To beta test DropZap World on iOS/tvOS, please send me your email via PM or email to [email protected]. There are several game mechanics in my DropZap World game that I believe to be original with respect to color matching gameplay. I will describe these below. I will assume familiarity with match 3 games such as Candy Crush Saga but not familiarity with my earlier DropZap and DropZap 2 games. The video above should make the description below more clear. Basic Gameplay To pass a level, you will need to achieve the goal specified, which is currently one of two types: destroy all the foreground square pieces or destroy all the background lit squares. More on this later. Now, as the name DropZap World hints, gameplay consists of circle pieces dropping and zapping. Suppose the current drop piece is red and you choose to drop it in the second column of the grid. This piece would fire its red lasers in eight directions when it lands on top of another piece (of any color) or at the bottom of the grid. Lasers affect pieces of the same color but simply go through (plain) pieces of different colors without affecting them in any way. Returning to our example, when the red drop piece lands: * Red pieces in the same row or column as this piece are destroyed. * Red pieces in one of the two diagonals containing this piece are mutated. Mutation transforms pieces through the following cycle: * plain piece to backslash or forward slash mirror piece depending on whether the laser hitting it is backslash or forward slash, respectively. * mirror piece to splitter piece * splitter piece to blocker piece * blocker piece to plain piece After the destruction and/or mutation step, pieces may drop and thus an elaborate chain reaction could form using the rules above. Passing levels As mentioned above, to pass a level, you will need to achieve the goal specified, which is currently one of two types: destroy all the foreground square pieces or destroy all the background lit squares. To destroy a foreground square, you will need to destroy a circle piece adjacent to it. To destroy a background lit square, there must not already be a foreground square piece on top of it. If that is the case, then you can destroy a circle on top or adjacent to it to destroy the lit square. Earning stars through laser art. When you pass a level, you earn zero to three stars depending on the art generated from your gameplay. In particular, laser art snapshots are automatically taken from your chain reactions. There are at most six art snapshots shown at any time and a better looking laser art snapshot will replace an existing one. When you pass a level, you earn zero to three stars based on the quality of (up to six) art snapshots currently shown at the end of the game. Using laser art to make art moves Laser art snapshots can be used to make art moves. Art moves are only available when there are no normal moves available because there is no space in the grid where you can drop the drop piece. To make an art move, select one of the art snapshots. You will then see a preview in the main grid where all the firing pieces in the art snapshot fire in the main grid. You could then confirm the art move and have the zap step proceed as is shown in the preview (possibly resulting in an elaborate chain reaction) or you could preview another art move. Questions So what do you think of these game mechanics? Would you play this game? Do you think it would have popular appeal? How can I make it more accessible to people familiar with modern match 3 games?
The following video contains slowed down gameplay from six levels and should give you an idea of how to play: When you pass a level, you earn zero to three stars based on the "art snapshots" visible when you pass the level. Art snapshots are captured automatically from chain reactions. Besides earning stars, art snapshots can be used to make "art moves". To make an art move, select an art snapshot and look at its preview on the main grid. If you want to use it, select the art snapshot again. Otherwise, select the main grid or another art snapshot. I want to keep instructions to a minimum so that players spend more time playing and less time reading. However, please let me know of game rules that really do need to be explained.
BTW, here's a video showing the level selection screen in DropZap World complete with animated level previews:
I've changed the video at the top to one that shows accelerating animation for several levels from the DropZap World beta.
