Out in the Garden

A Match 3 Game

Development Aims

Create a type of game I have not attempted to build before.
Built to practice inheritance and singleton programming design.
Create a pool of objects the system then displays in the game grid.
Complete project to work through and document.
Aim to add something playable on my portfolio.

Gameplay

This is a Match 3 Game, the kind you would find on a phone. The player can select and swap pieces horizontally or vertically adjacent to the selected piece. If the moved piece is placed into a line of 3 or more pieces it matches and the score increase, otherwise it will swap back to its original position.

A Nature Game

Creating a puzzle game gave me a project where I could think about the graphics and UI design.

When I started developing the Match 3 Game I was moving house from the countryside to the city. I was inspired by the number of creatures I was seeing in the back garden, and they become the matchable pieces.

Initially I tried to keep the colours of the creatures relatively true to life, but there were too many shades of orange and brown which led to confusion when the player was trying to make matches under time pressure.

I changed the butterfly to blue, the squirrel to grey, kept the fox orange, and made the hedgehog a darker brown this range of colours made it easier for the player to recognise matches.

Early Build - Match 3 Game Powerups

Video showing matches that can create a powerup. This gameplay mechanic helps create variety in the game and gives a reason for the player to play more skilfully.

Cross Match Powerup - When matchables in a vertical and horizontal line are matched it creates a powerup that removes a vertical and horizontal line of matchables on the board. But the powerup must be the same colour as the matchables that created the powerup.

Match 4 Powerup - When 4 matchables are matched it creates a powerup that removes a section of the board. But the powerup must be the same colour as the matchables that created the powerup.

Match 5 Powerup - When 5 matchables are matched it creates a poweup that can be used with any colour matchable and removes all the matchables that are of that colour.

Combo Timer

When the player makes a match, a timer begins counting down. If they make another match before the timer reaches zero, then they will receive a score multiplier and the timer resets.

The player can keep building up the multiplier as long as they keep making matches before the timer reaches zero.

Each time the player makes a match, the timer speeds up so eventually the timer will countdown too quickly for the player to make a match.

Possible Matches

Using an algorithm the game can track how many potential matches there are on the board.

This information can be used for a couple of things:

Hint System

If the player does not touch the mouse for 10 seconds, a button can be pressed which will highlight a possible match. It can be pressed repeatedly to highlight each available match.

Game Over

If there are no moves left on the board the game will end.

In the current build, the game is running in an infinite mode. If there are no more moves left on the board, the board is cleared and then repopulated from the pool of objects.