Dynamine! - An Awesome Match-3 Mining Game

Dev diaries
#1

Hey guys!

We would love to introduce our game to you: Dynamine!

The Game:
HTML5:
http://fredriktumlin.com/Pickaxe/Project%20Pickaxe/index.html

APK:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_3M4CLtr6gecFZWLV9OLW1VZVU

Dynamine is a match-3 game where you explore a dangerous mine shaft in search for precious ore and gems. Your goal is to top your high score and collect the ore to upgrade your equipment for your next attempt. Tap your way to success and see how far you can get.

How to play the game:
Tap the bottom row to break tiles. Match 3 or 4 in a row to break them all at once automatically. If the tiles fill up the entire board, the game is over. (Hard to see as of right now due to the experimental gradient).

Tap the dynamite to destroy a bunch of rows. (This will have a limitation for the next iteration)

We are continuously updating our game and welcome your feedback so we can continue to improve.

Thanks for trying it out. Please let us know what you think!

Our Team:
Lead Programmer: Fredrik Tumlin
Lead Game Designer: Michael Söderqvist
Co-Lead Game Designer: Tom Clamp
Lead UI: Peter Johannesson

11 Likes
#2

Hi @michaelsoderqvist !

I see now that you’ve added some instructions as how to play, that’s good. It took me a while to figure out, since I thought that the wagon was the player you controlled, and I tried everything to move it. My initial response was to swipe/tap in the tunnel area, since the wagon seems playable and clickable.

Once I figured that out, the tap mechanics worked good. Even though the dynamite is in the middle of the screen, you tend to forget it though. Not sure why.

1 Like
#3

Hi @Mathias_Westerdahl !

Thank you very much for the feedback!
Yeah, in a hesitant moment, we forgot to add the play instructions, but they got in when our heads cleared up. We are actually right now working on explaining how to play the game without showing it with text, but instead helping the player make logical steps to experience the game the way we visualized. It’s a hard but fun task!
The dynamite and it’s UX/UI is under construction. This build is very experimental when it comes to the buttons part. We tried to have it more towards the bottom but felt it was a risk of accidentally hitting it, and we also wanted to enhance the sense of urgency by placing it in the middle. This is something we’re continuously working on, and yeah, your feedback is helping a ton, so we’re hoping for more from everyone. :slight_smile:

Thanks again!

/Michael

#4

Promising game mechanics. Liked using the tapping to match and clear lines. Missed seeing the top to know how I was doing. In addition to “total score” I would have liked to know how much I cleared (fx. how many 3s and how many 4rs) and how long it took until I died - more ways to beat my highscore. I liked the fact that I was able to clear parts of the board with tapping the dynamite - I suggest you think of more ways to add boosters (some way to affect all tiles of certain type, randomize the tiles, etc.). Grinding/Collecting while playing could become a strong retention driver - the more you tap, the more you collect, the more you grind - the better you become. Use what you grind/collect to boost, upgrade and generate items/boosters.

You have a good start!

2 Likes
#5

Thank you for your feedback!

Leading question: Does it feel odd matching 4’s? We have tested 3 columns and 4 columns are both are fun for different reasons. 4 columns creates a natural imbalance, but could potentially lend itself to slower gameplay (more strategy and casual). 3 columns has a lot more flow. but is a bit more simple (not necessarily a bad thing(?)).

We have some plans for next week that we will implement Monday and then get some testing done ASAP. The different styled tiles (stone & stone with something inside of it) will actually become ore that you collect for crafting. You will use this ore to buy better pickaxes that allows you to push harder levels (or skip through lower levels quicker - as you will 1 tap them).

Lots of ideas over the weekend, will be fun to see how different the game is by the end of next week :wink:

Thanks!
Tom

#6

I see that I forgot to mention it in my comment that I actually like that you have changed from 3 to 4 columns for exactly the reason you mentioned. Having 4 columns also allows for a booster where you can clear a column. You might have to slow down new tiles generating - I felt that each game session could have lasted longer to allow for strategic thinking before making a move.

Do you have a 3 column version available? Would it be an option to have a few different size game modes?

1 Like
#7

We do have a 3 column version easily available. We’ve been testing them back and forth.
We don’t have an option for the player to choose though.

Speed right now is a bit fast and on friday we discussed to slow it down quite some for the first levels to later on speed it up gradually, so the difference between the first and last level is much more noticeable.

1 Like
#8

do you have the 3 column version available for me to play?

#9

Not online, but we could get you one as soon as possible tomorrow morning?

1 Like
#10

Here’s a HTML build with 3 rows for everyone to test:

http://fredriktumlin.com/Pickaxe/Project%20Pickaxe3row/

Looking forward to any feedback you guys might have.

/Michael

#11

I prefer the version with four columns. A fourth column allows me to chose between three tile matches when I need to quickly reduce number of tiles on the board and four tile matches when I have more time to plan my moves. I found it a bit hard to know when I was about to fill up the board (the tiles get too dark at the top).

4 Likes
#12

Thank you!

We’ve updated the gradient and we will probably keep 4 columns :slight_smile:

2 Likes
#13

I really like the feeling of breaking the tiles! Very tactile. I would also suggest sticking with four columns. It’s satisfying to line up tiles to create such a match. It also allows you to bind a mechanic to making a match of four tiles. Perhaps even expand to five columns to allow the mythic five tiles match?

Another thing that would be interesting to explore is player efficiency in the number of taps the player does before he/she creates a match. I noticed doing that myself to create an extra challenge for myself. Perhaps an “on fire” mode activates if you’re efficient.

3 Likes
#14

It kind of works, but probably the game should help me have fun from it - what kind of matches is more rewarding? Why don’t I just remove single tiles? Why do I want to arrange match-4? Score changes fast and is in the top right, while my eyes are focused on the bottom of the screen with little change to actually observe/notice the small print in the top.

Real estate of the screen may need to be used in a more creative way. Say, if I cover 50% of the screen with a black paper, what exactly would I loose game experience wise?

4 Likes
#15

Awesome, it seems 4 tiles is the general consensu! We actually talked about having 5 tiles, it would feel natural and the puzzles might be more varied. It’s a very interesting thing to test further on and one I would prioritize.

And about the On Fire-part, that’s something we are trying to implement right now! We had it in mind quite early and if we had the time, we would try and implement it. It might just be a placeholder for now but we’ll see. It’s like you’re reading our minds/design docs. :wink:

Thanks for the feedback! Very appreciated.

/Michael

#16

@Oleg_The_Evangelist We actually started working on that this week. We are going to clearer of the rewards the play will receive when they break tiles (ore, gems & score). The ore and the gems will ‘fall’ into the mine cart which will hopefully also signify the collection of these resources to the player.

We looked at a lot of free to play games and where their UI is. We found that a lot of the non-interactable information was usually at the top of the screen (Score, moves, resources) and the stuff the player wants to hit is in the bottom of the screen.

We expanded on our UI to follow this trend :slight_smile: You guys have years of experience and research vs our few weeks :smiley:

#17

And you have Katya =] She’s asked her colleagues to come over to your presentation tomorrow to help out and advise. Almost a balance, right? :wink:

1 Like
#18

!UPDATE!

Since last time we’ve done a few things.

  • We now have a crafting system! Craft and enhance!
  • If you match enough tiles, you become On Fire!
  • There’s now a gem tile, hunt it down!
  • Visual updates like ore and gems falling down into the cart.
    Save system
  • A more expanded UI.
  • General polish.
  • User testing with different tiles.

Please enjoy and as always, give us any feedback!

HTML5-version:
http://fredriktumlin.com/Pickaxe/Dynamine/

APK:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_3M4CLtr6gecFZWLV9OLW1VZVU

6 Likes