I just finished my entry for the CoronaBlitz challenge.
It’s called “Collect Unique” - Working title, of course.
GitHub link: https://github.com/TobiahM/CollectUnique
Design thoughts:
I wanted to aim simple, so I could wrap up the bulk of the game in an
hour or two and then playtest/tweak for the remaining time. I decided to
go with a pattern matching game. You are presented with a series of
shapes+colors, and the goal is to correctly remember if this pattern is
unique or you’ve already seen it.
For example, say at first you see a red square and then a blue
circle, hitting “Unique” on each one, then when you see another red
square you have to hit “Repeat” instead.
You gain 100 points plus 50 per combo/correct streak.
How I tackled the challenge:
I completed the challenge in two sessions. In the first two hours I got
the bulk of the game done, then after an hour break I adding features
and polished for the remaining time. This allowed me some time to think
about the design and code in my head, and figure out what my next step
would be. Although it did feel a bit like cheating, but I believe I was
in the spirit of the competition as I was only developing the game for
four hours. Having the break inbetween I think helped a lot.
What I think worked:
The design was simple, and I quickly had a “game” working, which let me
get in scoring and menus. I also added menu options on the front screen
to tweak the gameplay, such as how many colors/shapes there are or how
long you have to answer. This allows for various skill level and play
balance without needing to waste time playtesting and fine tuning the
game.
Mistakes made:
I spent too much time worrying about details that don’t matter, like the
placement of text. I think I could have aimed to get more features in
the game, but I chose instead to make it more readible. I think the
spirit of this is to challenge what you can do, not to make something
releaseable in 4 hours.
Screenshots:
Final Thoughts:
I had fun with this challenge! I would participate again. I have not had a chance to check out with other people have done yet. I can’t wait to see what kind of interesting games/apps people came up with in 4 hours.
-T