I'm looking to build a puzzler. After hearing suggestions from the community I'm set on building a puzzler modeled off Meteos for the Nintendo DS. If you haven't played it before I've included a gameplay video below. I've also included a link to the original thread where we talked about different puzzlers the community would want to see brought to iOS. I like the idea of matching three and launching them into the air and also making matches in the air. Also like the idea of gravity acting on the blocks. Although Meteos is an incredible game and super addictive it has a lot of room to improve upon. One idea I'm thinking of including is more powerups. There are powerups in Meteos but they are hardly used and pretty ineffective when activated. I'd like to make the powerups more substantial, similar to candy crush. Please! All suggestions are welcome!! How can we improve this gameplay! Original Thread: http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?t=254289 Meteos Gameplay Video Subscribe to the TouchArcade YouTube channel
Woo! Not many ideas for you, but I definitely think it should be played in portrait mode. As far as intellectual property, maybe avoiding space as your theme would be good? Something abstract or minimalist might be good. Powerups... Maybe stuff that radically changes time. Another idea could be something that turns all of a certain color into rockets or makes them just disappear.
I haven't given much thought to making it landscape. I feel like all of the most popular match 3's go portrait for a reason. I'm leaning toward a minimalistic geometric shape oriented approach similar to dots or slide the block. What does everyone think? I want to stay away from the space setting. I feel like if I go minimalist and figure out a different spin on why the blocks get propelled up. I'll be fine. Although, I'm finding it tough to come up with that theme. Help me out! I like your ideas for powerups. I feel like with meteos getting powerups didn't really matter and you would care if you got them. I want to make powerups something that your excited to activate and has a substantial effect similar to candy crush.
I think a minimalist aesthetic would be fantastic. Personally, I'd go with a dark minimalist theme over a bright and white one, but that's just because I play a lot of games in bed with my wife trying to sleep! When you say powerups, are you thinking more like consumables (like the lollipop hammer in Candy Crush) or are you thinking more like the ones created based on where you put pieces (like wrapped candy, fish, etc.)? When I replied earlier, I was thinking more in terms of the former, but I could see some really cool mechanics if it was based on how stuff lined up. Like, six of one color in a row grabs the two rows below it when it blasts off, or make a plus sign and that clears the row and column, or make a diagonal connect four which allows those to function as rockets without making a line, or maybe have a special pattern each level (that maybe gets recycled through worlds) that clears the screen or something. I think you're right, because I don't remember power ups at all (granted, its been some years). That would be something that would both drastically differentiate the game AND update it for the current gaming landscape.
