The 3D version just looks way too complicated, people on the go want something simple they can play on the subway, play in class, or hand off to their child. I have a simple match 2 edge tile game(Til3), thats 2D and has zooming with multiple tile sets and its completely fallen off the radar. I might as well make it free and a giant advertisement for Port Defender. It also helps if your app gets into an echo chamber, I know on "this week in mac" Fieldrunners gets a plug every few episodes. On a side note, Maybe it needs a mode to play weird sound effects, does a match 3 game with fart effects exist yet?
I concur with this. Hence the idea of allowing you to play it like a 2D game with the game moving you to the next playfield that has matches after you finish the one being displayed. Then the game is played just like a 2D game, but with the neat animations and explosions occurring on the 3D cube.
would it be too complicated to let users specify how big a cube they wanted to work with...anywhere from a traditional single plane board to letting users choose a 6, 7, or 8 block sized cube?
Agree. I read all the nice reviews of Match 3d AND I just dont believe they apply to my gameplaying likes and dislikes. It looks too complicated for me. I am happy to think hard, but I like simple puzzles with basic principles where the complexity comes from trying to solve it, not from the structure of the puzzle itself. No I didnt try the lite...sorry!
I am in the same boat ! My game mizoo (which is kinda cool), that has been out for like a year is selling more per day than my new game iplutoid which took a man year of effort to design and produce and has been out for 3 weeks (and was featured). Anyone who understands the AppStore has surely ascended to a new spiritual plane !
I think there's good and bad things about Match 3D (the flick and puzzle aren't necessary as a start). It actually is a nice play on 'Match 3' by adding the D. I've got lots of puzzle games on my ipod now (including the full version of this one) - and Match 3D isn't really one I go back to when I just want to play a matching type game. Why? In some ways, because it's almost too complicated. It's got too many options; too many ways to play and too many choices to use special powers by collecting specific amounts of colored tiles. I wind up ignoring those powers (unless I'm completely stuck) - so does the game really need all of them? Keeping track of which plane I'm on was too difficult - ultimately I'm just scrolling through looking for a match - so I'm definately on board with the idea of the game doing that for me. I wasn't a fan of the 'endless' mode (which even then was 'earn a certain amount to get to the next level) - I don't know, there just seemed no particular incentive to get to the next level. It's not like there's a story I'm advancing. What I did like was the 'slowly deteriorating' cube, where pieces you've eliminated are not replaced - that was something I hadn't really seen before in a match 3 puzzle game. Do the pieces need to be both colored and have characters on them? Perhaps piece choices - like Cookie Pop where the user can decide what type of pieces we want to see (I could envision a 'Tron-like' color highlight to the pieces being a hit with Match 3D). Finally, I found (probably because of the 3D graphics) Match 3D is a battery hog. It drains the batter power fast, whereas some other puzzle games I can play don't draw nearly as much (meaning I can play them longer). Match 3D isn't a bad game, in fact I like it - but at times it feels like it's got everything but the kitchen sink in there.
I agree with what everyone has said so far, and it's really all down to one thing: Match 3D Flick Puzzle just feels like an over complicated match 3 game. I went to the options page in the lite version and there are four pages of options, are they really all needed? Usually it's best to give the player a choice but sometimes it can be taken too far. However, changing the game is going to unveil a new problem; people will complain. If you simplify it and therefore increase its potential for wide spread success, the people who previously liked the game would complain. Now I'm not sure how you would fix that, perhaps having a selection when you start up the game for simple or advanced mode or perhaps an entirely different game? But overall I just think the game is over complicated.
There is a retro mode, but it's too scaled down. I also want the pretty beveled looking blocks w/no pictures... I have come back to this one to tool around, mostly because I like the music and the 'feel' of it - I don't usually take the game too seriously though, it can go long. Probably the most serious I've taken a match 3 game was Azkend, which I bought at full price and never regretted. (The first game that I played the demo of and had to have the full game!) I can't think of any other match 3 games that I've played repeatedly other than these two. (Well, Cash Machine, but I was beta testing that one )
It is a decent game but I'm willing to bet many folk, just quickly glancing at the screenshots, might just assume it is some sort of Rubik's Cube simulator and move on. Maybe you need to get on the same boat as MoreGames Entertainment. They made a port of their brilliant PockectPC game, Orions: Legend of Wizards, only to find out that if you really want to make it big on the iphone, people want fairly simplistic shooters (iDracula), and have pretty much abandoned any further support of the their first and far more original iphone game against the will of the handful of fanatical fans waiting for the one time promised fixes/updates.
I really enjoy this game, but I really have nothing constructive to add to help you out, except to agree with the name change to just MATCH 3D. I really love Match 3D and I wish potential buyers knew that it's simpler to play than it looks, but it's not completely mind numbing like bejeweled. Perhaps it's just that the price isn't always $0.99 as most casual gamer iDevice owners are cheapos. I've never heard of Line Up Pro and and it doesn't look appealing to me.
