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[JobLeonard]

That would make my day and ruin my productivity

[oodavid]

Right then, a very WiP version of the game:

http://oodavid.com/game/moleculematch.apk

The GFX and SFX are all being worked on (apologies for the placeholder SFX, mute them!) but there's a good selection of levels to try out

Let me know how you get on with it!

[eigenbom]

This looks fun and I <3 the minimalism of it

[oodavid]

@eigenbom - Oh man was I starting to regret my change of art-direction but now I have equal votes either way! That'll do me

There's a playable APK if you have an Android phone? I'll have iOS out in December I reckon, well, it's down to the app-store review team...

[eigenbom]

I'll definitely check out the ios version when its out. Just going from your gifs: I think the stars and the 'perfect' label seem totally out of place. How about using atoms instead of the stars, etc? Anyway, I've only looked at the last couple of pages so I may be missing the context. In any case, good luck with the launch dude

[oodavid]

Cheers I'll have a tinker and see what I can do, it might just need a palette adjustment or something... my initial idea was to break the continuity of the game a little so it sinks in - a bit like when the end credits roll and they use music that starkly contrasts the score in order to make you pay attention and vacate your seat.

[JobLeonard]

Oh god, that new multibonding cranked up the juicyness big time. I had to leave my tablet at home to not ruin my productivity at work!

[oodavid]

Woohoo! What do you think about the new style?

[JobLeonard]

It's coming together nicely - I did say I'm biased against flat UI.

BTW, the map screen doesn't change any more if you get gold for a level though, but I guess that is temporary?

[Zorg]

Any new ideas for the name of the game?
I think the game deserves a better name than 'Molecule Match', because it sounds too generic.
And it's not a match-3.

(Yes, T does not exists, Ti would have been correctly)

[oodavid]

Any new ideas for the name of the game?
I think the game deserves a better name than 'Molecule Match', because it sounds too generic.
And it's not a match-3.

(Yes, T does not exists, Ti would have been correctly)

BAD ZORG. I almost forgot that I'm not that keen on the name... In an alternative universe I would have called it My Chemical Romance. Twastards.

That logo tho... teeeemptteeeed....

[eigenbom]

That chemical perfect is such a better fit than the handwriting one. Do it! Also instead of stars you could use atom symbols, to keep it in theme.
Name ideas:
The Molecule
One Molecule
Atomic Trace
Molecular
Chemical Bromance

[Zorg]

Sorry to remind you of the question in the devlog title.

Finding a good name is hard, and it's important (that's one reason why it's hard to decide). 'Radical Bonds' made me smile. You should avoid 'Match', it sounds like the 1001st mobile game with diamonds. Maybe you should create a big mind map for chemistry/atom physics-related words.

[oodavid]

@zorg - Well there is that I suppose

My main issue is in getting all the pieces together, finding a nice name AND a domain to go with it is a bit of a git to do really.

Speaking of domains, I've knocked up a redesigned website last night: moleculematch.com

@moonman - good suggestions! I'll put my thinking cap on aka take the dog for a longer-than-normal walk and see if anything clicks - I like the definitive articles "The" and "One".

I have a build script that compiles to android and ios, once the game has finished transferring to my phones it says outloud "it's molecular!" which I kind of like... maybe only cause I know it's playtime...

[Zorg]

Chemically the dots in your atoms represent the number of the valence electrons on the outer electron shell which are in need of a partner to build a covalent bond/shared pair. I somehow like the word 'valence'/'valency' here. But anything with 'atom' or 'atomic' in it sounds immediately like nuclear war. The question is, does the name need 'molecule' in it? Maybe soemthing with 'element' or 'matter' is possible?

My Chemical Covalence

The problem with 'the' and 'one' is that you do not need to form one molecule, you have to form many.

[JobLeonard]

I still think you should work a "radical bonds" into the whole thing.

[oodavid]

A rather long a wet walk later, reckon I have to agree with JobLeonard...

Radical Bonds does tickle me. Free Radical moreso, but the good domains are taken!

Thing is, whenever I say it out loud to a non-nerd, they tend to make a face like "oh god a game about science, I want to die" - I guess that's just my lot in life

[Zorg]

If you go with Radical Bonds, the sequel's name has to be Ridiculous Bonds. scnr

[eigenbom]

Free Radicals sounds too hippy to me. Radical Bonds is pretty good, but the look would need to be more radical to match the name. Molecule Match is pretty generic but at least it tells you what to expect, and since you already have the domain, you should probably just run with it and embrace it -- if there aren't existing games with that name on the appstore that is.

The website matches the game really well. Though I'd get rid of the FB widget.

[JobLeonard]

I forgot to mention that I have no problems with Molecule Match either. Then again, I am of the more nerdy persuasion.