Thursday, May 10, 2012

Purifiss: Gameplay at the ground level.

So thinking about it the last few days it seems as though the core of our game is pushing blocks and generally by pushing them they rotate or cause rotation of their entire set of blocks.

I think to start, our goal for gameplay and for completing the game should be to have multiple stacks of blocks in which each stack has a varied set of blocks when it comes to the color of each separat block. The goal is to make stacks of 3-4 (haven't decided yet) blocks of the same color on a side of the main center cube that has the corresponding color. This could be done by lining up all the blocks of the same color or perhaps lining up the blocks of two different colors that make up that color. I think either one of these could work on their own or together.

FOR NOW: Let's simply have it where you match up 3 or 4 blocks in a stack of the same color as a face color of the center block.

We can then move from there and come up with different complexities and nuances that will bring the game real flavor and interest. Having watched David play with this current setup has lead him and I to realize that this alone is complex enough as it is. (It actually is kind of fun already.)

To "beat" the game you simply complete each face of the center cube. Once a side is complete it turns black, but more cubes of varying colors pop out of it so that you can use them to continue completing the other sides. Once all the sides are black you win.

Ideas for the future:
-The ability to combine blocks of the same color. Maybe you need to stack boxes according to color AND size. So in order to make some of the blocks the appropriate size that you need in your cascade or stack you must combine others to make "big" blocks. Limit this to 3 or 4 sizes.
-Being able to "scroll" through stacks of blocks. This in fact changes their sizes as the ones on the bottom are always large and so on.

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

New Mechanical IceCube Music

This is completely new from what I presented in class on Tuesday and could be possible gameplay music for the "IceCube" Puzzle.

Monday, May 7, 2012

Cubists Purifiss Design OverUnderFlow Synthesis

The "simple" way to approach this cube puzzle would be to emulate something like the rubik's cube. In our version of this rubik's cube though you're tasked with eliminating the different levels of the cube until you purify it down to a single remaining cube. I like to think a name for it might be PurifIce. (Pronounced pure-if-iss.) Maybe better spelt Purifiss for ease of google search and ability to distinguish from other things?

The way you do this is through rotating the cubes around the central cube as if they were orbiting it. They can only move in four possible directions: forward, backward, left, and right. Unlike many puzzle games where there's a single solution or a single set of solutions to the problem I'd like for this game to do something different in that there are multiple paths to the solution.

One possibility is that for each "level" there's a set of blocks with different properties which could simply be represented by colors. Different color combinations create other blocks that represent those combinations and you have to form a specific combination to get the blocks of that level to eventually disappear. Say perhaps the central cube sits at an odd color and you have to combine all the blocks you have on your current level to match that central block's color, but maybe you have to do it in a certain order. Or maybe you have to do this multiple times like combo-Simon. Then once you do that, the block you've created merges back into the center and you move on to the next level or next color/phase of that level. You do this until all are gone.

I love the idea of either aiming at the blocks respective sides and either tapping it or blowing at it using the microphone to send it in the direction that it would usually have gone had you used some sort of actual physical force. This could be denoted by only having color on the sides that you could affect the blocks movement with. Maybe we reverse these forces? It could be interesting and sort of brain twisting for things to always move in the opposite direction that you might think they would?

From speaking with Ray I believe our aesthetic will be one of mechanic-ice. Cold, rigid, and almost like a puzzle cube you might see out of a horror film. It doesn't look innately dangerous, but there's something about it that just creeps you the fuck out. I see the entire experience being something that's timed. There wouldn't be an actual timer in the form of a shitty clock, but maybe some sort of visual explanation of how close you are to losing. Maybe the cube continuously expands and every time you complete a level it shrinks. If the cube and its counter-parts expand too much then you're stuck in a situation where the AR has become too large for the space you're playing in and you essentially lose. Contain the ever expanding ice.

Here are a few sketches and written stuff to explain a little better:
This kind of shows the visual flow or setup.

This is more of a written treatment, but better visualization of how it might look in 3D.

Sunday, May 6, 2012


The Kaiju Beetle.  Ready to run the Kazoo.  Hopefully he'll be textured by next week.

Really cool AR Sandbox

Just something related that I thought was pretty damn awesome and wanted to share with the class.