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[alexandersshen]

Dev Blog (updated more regularly): http://www.alexandershen.com/blog/tag/game-development
Flash DEMO (sometimes updated): http://www.shengames.com/testbed/match3.html

Hello everyone! 

Dev Rant:
I haven't been on the forums for a very long time, but thought this would actually be the best place to post about the progress of my upcoming "opus". I say "opus" only because this will likely be the largest game I work on. I'm basically building the game I've always wanted to build while at the same time not letting the "eagerness to finish" make me cut corners.

My plan is to try the whole "early adopters get to play all the builds as I build it". I don't have a proper price plan just yet... probably $5 for the final product so... $1 for preorders?? No idea. Not important atm. Anyway!

Game Description
TL;DR: You must rebuild your town of Timber Valley. You do this by going on quests and using received resources to rebuild.

Game Features Progress
Base Match-3 Engine - Complete (you can play it here: http://www.shengames.com/testbed/match3.html)
Applied Equipments in Match-3 Engine - Implementing
Alchemy Store - Designing on Paper
Blacksmith - Designing in Head
Quest / Tavern - Implementing
Home / Trophies Room - Designing in Head
Casino - Designing in Head
Story / Key Quests - Designing in Head
Game Center - Designing in Head
Dungeon Crawler - Designing in Head
Save / Load System - Designing in Head

Game Influences (let's be honest)
Monster Hunter
Animal Crossing
Dragon Quest: Rocket Slime
Vegas Stakes

[alexandersshen]

Some pictures from my dev journal and whatnot:









(this was the initial pass on the style. does not read well in-game.)

[waludi]

Two issues:
- There's quite a noticeable delay after you swap pieces.
- You can start with a field that already has matched pieces.

I love the game though! It seems to be a very great take and usage on match-3. I love the aesthetic of the game too. I really want to see how it'd be with all it's features fleshed out. So are you targeting only the flash platform?

[alexandersshen]

Two issues:
- There's quite a noticeable delay after you swap pieces.
- You can start with a field that already has matched pieces.

I love the game though! It seems to be a very great take and usage on match-3. I love the aesthetic of the game too. I really want to see how it'd be with all it's features fleshed out. So are you targeting only the flash platform?

- Is the delay when you try to swap or right after you swap and you wait for the matches to occur? There is definitely a missing "explosion" animation that plays on matching blocks.
- Yes! One of the armors will actually allow you to get the matches from the board when it gets generated (ex: Oracle Armor). I just haven't taken that part out yet.  
- I'm actually targeting AIR so it'll be a downloadable. With that I can also properly target Android devices (Nexus 7/10 and OUYA are my hopes)

[waludi]

For both when you swap and make a match/mismatch. It was a bit weird since it seemed like it was slowly calculating as to whether or not a match actually occured. It happens for when you make a swap that does not make a match, so that's why I pointed it out.

On the topic about making a swap that does not make a match, I absolutely love the fact that you can do that. It's always something that annoyed me about playing match 3 games, and it's especially significant here since the type of pieces you match has importance. Plus you don't have to do any extra programming that guarantees you can always make a match.

Really cool stuff! I'll be pouncing ASAP when a new build comes to be tested :D.

edit: messed up quoting

[Konidias]

It's interesting, but until I can do something about the skulls other than just lose a lot of Stamina, then it's really just a frustrating experience at the moment.

Also please let us click to the game instead of pressing spacebar... it sounds like a minor note but I found it majorly inconvenient as when I'm using my mouse I typically don't have my hands near my keyboard. It just seems like an unnecessary step to get to the game since everything else is mouse based.

[alexandersshen]

It's interesting, but until I can do something about the skulls other than just lose a lot of Stamina, then it's really just a frustrating experience at the moment.

Also please let us click to the game instead of pressing spacebar... it sounds like a minor note but I found it majorly inconvenient as when I'm using my mouse I typically don't have my hands near my keyboard. It just seems like an unnecessary step to get to the game since everything else is mouse based.

I think I may have left the skulls at a really high drop rate at the moment. 

The quest piece I'm working on will randomly generate a loot drop table (stamina, quest points, damage, gems, stones, wood) and also tell you the drop rates of each in generic terms (high, medium, low).

Also, weapons and armor in the future will make those skulls do less damage, start you out with more stamina, etc. The only exception is a "story quest", where you'll likely be stuck with a lot of skulls against a big boss.

As far as the spacebar thing, it's left over from really old code I used for that section. You're absolutely right about mouse based stuff.