At the end of Episode 13 I was at a crossroad on whether to focus on building out the overall scoreboard, “My Scores” or begin adding the 4-ring game play slide. Adding the next level is easy because the pattern of game play is established – just a lot of busy work. Building a “My Scores” is an add-on feature that doesn’t affect game play at all, rather one of those extra components to add to the overall experience.
Either direction is sort of a Catch-22. Build out the other two levels of game play and then build a “My Scores” scoreboard would require revisiting every game level and add new functionality. Build out the “My Scores” now and get its functionality working to existing pattern, and then follow that pattern into the next two game levels.
Either way doesn’t really matter other than what I’m in the mood for.
I chose to build the “My Scores” slide. Calculating overall scores for each game is a bit more complex in managing the logic than it might seem at the surface. This episode was fully dedicated to figuring out the logic. I started with sketching out some thoughts on how to approach the logic and additional variables needed for the setup. Things to consider are:
- Pushing Best Game score per level
- Pushing number of moves per game at each level based on number of games played
- Pushing number of games played to achieve minimum number of moves
For access and navigation, the simplest method would be to use the built-in Lightbox feature. This feature shows a slide in a popup style view and a user will only return to the same location from where the Lightbox was launched.
Simple. Meh. Simple is not part of our vocabulary in this project!
Questions to ask about how to access, visit, and return from “My Scores”:
- Where should the button to access “My Scores” be located? Globally or at restricted locations?
- In order to advance to the next level a user must achieve the minimum number of moves at that level. That number of moves then becomes Best Game. How to allow a user to check “My Scores” without losing progress if minimum number of moves has not been met yet?
- Is Best Game relevant on the overall “My Scores”?
- There is only so much real estate to show scores for each level. How many games per level should there be? Five?
- If limiting the total number of games per level is five, what is the consequence of reaching that max? Reset the level?
- If reseting the level after a max of game plays, does the “My Scores” values reset also?
- If game values reset on “My Scores” after a max of game plays, should a “Reset” value be added? Ex: Reset games = 2.
- How to return to the same game level after visiting “My Scores”
- If restricting access to “My Scores” only from winning feedback layers, how to return to game level slide and show the last know location (layer)?
Oh sure! Just add a personal overall scoreboard that tracks all the fun stats. Below is the design sketch that shows additional variables for tracking game play, and additional variables to aid in navigating to and from the “My Scores” view.
DESIGN SKETCH
AUGUST 29, 2017 FACEBOOK LIVE BROADCAST VIDEO:
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Episode 14 – Aug 29, 2017 – YOU ARE HERE