JS13k2017 - Linky Level Ideas

JS13k approaches and I haven't had a lot of time to think about it but have made some solid sketches outlining the possibilities of the puzzle game idea I have been contemplating.

The basic dynamic is that of being able to rotate or flip certain hex tiles.

JS13k2017 - Linky game idea

For my new puzzle game I've been inspired by the famous 90's game 'pipes' and it's many variants over the decades and also an obscure New Zealand published game called Tantrix whose pieces looks like this:

Got some other sketches on paper late last night briefly outlining some of the idea in my head.

js13k 2017 approaches!

It's that time of year again; the js13k contest starts in a few weeks and I've been thinking about it. If you don't know about the contest, one has to make a game that runs in a browser in under 13kb of code+data+resources (13kb is very, very little - perhaps a 2% of the size of the page you are currently reading).

My 2015 game cargo-72 was a scrolling platformer (all built with ascii art); in 2016 I made complicit which is a visually pretty, fast bullet hell shoot'em up (with a twist). They both did well in the judged contest and, much more importantly for me, in the contestant voted awards.

So this year I want to create a beautiful-looking puzzle game which isn't reflex oriented. This is challenging technically because puzzle games need lots of hand-crafted levels which takes human time and steals a big chunk that 13kb storage if you have 20 or so levels.

This is the basic list of features I'd like for my entry this year:

• Elegant, minimal meta-game interfacing with access to all levels
• Persistent local storage of progress and achievements
• Very elegant, abstract representation of the game play with minimal interface.
• Unique appearance for each level - algorithmic backgrounds and feature generation.
• Playable without external instructions - tutorials if needed.
• Simple but varied audio effects for events and UI responses.
• Game play that extends over 20+ levels which might take several hours to consume and at its hardest will be challenging to most adult players.
• Playable/usable on all screens and devices.

I've got a few ideas for the project and a few sketches I will publish soon.