden Nugget that is cleared by 1s or same-color blocks touching adjacent to it would get 16 times the score on top of any other bonuses. There can be no more than 1 golden nugget on the screen at any time.
Color Lock – Activated by swapping power-up with a normal block – The Color Lock block disappears, and a new block is generated from the side of the number it was swapped with. This power-up causes all four colors to stay in the same location for the next 3 scores. This can easily result in a player getting one or multiple 8-of-a-kind in a row, and even chain them together into a combo.
Stasis Generator - Activated by swapping power-up with a normal block – The Stasis Generator block disappears, and a new block is generated from the side of the number it was swapped with. Any blocks that would have been cleared from this are not resolved until the power-up is finished. For the next 3 moves blocks may be swapped without being returned, whether they are scoring events or not, even if they do not actually result in blocks being cleared. However, if none of the moved blocks were cleared during those three rounds (aside from blocks ready for clearing from when the power-up was activated) then all three reset to their original positions. Blocks ready for clearing from when the power-up was activated cannot be used for the 3 moves that the Stasis Generator is active.
Checkerboard – Activated by swapping power-up with a normal block – The Checkerboard block disappears, and a new block is generated from the side of the number it was swapped with. This causes all colors on the board to be changed to a checkerboard of two colors. The first color is the color of the block used, and the second color is the “complimenting” color (red – blue, green – gold). This allows a careful player to set up for 8 of the same color combos.
V – Scoring
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The basic scoring scheme goes as follows: Number of blocks * Sum of blocks * Sum of bonus modifiers.
For any set of 8 1s, the number is 64 times the bonus modifiers.
For any set of 4 2s, the number is 32 times the bonus modifiers.
For any set of 3 3s, the number is 27 times the bonus modifiers.
For any set of 2 4s, the number is 16 times the bonus modifiers.
For each extra block in a group being cleared, increase number of blocks accordingly, and increase the sum accordingly.
For example, 5 3s would result in 75 (5 blocks * 15 total value)
or 12 1s would result in 144 (12 blocks * 12 total value)
There are many ways to generate bonus points and combo points. If no bonus is generated, then the number defaults to 1. Bonus points are generated for having adjacent colors or all one color in a group, having two different sets of numbers being cleared from one move, and by power-ups. Combo points come up when the results after one move is resolved causes another move to occur automatically, which are multiplied by 0.5 times the number of blocks cleared on the move that caused the combo to occur. Combos on top of combos will use the entire number of blocks in the sequence before that combo to generate more bonus multipliers.
Adjacent numbers of a single color will add 1.25 * 2(x-1) where x is the number of adjacent blocks in the group. 2 adjacent adds 5, 3 adjacent adds 1, 4 adjacent adds 1.5, etc. If all blocks are the same color, then an additional 1 is added to the bonus multiplier.
For example, there are three adjacent red 1s, two adjacent gold 1s, another red 1, and two more gold 1s. That would be 144 for the block score. The color bonus would be (1.25*4=1) + (1.25*2=0.5) + (1.25*2=0.5), which is +1 for the three red, and +.5 for each of the two adjacent sets, for a total of 3 when added to the default of 1. 144 for eight 1s, * 3 for the bonus sum comes out to 434.
When blocks adjacent to the golden nugget are cleared, the resulting score it multiplied by 2 for each time the group being cleared is in contact with a golden nugget. For example, a Golden Nugget that is cleared by 1s or same-color blocks touching adjacent to it would get 16 added to the bonus multiplier. There can be no more than 1 golden nugget on the screen at any time.
For example, a set of different colored 3s that is adjacent to the golden nugget on 2 edges, the score will be 27 * (4+1=5) or 135.
For a combo, the number of blocks used to generate that combo is how the multiplier is determined. 0.5 times the number of blocks in the group that came before the combo is added to the bonus sum. For example, six 2s were cleared on a play that resulted in three differently-colored 4s to come together. 36 block score * (1 + [6*0.5=3]) comes out to 144.
The basic scoring scheme goes as follows: Number of blocks * Sum of blocks * Sum of bonus modifiers.
For any set of 8 1s, the number is 64 times the bonus modifiers.
For any set of 4 2s, the number is 32 times the bonus modifiers.
For any set of 3 3s, the number is 27 times the bonus modifiers.
For any set of 2 4s, the number is 16 times the bonus modifiers.
For each extra block in a group being cleared, increase number of blocks accordingly, and increase the sum accordingly.
For example, 5 3s would result in 75 (5 blocks * 15 total value)
or 12 1s would result in 144 (12 blocks * 12 total value)
There are many ways to generate bonus points and combo points. If no bonus is generated, then the number defaults to 1. Bonus points are generated for having adjacent colors or all one color in a group, having two different sets of numbers being cleared from one move, and by power-ups. Combo points come up when the results after one move is resolved causes another move to occur automatically, which are multiplied by 0.5 times the number of blocks cleared on the move that caused the combo to occur. Combos on top of combos will use the entire number of blocks in the sequence before that combo to generate more bonus multipliers.
Adjacent numbers of a single color will add 1.25 * 2(x-1) where x is the number of adjacent blocks in the group. 2 adjacent adds 5, 3 adjacent adds 1, 4 adjacent adds 1.5, etc. If all blocks are the same color, then an additional 1 is added to the bonus multiplier.
For example, there are three adjacent red 1s, two adjacent gold 1s, another red 1, and two more gold 1s. That would be 144 for the block score. The color bonus would be (1.25*4=1) + (1.25*2=0.5) + (1.25*2=0.5), which is +1 for the three red, and +.5 for each of the two adjacent sets, for a total of 3 when added to the default of 1. 144 for eight 1s, * 3 for the bonus sum comes out to 434.
When blocks adjacent to the golden nugget are cleared, the resulting score it multiplied by 2 for each time the group being cleared is in contact with a golden nugget. For example, a Golden Nugget that is cleared by 1s or same-color blocks touching adjacent to it would get 16 added to the bonus multiplier. There can be no more than 1 golden nugget on the screen at any time.
For example, a set of different colored 3s that is adjacent to the golden nugget on 2 edges, the score will be 27 * (4+1=5) or 135.
For a combo, the number of blocks used to generate that combo is how the multiplier is determined. 0.5 times the number of blocks in the group that came before the combo is added to the bonus sum. For example, six 2s were cleared on a play that resulted in three differently-colored 4s to come together. 36 block score * (1 + [6*0.5=3]) comes out to 144.
