Balloon / Cargo Puzzle Game

09/10/2011

One of the genre’s we talked about in class on Thursday (09/08/2011) was possibly doing a puzzle game. Based off of a game idea Mary talked about when we were pitching ideas, I came up with a way we could incorporate it with balloons and cargo. The story behind the game could be that we are a treasure hunter going through caves, castle or just a building that has been booby trapped with a puzzle you have to solve or you die.

Each level the player would be presented with the following interface:

You are in a particular room or cave. The wall is covered with rows and columns of big balloons filled with water. In place of some of the balloons would be bombs. Down at the bottom left of the screen are buttons for the player to select. The player has to pick a color and a shape. After he has selected both a color and a shape the character on the screen would pick up and throw a dart, but these aren’t your normal darts. Each dart is tied to a particular location on the wall. Magnetically, magically, however you want to spin the story. But when the player throws the dart it will curve and bend and go to a predetermined coordinate on the wall. Because each room has a pattern the player has to figure out.

To help explain, here is an example of the hidden pattern for a level:

So basically the break down is this:

Each shape is a row, and each color is a column

Row 1 = Circle
Row 2 = Star
Row 3 = Square
Row 4 = Triangle

Column 1 = Yellow
Column 2 = Red
Column 3 = Green
Column 4 = Blue

This pattern is unknown to the player. So he has to pick a color and a shape and have it thrown at the wall. Then he has to pick another one, and by process of elimination he can figure out the pattern. He is trying to hit the bombs so that each of them blow up and crack the wall, once the last one bomb is hit the wall will crumble allowing him to move on to the next room, which of course has the cargo / treasure in it. But he has to figure out the pattern quickly. Because for each dart that hits a water balloon, the balloon is popped and the water in it falls to the ground and fills the room with water. If he hits too many water balloons the room will be filled with water and he will drown.

Coordinates for the bombs in my example:

Bomb 1 = Yellow Square
Bomb 2 = Green Star
Bomb 3 = Blue Triangle

Level progression. As the player goes through the levels, the number of rows and columns will increase. The patterns will also become more complex than just rows and columns. They could be diagonal, every other one, L shaped like knights in chess, etc. Balloons instead of just being white could start to be colored which will possibly distract the player. You could also have the darts once they are thrown just turn silver, causing the game to become a memory game as well, since the player would have to remember where he threw each dart.

I will present this idea to the team on Tuesday.