If you’ve seen any of my posts over the past couple of weeks, you already know what I’m working on. For those who don’t know, it’s a chain reaction game. You have a grid of sprockets, and you click/tap a sprocket to rotate it 90 degrees. That sprocket will (hopefully) hit other sprockets, and they begin rotating and hitting other sprockets, and so on. The goal is to get the biggest chain reaction you can.
I saw a game similar to this years ago in a game room extension for a forum, but I haven’t been able to find it since. I was so addicted to the game that I decided to build my own version for myself. I’ve expanded on the original by adding 1) a score multiplier that increments as you go up in points, 2) the colors of the sprockets change to red when they collide, and more. I also plan to add color themes and full cosmetic packs that change the look of the sprockets (I’m thinking steampunk, futuristic, retro pixel art…) in the future.
Here is a demo video that does a good job of showcasing the gameplay. If you have any critiques, comments, or suggestions, I’d be interested in hearing them.
The red spreading across the screen makes me think of a virus spreading. I’m actually thinking of changing the name to “Contagion” (I don’t see another game with that title on the Play store) and making it so your goal is to spread the virus across the entire board. Thoughts anyone?
So, I revamped my game and gave it a horror theme. The player is now tasked with spreading a virus. Kind of like Plague Inc., but in chain reaction style.
Hi Nicronon, I can understand why you were thinking viruses. For me, it was insects, like a bee or ant colony.
I’m not famiiar with this game type though. If I understand it correctly from your description, you tap a sprocket and then wait for the connecting chain to end. So I guess that means it’s important to pick a good first sprocket because the player has no control after that?
I think if I were going to play this game I’d want fewer and bigger sprockets so I could choose carefully, because with so many small sprockets the choice seems like it would have to be random.
That’s a great story that you’ve recreated a game that you couldn’t find. Nice.
Hi Bubble, thanks for taking a look and chiming in.
Yeah, once you tap a sprocket (I’m now referring to them as nodes), it’s out of your hands. So you’ve got to strategize which node to pick. There’s definitely some luck involved, but choosing the right node to start can make all the difference in the world.
I know what you mean about the size and number of nodes. It’s something I’ve tried to balance. I actually started out with a lot smaller nodes, and many more of them - they’re about 50% bigger than originally, and there are a lot fewer now.
That said, I plan to add features and options to the game over time. Eventually, I’d like to make it so the player can choose the grid dimensions, and the nodes will resize to fit.
I actually finished putting the final touches on the game tonight. Here’s a demo video if you’re interested. This should be what it looks and works like when I release after beta testing for a few days. Oh, and the zombie noise you hear at 50k and 150k points is because the virus mutated. It mutates at 50k, then every additional 100k after, which increments the score multiplier.
I read the how to screen in the video saying the nodes represent people and zombies. When you said virus, I was imagining the nodes represented healthy and unhealthy cells.
The people/zombie idea sounds good. I know the nodes are very small but you could experiment with the same shape and make them look like little people with blue hands and red hands for zombies like this.
