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[Saint]

Yeah, so I made this game a couple of weeks back...



http://www.ekermo.se/proj/by_numbers.zip
Windows XP and beyond. As I am too lazy to make a gimped version of my engine, it requires GLSL 1.1 (essentially SM2). Sorry about the terrible format for such a concept 

... As you can see in the image, it is a tetris-like puzzle game where the main point is to use arithmetic operations in order to produce certain results.

I am not quite happy with how it turned out, the set of operations that can be used to produce certain results is sometimes too small, leading to the player having to drop blocks in the least harmful place in order to just get the singular one that works. Also, the block frequency or speed increase haven't been tweaked at all. There may be some value in it though, I found it quite fun to build complex operations in elimination mode... Anyhow, I humbly submit it to whoever wants to have a go =)

[Biggerfish]

Nice concept but you need to work more on the "tetris" part of the game.

The auto-scrolling speed was way too slow and holding down to get it to scroll was way too fast in comparison - there was also the problem of trying to get it to set in place (since it'd be one move from setting, but since the autoscroll is so slow it'd just stay there). If I pressed down to get it to set in place, often the next block would zoom down before I got a chance to move it.

Working out what number I actually needed to get was also difficult, am I supposed to make the top number of the result list or the bottom? or any of the ones inbetween. I managed to make one match but I don't even know exactly what it was (it highlighted a whole bunch of blocks and I don't know what it added up to sicne they disappeared too quickly). There was also a time where I had a bunch of blocks added up to the top result but nothing happened.

In the above screenshot, the glowing tiles add up to either 55 or 43, and neither of those are in the result so I'm confused about that.

Those things being said, I like the idea, and wanted to get into it, it was just the way it played that made it frustrating.

The drawings and illustrations are all cool though, the lined paper is a neat idea.

Overall it was a nice concept but the way it plays isn't very fun, nor clear as to what I am doing.

[Saint]

Thanks for trying it out =)

The speeds are poorly tweaked, that is very true, but I hadn't thought about wanting to avoid doing it because it messes up the following block... I should probably fix it so that you'll need to press down again in order to drop the next block.

You are supposed to work the numbers from top to bottom (or in the case of elimination games, you can pick any), it is mentioned in the tutorial but the feedback for this is poor - especially since the number is popped the moment you complete the operation and not when it actually disappears. I might allow the player to use any of the numbers in the list in order to allow for more options and counter the problem of waiting for specific blocks, and try and make the feedback more obvious.

And about the operation in the screenshot, it follows standard operator precedence and is thus always 43, but as I mentioned the result gets removed from the list when the operation is created and not when the blocks disappear.

The game has really poor production values since I threw it together in a day to try out the concept, and the reason I'm posting it here is because I'm not sure if it is worth working more on or not. Again, thank you for your feedback 

[Biggerfish]

I think the main thing is lack of visual or really any feedback as to what's happening. From simply making the whole thing more obvious about what it's doing would be a good start, something you've already said.

I personally would like to see the game more polished with the things you've mentioned, it'd be worth it to put the fun concept into a fun playable version.

[Saint]

New version!

Drop thing fixed, you now can use any result on the board and the visual feedback should be vastly improved.

I tried to tweak the speed somewhat, though too much and it becomes impossible to read all the numbers in time, so I simply put in the option to start at any level you want.

Getting random combinations correctly when you have enough blocks on screen is starting to be a problem, but then again proper planning of blocks you cannot use is part of the game. Still not too sure about the concept but it should be better now, at least.