Match-3 Amphitheatre Game

#1 Is this idea too weak? Any constructive criticism would be appreciated. I can think of other features to add to it, but I'm very wary of feature creep.

#2 This sounds like a very interesting game, but you will need to keep target audience well in mind. If the graphics ends up looking like a childrens game, as I have seen man such games go you will have a unbalanced game. However, combine torques amazing 3d graphics and you should have an amazing game!

#3 Oh, and suggest the features anyway. Let the community decide if your being to much of a feature creep

#4 Well, imo, you could create the core game, just using the spectacle as your game, and make all the other items like minigames. that way, you have a game, and everything else is filler outside the main storyline. Or it allows folks to focus on different aspects and result in different ampitheaters. a galley slaves ampitheatre would look a bit different then a emperors theatre and so forth, or even a gladiators.

#5 That would be cool as well

#6 Hi guys - thanks for the feedback! I went away for the weekend and have come back to feedback, so I'm a happy man, haha!

@Tomas: the point about the target audience is good. I had actually intended to direct it at younger folk, with educational comments on aspects of the tournament. (For example, when the player has to hire, say, poets, there would be a small blurb talking about what role poets played in tournaments.) But I can easily scrap that. It wasn't intended as an adult game - more arcadey, as it would be aimed at casual gamers.

As for 3D, I'm using TGB. The point of the match-3 idea is that it's simple, and I don't want to be overly ambitious for my first project. I just want to get something simple, that works, that's polished, and then go from there onto other things.

I guess the reason I've been reluctant to talk about features is that I've just been worried about sharing anything at all on here, but then I've seen so many people come here with their ideas and discover that they're not unique or that they're too difficult. I acknowledge that an ancient world themed match-3 game isn't unique, but hopefully it's not so common that nobody takes any interest in it.

As far as features go, I'm still thinking the idea out, but some of what I had in mind was:
-1 player match-3 game set in ancient Rome
-Raise money and generate resources to fund and build an amphitheatre using match-3 puzzles
-Between each puzzle, use these resources to automatically have the arena built or hire the appropriate contestants, etc.
-Win 'bonus' employees who will help to increase the rate of resources. (For example, the tax collector means money comes in more quickly; the carpenter means wood comes in more quickly; the stonemason means stone comes in more quickly, etc.)
-Background animations during the match-3 puzzles. (For example, as the player generates money, an animation of coins filling a chest, or as the player generates stone, an animation of Romans building a new layer of bricks onto the amphitheatre.)
-Career 'results' at the end of the game. Depending on how well the player performed, do they end up as a galley slave, a senator, or the Caesar's heir?
-Separate screens that add a story telling aspect as Caesar grows impatient if the player fails to get that level's allotted resources within the specified time limit.
-Three difficulty levels, essentially manifesting as differing quantities of resources required for each level.
-Between each puzzle, as players purchase or upgrade their amphitheatre, an ongoing animation of the arena and any associated acquisitions. (For example, a picture of the arena, and outside the chariot horses grazing, gladiators sparring, etc.)
-A final animation of the event itself, which would then cover the player's final ranking.

I haven't really thought of much else - I still don't know how many levels it will contain, nor do I have a name. 'Arena' seems a bit simplistic, and I might look at a few words in Latin.

Anyway, any further feedback would be appreciated. :)

#7 @Edward: Sorry, I'm not entirely sure that I follow. If the match-3 puzzles for getting additional items, (e.g. gladiators, chariots, etc), are minigames, what's the core game itself?

The storyline I had was specifically the player's following of the Caesar's decree that the arena must be built and a grand spectacle put on for the populace. I do want to know what you're getting at, though, so please do feel free to expand. The more ideas, the better! :)

#8 Ok, by that logic what are the gladiators, chariots and such for? The core game. I mean you can make the entire core game a bunch of puzzles. But the core game is..

"The storyline I had was specifically the player's following of the Caesar's decree that the arena must be built and a grand spectacle put on for the populace."

The grand Spectacle. So what ever that is. is your core game. But hey its your game. If its just a bunch of mini puzzles then its just that. But rewarding a player with not only match3 puzzles and the main storyline... i guess it depends on how much time and effort you want to put into a game.

#9 Yeah, the gladiators, chariots, etc were intended as resources required for the event. As in, the player has to put on a spectacle, so he needs to hire gladiators, poets, etc etc. I wasn't actually planning on having the player act out any of the spectacle itself. I really do fear feature creep, which is precisely why I want to do something small, as I lack the spare time to do anything more than that for the time being.

I also want to do something more unique than match-3. I'm not sure what yet, though. I thought it might be better to introduce games that the ancient Romans played, but a lot of them are based around luck, (such as dice games, for example), and I know I wouldn't want to play a game that was all luck. That'd bore me to tears, haha!

My main goal is to make a game that works - but I want to be able to go through this process of fattening the idea and getting feedback from the community as part of the experience.

Thanks, though - it's really helpful to have someone to bounce ideas off against.

#10 Maybe you can 'unlock' different styles of architecture, basically just swap the graphics round depending on what the player chooses

#11 Yah, so you would have your linear storyline, with the minigames, that the higher you score on said minigames, changes the graphics for the spectacle, that gets played out in pieces. (prescripted event with variables calling based on the scores of the minigames) So if they score really low, the spectacle might actually fail.

#12 I'd be concerned with having too many mini-games.

I much prefer the idea of match-three games with different art to show story progression than hitting the theme with many different styles of games. For one, it will take far longer because each mini-game has to be thoroughly tested. Also, it seems like you picked a theme and then just threw a bunch of stuff together to fit the theme.

#13 @Tomas: That's a good idea, and simple to implement.

@Edward: That's really good thinking. I was initially planning to have the spectacle at the very end, but teasing the player with each new part of the spectacle as they proceed is a good idea.

@Nikos: Well, match-3 was the only mini-game I had in mind. The changes would be the different materials, represented by different tiles. Fair comment on the theme, though!

#14 David, re-reading my comment, it seems unncessarily harsh. I should re-iterate. What I meant was that if you choose Rome and then have a dozen mini-games, it seems like you chose the theme and then made everything else to fit in my opinion. I didn't want to imply that simply choosing a Rome theme was knock against you.

#15 @Nikos: I didn't find it offensive. I wanted to make a match-3 game, and once I'd decided on that, I considered what theme would be both feasible to accomplish and interesting to me personally, and I settled on ancient Rome. It's all good. :)

#16 When you say minigames, do you mean specifically roman games, like race a chariot or do you mean games that have been given a roman theme

#17 @Tomas: Mini games were Edward's suggestion - not mine - so you'd have to ask him. The initial idea was to simply have a match-3 game, where between rounds players can purchase building materials or athletes. When they've purchased enough of everything, they've completed the game. (Put simply!)

#18 Well edward then?