Game on!
Although the original game play strategy was totally scrapped, this new approach has more benefits. As I mentioned in Episode 08, I decided to go with Option 3 – using Layers.
The new strategy is so much easier to manage because each layer is a single game play move. No matter how many rings, there can only be 2 or 3 possible positions (drop targets) any of the available rings can move.
Backward moves are automagically taken care of by the previous layer so it’s a simple matter of triggering to that previous move’s layer.
Easy peasy, right?!
Let me explain…regardless of how many rings are on Tower A at the beginning of a game: 2, 3, 4, or 5 rings – Ring 1 is always the first ring to move. And, Ring 1 can only move in one of two positions to either Tower B or to Tower C.
Now, there will be a LOT of layers for every possible move. And the more rings added to game play the layers will exponentially increase. I’m not very good at fancy math on how many there will be, but I’ll add up all the geeky stats when I’m done.
Knowing this in advance I know I need a solid naming convention to keep from getting confused, lost, or worse, forgetting a potential move that would break the game play.
In this episode, I added a 3rd ring to our prototype 2-Ring game. Easy on the surface, but a lot of busy work re-positioning everything and where good object names as well as good layer names is essential.
For one of two first potential moves, Ring 1 would go to either Tower B position 5, or drop B5 (drop target). The other potential first move would be Tower C position 5, or drop C5. The layer naming convention I’ve decided to go with for these two potential first moves looks like this:
- R1B5 R2A4 R3A5 – Ring 1 on Tower B position 5, Ring 2 still on Tower A position 4, and Ring 3 still on Tower A position 5.
- R1C5 R2A4 R3A5 – Ring 1 on Tower C position 5, Ring 2 still on Tower A position 4, and Ring 3 still on Tower A position 5.
The triggering then looks like this:
- Action: Show Layer
- Layer: R1B5 R2A4 R3A5
- When: Object dropped on
- Object: Ring 1
- Dropped On: drop B5
Add a similar trigger to the same Ring 1 object but showing the other potential layer. Toss in a trigger to adjust the count of the number of moves. That’s it! That’s all I have to manage on the Base Layer of the beginning of game play!
Then, on that next layer determine the next possible moves for any available rings. For move #2, Ring 1 can go back to its original position (show starting layer), Ring 1 could go to another tower, and Ring 2 can now move to an open position on a tower.
Essentially, the very first move is one of two positions. Every move after that only available rings can move to one or two positions including previous position.
Complex? Not really. It’s a pattern. Designs like this are CRITICAL to identify the pattern. Once you have that figured out the rest is simply busy work.
And focus.
Getting into your FLOW.
I was so into my flow at the end of this episode I wanted to keep going…and I did. Sorry, couldn’t help it! I finished building out a 7-move game play with 3 rings for winning on Tower B. In Episode 10 I’ll work on winning on Tower C. Episode 11 I should be ready to add the fourth ring.
Speaking of Episode 10, I’ll be going Live during the monthly Memphis Articulate User Group meeting. We’ll see how well that goes.
AUGUST 22, 2017 FACEBOOK LIVE BROADCAST VIDEO:
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Episode 9 – Aug 22, 2017 – YOU ARE HERE