Stuck on how best to present elemental bonus in my matching game

I've previously mentioned my hex-based matching game game a few times. Very quickly, you position hexagonal tiles onto a board so that the edge colors match up. White edges are wild, and match any color. Every tile has a score value and an element; you get a big bonus for using only tiles of one element (for example, if your pattern consists of 3 fire tiles and no other elements, you get a 3X multiplier to the score). And that works for all four elements.

So far so good. But now we have added a map of the elemental plane, which you work your way around as you play. Each spot on this map confers a specific bonus based on one or two elements. For example, a place on the map may be all about Fire, or it may be 2/3 Fire and 1/3 Air, or whatever. And this is what we're stuck on:

What's the best way to integrate the element bonus of the level into the gameplay?

Our first thought was to add three extra, special tiles around the outside of the gameboard. These would not be movable, and they would offer a big bonus for whatever element(s) appropriate for the level. It would look something like this:

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But here's the problem. Now it would appear that you can't get an elemental bonus for anything but whatever's around the outside (Earth, in this case). Here the player has played three Fire tiles, and ought to get a 3X bonus for that... but we have these nonmatching Earth tiles around the outside.

Obviously we could ignore that and award the 3X bonus anyway, but that seems confusing.

So we considered ditching the extra special tiles, and just putting some bonus factors at the top of the screen: "5X Earth" in this case, or if you take one step towards Fire, then it'd be "3X Earth; 2X Fire". And we'd just apply that as an additional multiplier for combos using those elements, or, maybe, to individual tiles of those elements. But that's not very visual. I don't think it's a good idea to throw too many numbers at the user, except maybe when they're right there on the pieces you're working with.

I suppose we could just change the values shown on the tiles themselves, but again, I worry that players wouldn't understand what's going on.

Incidentally, the design objective here is to encourage the user to modify their "deck" (the set of tile cores that are drawn from in each match, and which persists from match to match) to suit the section of the map they're on. So however we do it, you should be able to rack up much bigger scores with a deck that mostly matches the level elements, than with a random mixed deck or (worse) a deck of entirely some other element. But I want to find a way to make this clear and obvious, and not feel so arbitrary.

Any thoughts?

 

Could you do what you are doing above but as soon as a non matching element touches the bonus tile the bonus in that hex flares & then explodes or something so that only the fire tile/s is/are left?

Edit: could you show energy flows of the relevant element colour between the special tiles & show it disconnecting when a different element is placed so it breaks the flow to the special hexes? The bonus amount in the affected 2 special hexes could lower when it is broken once & flare out when both lines to it are broken

 

This might not be something helpful, but I thought I mention it - might spark an idea.
While reading OP my thoughts strayed to fighting games - mortal kombat, etc how they throw up onto the screen combo announcements and such - accompanied with audible/vocal indicators - "excellent" "fatality" "combo" "x2".
It's cool.
Might could announce the element bonus when entering the area and give a visual representation in the background. I just picture the mortal kombat voice guy saying "EARTH" as the visual representation you have for earth animates across the screen, or background.
For bonuses the middle circle could be a place for a great visual indicator when a bonus is earned. A ring of animated fire, mud, lava, cyclone around the pieces that form the bonus. Quick - like 2-3 seconds at most.

 

@theANMATOR2b, yeah, we do announce the combos like that during the scoring phase (after you hit a button to indicate you're done positioning tiles). It's pretty crude now as we're focusing on functionality, but it should be pretty cool when it's all done.

We're also intending to have a custom background for each level, so you'll know when you're on the Fire level or whatever. But that still leaves the question of how to indicate the extra bonuses ahead of time.

@tedthebug, we actually did have a plan to reduce the bonus shown on the special tiles if you put a nonmatching element next to them. So from 5X, it would drop to 2X if you have one mismatched tile, and clear (no bonus at all) if you have two mismatched tiles. But the element wouldn't change... leading to the confusion described.

But you described it slightly differently, and it's given me an idea. Maybe the special bonuses shouldn't be tiles, but something different, perhaps attached to the corners of the pyramid. I can picture an element indicator in each corner, and if you put tiles of the same element in any of the three spots in that corner, they get beefed up somehow — perhaps a 5X bonus on those matching tiles. We could indicate this with some sort of glowing aura that extends from the bonus indicator in the corner to the buffed tiles. But because these bonuses are not themselves tiles, nobody would expect them to impact the standard all-same-element bonus.

 

It's late and after re-reading the OP three times, I still am having a hard time thinking about this / reading anything at all.

However, what if you simply replaced the exterior tiles with a cool graphic instead? For example, a Volcano.



If they match fire to the volcano, it explodes (animates) and gives a point reward. If no match, it remains in its idle state.

I know that would make it A LOT more fun, for me anyway, to match special parts of a matchmaking game. I'd get a big kick seeing those volcanoes explode and then pour out lava.

Art-heavy, I know. But it reminds me of pinball games (when you activate something awesome), and I love those.

You could combine multiple elements (Volcano = Earth/Fire. Lava Pool = Fire Only, Steamy Water Puddle = Fire/Ice).

It would make the game a lot more interesting both visually and rewarding. It would achieve the goal of the player wanting to base their deck on the level's theme (the funnest part in my mind, would be seeing that volcano explode, while being aware of the underlying bonus to score that comes with it.) It would make it unique (I think? I don't play these match games.) And for an amazing artist/animator, each level could look stunning this way. (Then again, this is art heavy. Although I'm sure you could find a way to make it simpler, such as having just brown rock texture hexagons that then turn red / transition to a lava texture with a simple sound effect.)



You're also free to do all kinds of interresting things to show/reward the player. If you wanted to give them a 1x to 5x multiplier for connecting to a Volcano, you could shoot off 1x to 5x rocks out of the volcano. The more exploding rocks they see, the more 'reward' they get with each animation/sound. This kindof reminds me of a lot of those Big Fish Games I've seen before. So maybe this is nothing new at all.

That is, if I understand this. Like I said, it's late. 5am and I don't even think I got it re-reading it for the third time.

 

I think you got it, and that's a very interesting idea!

 

Can you go more outside the box? It feels like you've narrowed in too soon. I think, from what I'm seeing, that the game still has needs. To mutilate a line from Ira Glass, It's hinting at fun, it's got ambition to be fun, and yet, it's not quite fun. I think you have a core strong idea. I think there are more things you can do with this, outside the box.

As an example, 80%fire, 20% earth is kidn of boring. How about the areas have some sort of meaning, or progression. Somehow the game is changing in minor ways based on where you are. I'm thinking about games like Puzzle Quest, where even though the core mechanic doesn't change, the game itself feels like it evolves. Maybe you are taking turns, acruing points, attacking things, or working against a clock (turns or time).

If you can step up a level, there's a lot of ways you can go.

Gigi

 

Thanks Gigi. The map areas do have meaning, which I just didn't go into here because I was worried the post was too long already. You're working to free a supernatural being who's become trapped in the Void plane, in the center of the map. To do that you have to beat each of the four levels connected to it, and this in turn leads you to work your way around the map — and to keep adjusting the composition of your deck as you go. And the story character will trace out a character arc from initial skepticism, through grudging admiration, to undying gratitude (though exactly how it plays out will depend on the path you take and how well you do at it, so no two reads will be exactly the same).

So, I'm pretty confident in the fun of the larger game. The sticky bit is just how to present the elemental nature of each plane in a way that encourages the player to keep tweaking their deck. And, hopefully, adds interest in other ways too, as @CarterG81 suggested.

 

This is what I was thinking when I read the first post, with a dynamic background along the lines of what @CarterG81 suggested. It would keep the game board cleaner while filling out the background space with something interesting.

Can the player just discover the extra bonuses through gameplay? The background should give them a good idea of what bonuses to expect. It's often more fun to discover something than be told.

 

May I play devil's advocate? It clearly affects the story. I'm offering that you might have an opportunity to take a look from a higher level. See how the escalation of the story will affect the GAMEPLAY - as in, what hte player is doing, moment to moment.

"a place on the map may be all about Fire, or it may be 2/3 Fire and 1/3 Air, or whatever. And this is what we're stuck on:"

This is the crux. It seems you are currently trying to solve a UI problem, when I think there is benefit to revisiting how the design of the game is evolving as you progress. How the 2/3 fire + 1/3 air affects what the player is doing.

PS - I'm asking hard questions to push you. My spider senses tell me there is something not quite right about the evolution of your gameplay, as the player progresses. It needs additional evolution - with outside-the-box thinking.

Gigi

 

What appears to be missing also is the whole screen layout. If this is about building the right deck of tokens then where will they be displayed? How big is the game deck? Will all tiles be shown to select from or does the player have to play the top drawn token? All of this will affect the layout & potentially the use of the background as all UI, gameplay & external bonus indicators, & token pieces will need to be distinguishable to the player

 

@tedthebug, I was again avoiding those details just for lack of faith in the reader's attention span. The deck is (currently) limited to 40 tokens; you edit your deck in a separate screen for that purpose; and during play, you play from a hand of 10 tokens at a time (refilled from your deck after each round).

And yes, it is primarily the clarity of what's going on that I'm concerned about. I think it's all pretty clear except for the present thorny point.

Gigi, I appreciate your asking the hard questions. I'm satisfied with my answers to them, but I guess only time and playtesting will say for sure whose instincts are right.

 

Are you paper testing it on a hex grid board? Probably a pain to cut out the hex tokens but I'm sure there are boardgames around that use them & you could just stick some paper to the back of them with blutac for testing purposes. You could put the powerup tokens down then step back & watch what happens?

 

Yes, we started with a paper prototype (quite some time ago now, I'm afraid).