Sociales Santillana by Ithildin
This puzzle game takes inspiration from Bejeweled and minimalist artists (specifically, Frank Stella) at the same time.
You select blocks and flip them vertically or rotate a whole "plate" in order to match groups of 3 or more blocks of the same colour. Check the "How to play" attached screenshot for further advice.
CONTROLS
==========
* Left mouse button => Click to select/deselect a block, then click on an adjacent block to attempt a flip or a rotation.
* H key => Stuck? Let the game select a block for you! It costs 3s of your time, though.
* S key => Shuffle the board completely. Unless you've run out of movements, it'll cost 5s.
* I key => Toggle timeless mode on/off. If you're having fun on a specific level and don't want to move to the next one you can activate the Timeless mode and forget about countdowns. This is somewhat game breaking, as you can alter the board freely and then go back to timed mode, so use it at your own responsibility (yeah, this is cheap).
* Backspace => If you've won/lost the game you can restart from the beginning.
//-------------------------------
KNOWN ISSUES:
================
- There is a bug with the match checker failing at detect some matches. Bad news is I couldn't track it, the good is that it doesn't happen frequently.
- Sometimes it seems that you can not rotate in the expected direction. If that happens, try to rotate in the opposite one. If it's still blocked and it's obvious that the rotation should be allowed please let me know.
- Toggling timeless mode on and off in the middle of a level breaks the balance.
- Poor balancing. I ran out of time for that.
//-------------------------------
TOOLS OF THE TRADE
===================
- AS3 + Starling + Adobe's commons library. The IDE of choice was FlashDevelop. Flash 11+ is required.
- bfxr + Audacity for sound effects.
- The fonts are the same ones I used for my previous entry. Credit goes to Miffies again.
//-------------------------------
WHY THIS?
============
Originally, as I mentioned in a post written during development, my intention was to take a well-known gameplay concept (the usual suspects: Tetris, Pacman, Pong... come to mind), bloat it with irrelevant features and then strip it from the gameplay one at a time until the player was left out with the essential core mechanics.
However, I decided that rather than just doing that I could use some concept that worked out by itself too and so, after googling for image references, I came up with a match-3 concept with a slight twist using a clear artistic style. Then, if I had the time, I would add the layer on top (Spoiler: there is never time -_-UU)
The reason for the title, which probably makes little to no sense to anyone outside from Spain, is, apart from the fact that I couldn't come up with anything better, is that the picture from which I took the final idea was used in the covers of a well known publisher for the primary school textbooks from the time when I went to school (sigh...). I actually used quite a few of them myself :D
EDIT (29/04):
* Modified the web link so that the HTML document displays some instructions.
* Added screenshot with a "tutorial".
(01/04): Updated html page to center the game.
[EDIT 06/11/2016] Updated web link after Dropbox removed support for html rendering. Also, added post-compo version
You select blocks and flip them vertically or rotate a whole "plate" in order to match groups of 3 or more blocks of the same colour. Check the "How to play" attached screenshot for further advice.
CONTROLS
==========
* Left mouse button => Click to select/deselect a block, then click on an adjacent block to attempt a flip or a rotation.
* H key => Stuck? Let the game select a block for you! It costs 3s of your time, though.
* S key => Shuffle the board completely. Unless you've run out of movements, it'll cost 5s.
* I key => Toggle timeless mode on/off. If you're having fun on a specific level and don't want to move to the next one you can activate the Timeless mode and forget about countdowns. This is somewhat game breaking, as you can alter the board freely and then go back to timed mode, so use it at your own responsibility (yeah, this is cheap).
* Backspace => If you've won/lost the game you can restart from the beginning.
//-------------------------------
KNOWN ISSUES:
================
- There is a bug with the match checker failing at detect some matches. Bad news is I couldn't track it, the good is that it doesn't happen frequently.
- Sometimes it seems that you can not rotate in the expected direction. If that happens, try to rotate in the opposite one. If it's still blocked and it's obvious that the rotation should be allowed please let me know.
- Toggling timeless mode on and off in the middle of a level breaks the balance.
- Poor balancing. I ran out of time for that.
//-------------------------------
TOOLS OF THE TRADE
===================
- AS3 + Starling + Adobe's commons library. The IDE of choice was FlashDevelop. Flash 11+ is required.
- bfxr + Audacity for sound effects.
- The fonts are the same ones I used for my previous entry. Credit goes to Miffies again.
//-------------------------------
WHY THIS?
============
Originally, as I mentioned in a post written during development, my intention was to take a well-known gameplay concept (the usual suspects: Tetris, Pacman, Pong... come to mind), bloat it with irrelevant features and then strip it from the gameplay one at a time until the player was left out with the essential core mechanics.
However, I decided that rather than just doing that I could use some concept that worked out by itself too and so, after googling for image references, I came up with a match-3 concept with a slight twist using a clear artistic style. Then, if I had the time, I would add the layer on top (Spoiler: there is never time -_-UU)
The reason for the title, which probably makes little to no sense to anyone outside from Spain, is, apart from the fact that I couldn't come up with anything better, is that the picture from which I took the final idea was used in the covers of a well known publisher for the primary school textbooks from the time when I went to school (sigh...). I actually used quite a few of them myself :D
EDIT (29/04):
* Modified the web link so that the HTML document displays some instructions.
* Added screenshot with a "tutorial".
(01/04): Updated html page to center the game.
[EDIT 06/11/2016] Updated web link after Dropbox removed support for html rendering. Also, added post-compo version
| 7z (swf + html) | http://db.tt/4xt2hZyU |
| Web | http://wildrabbit.github.io/ld26 |
| Source | http://db.tt/s8FN5LyQ |
| Minimalistic (NOT) post-mortem | http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/2013/05/01/sociales-santillana-post-mortem/ |
| Web (post-compo) | https://ithildin.itch.io/minimcentric |
| Original URL | https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-26/?action=preview&uid=15664 |
Ratings
| Coolness | 100% | 1 |
| Overall | 3.29 | 427 |
| Audio | 2.24 | 822 |
| Fun | 3.01 | 537 |
| Graphics | 2.96 | 607 |
| Humor | 1.50 | 1023 |
| Innovation | 3.64 | 176 |
| Mood | 2.90 | 539 |
| Theme | 3.76 | 339 |
Also, it would be neat if you actually saw the pieces rotate.
Ok, so if anyone else is as stuck as me: look at the first screenshot of the submission. The only valid move is to click on the orange block right above the center and then click on the red block above it. That will SHIFT the entire column UP. Then, the orange blocks will make a 'C' shape (as the orange block will connect to the other two orances in the L shape). Colors will change to fill those gaps. There are no other valid moves.
When you click on a color that's adjacent to it in the same 'ring', you're trying to ROTATE the entire ring. You can either have 3 colors connected in the same ring, or 3 colors connected in the same stack.
Suggestions: Add rotation animation. Make the shuffle automatic when there are no more moves. Perhaps add a perma-hint mode, where clicking on a block shows the valid moves it can make, and ONLY the valid moves it can make.
I had some people play test the game today (after submission) and most of them got lost in the beginning, which is unforgivable considering that once they've figured it out, they keep playing it for quite a while (meaning that the game is actually fun once you know what you've got to do).
This hints heavily at some more or less serious visual/sound feedback deficiencies that could have helped. As you say, animation could be a life saver.
So I went ahead and made a tutorial image. Recommend you do something similar to it for your screenshot :)
http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/2013/04/29/sociales-tutorial/
See? Confusing, but fun ;)
Fits the theme to the perfection, it is to Columns the same BlockOut is to Tetris. And it's a bit too difficult for me :)
Nice name, waiting for Naturales Santillana
@visibleatom I've followed your advice and added a "how-to" screenshot to show the rules.
If you mean "move to the next level"... It would be extremely infrequent, but I suppose that you can be really unlucky with the randomization so that you end up out of time.
If you don't see any moves you can get a hint with the H key.
I've been fiddling with the CSS to center it horizontally and the new version's up. Could you try again, and make sure that the browser zoom is 100%, please?
I really loved the concept and the execution. Excellent work!
Needs visual cues like after you click it does an actual rotate or swap. And if it's an invalid move, it'll snap back.
Also, combos!
Overall, great innovation!
I had trouble to understand the controls but once I did, I had a lot of fun. I found the pentagon level harder than the hexagon, which seems weird.
As you say, I've realized that starting on larger levels, where there are many more blocks and therefore possibilities, could have helped two-fold with some of the issues most of you have spotted: making it easier, on one hand, or allowing for more strategic planning on the other (But in my opinion the latter depends on whether you want faster-paced gameplay, such as time attack modes, or if you can take the time to think carefully e.g, challenges, etc.)
The title comes from a textbook for the "Social Sciences" (Geography + History) subject I took at primary school. It was published by Ed. Santillana, which by the time I went to school used the painting from Frank Stella (or a variation) as the cover of their text books (there is a pic of one of them in the screenshots). So you could see it as a homage of sorts ^_^U
I read the rules but I'm still a little confused.
Where are you from?