Devlog - Documentation and User Guide

Devlog – Documentation and User Guide

User Guide

Title

• Triple Slime

Description

• Triple Slime is a match-3 puzzle game where the user attempts to match up as many slimes as possible in a line of 3 or more of the same type in order to collect points. Compete in the 100 Moves Challenge to try and get as many points as possible in  100 moves

Controls

• The controls in Triple Slime are all mouse based.
• Single click on each button to progress to the next screen.
• Hold down the mouse button and drag it in the direction you want to swap tiles with before letting go of the mouse button to swap tiles.

Game Screens

Title screen contains a New Game button that takes the user to the game mode select screen, an About Game button that takes the user to a screen with that contains information about the game, and an Exit Game button that has been disabled that would normally exit the game.

The About Game screen contains information about the current state of the game and info on how to play as well as a button to take the user back to the main menu.

The game mode screen lets the user select what type of game they would like to play, currently only 100Moves Challenge is available, and a back to main menu button to take them back to the main menu.

100Moves Challenge gameplay screen which contains a score counter and a moves counter. The player swaps the tiles by using their mouse to click and drag in the direction they want to swap.

New high score screen which lets the player enter their name if they have beaten the previous high score.

High score screen which displays the current highest score and the player that obtained it, as well as a play again button and a back to main menu button.

Differences between Concept Document and Current Game

The current state of Triple Slime is fairly similar to what was specified in the concept document however there are some differences between them.

To start off with, Triple Slime was aiming to have story progression between each level, however due to an overestimation on how difficult it would be to create a match 3 game, more time was taken then thought. Creating a single game mode that can be played repeatedly would take less time than creating a number of different levels with story progression so changes had to be made to ensure  a finished product of some kind.

This change also meant that additional slimes couldn’t be added into the game as the story progresses because the story mode was put on hold.

The next difference is the lack of powerups in the game. There were plans to add various powerups such as double points, extra time, extra moves, but these plans were secondary to having the core structure of the game up and running and relatively bug free.

The character design/slime design also did not go as planned. When the slime tiles were originally added into the game, their size on the gameboard was too small in to see any level of detail. The quality of the slimes deteriorated when used making their appearance grainy and low quality. These tiles had to be reworked into slimes of a more simple design that had thicker lines and solid colours. These slimes were differentiated from each other based off of their shape and colour rather than colour and accessories.

The planned helper AI that helped out when the player couldn’t find any matches or when there were no more matches available on the game board  was also planned to be added into the game but didn’t make it into this version of the game due to time constraints and difficulty working out how to implement it.

Assets

A list of assets used in the game. Assets that are not listed have either not been implemented into the current game or have been superseeded by newer assets and are no longer used.

• Sprites
  • BackGround Tile
    • The sprite used to make up the gameboard
      • Original Artwork
  • IMG_0015
    • The title art
      • Original Artwork
  • IMG_0016
    • The titlle screen and highscore screen background
      • Original Artwork
  • IMG_0017
    • Button and gameboard boarder
      • Original Artwork
  • IMG_0018
    • Background for all screens other than title and highscore
      • Original Artwork
  • IMG_0030
    • Tile/slime artwork
      • Original Artwork
  • IMG_0031
    • Tile/slime artwork
      • Original Artwork
  • IMG_0033
    • Tile/slime artwork
      • Original Artwork
  • IMG_0034
    • Tile/slime artwork
      • Original Artwork
  • IMG_0035
    • Tile/slime artwork
      • Original Artwork
  • IMG_0037
    • Tile/slime artwork
      • Original Artwork
• Audio
  • Pop
    • The popping sound that plays when matching tiles
      • Obtained from: (unfa 2014)
• Font
  • Life is goofy
    • The main font used in the game
      • Obtained from: (Fineberg, L n.d)
• Scripts
  • EndgameListener100Moves
    • Detects when end game critera has been reached
      • Modified script from practicals
  • EnterHighScore100moves
    • Allows user to enter a name for the highscore
      • Modified script from practicals
  • Explosion
    • Displays explosion animation
      • Modified script from practicals
  • GameMoves
    • Displays the number of moves made in game
      • Modified script from practicals
  • GetHighscore100Moves
    • Gets the current highscore
      • Modified script from practicals
  • GetHighscorer100Moves
    • Gets the current highscores player name
      • Modified script from practicals
  • Highscore100Moves
    • Saves and calculates if current score is greater than highscore
      • Modified script from practicals
  • Movement
    • Controls the players movement
      • Original script made with ideas and modified components from online tutorials (See References)
  • SceneSwitcher
    • Changes scenes
      • Modified script from practicals
  • ScoreBoard
    • Displays the current score in game
      • Modified script from practicals
        
  • SetupBackGround
    • Sets up the gameboard
      • Original script made with ideas and modified components from online tutorials (See References)
  • UnitySingletonPersistent
    • Keeps information persistent between scenes
      • Modified script from practicals

Features

In Triple Slime, the basic gameplay mechanics have been added so that the user can swap tiles.

All artwork used is custom art created for the purpose of this game.

A score counter was added so that the player can compare previous scores with their current one.

A move counter was added so that the players know how many moves they have made.

The game mode “100 Moves Challenge” was added as a way to add an endgame criteria  to the game (Credit to GiantIan for the idea). It limits the player to 100 moves before proceeding onto the endgame/high score screen.

A persistent high score system was added so that the game will display the current high score, and if the player has beaten it, they have the opportunity to enter their name and have it displayed on the high score screen.

Feedback

A summary of the feedback received can be found in the following Devlog: <https://michaelsk.itch.io/triple-slime/devlog/254363/game-project-testing>.

In the weeks following from when the feedback was received, some modifications were made to how the visual elements of the game appear. For example, attempting to make the text easier to read and making the colour scheme/interface more useable for people whom are colour blind. Attempts to fix the bugs that occurred when swiping quickly have been implemented, however it only lessens the impact of the bug but does not remove it completely from the game. Other recommendations that were planned to be added were not implemented into the game due to time constraints.  

References

unfa 2014, Cartoon Pop (Distorted), viewed 8 May 2021, <https://freesound.org/people/unfa/sounds/245646

Fineberg, L n.d, Life is goofy Font, viewed 30 April 2021, https://www.1001freefonts.com/life-is-goofy.font

Scripts

• Ideas and methods for how to construct some components in the scripts used in the game came from the following places: 

Fisher, J 2017, How to Make a Match 3 Game in Unity, viewed 20 April 2021, https://www.raywenderlich.com/673-how-to-make-a-match-3-game-in-unity

Mister Taft Creates 2018, Make a game like Candy Crush using Unity and C#, viewed 21 April 2021, https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4vbr3u7UKWrxEz75MqmTDd899cYAvQ_B

Colanderp 2019, Tutorials, viewed 21 April 2021, <https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLd6tQyiyoFvPrHPk8d2e7gsYmeVA_-RIX