Gem Collectors is a two dimensional puzzle game. The game is played by matching three or more of the same color gems, at which point they will burst. The object of the game is to burst a predetermined number of gems before the pile of unmatched gems touches the top of the playfield. Extra bonuses are awarded when the player matches two or more sets of gems in quick succession (a `chain reaction'), or matches more than three gems at a time.
Specifications
The ingame screens will be 320 pixels wide by 240 pixels tall and will consist of two playfields, each 112 pixels across and 192 pixels tall. On each playfield, the gems will be dropped and arranged into 6 ordered columns and 12 rows. Each gem will be 16 pixels wide. The score and amount of gems left to be burst in order to win will be displayed in the top eight rows of pixels and in the middle of the screen:
Anime-style animated backgrounds featuring plasma and interpolation-based fire and a particle system for each gem burst explosion will provide eye candy.
I will be using the Simple Directmedia Layer library (www.libsdl.org) to provide access to the underlying graphics, input and music and sound subsystems, as it is freely available, appears to be relatively stable and easy to use, has builtin MOD playback functionality and works on a variety of platforms.
I estimate it will take about six months to complete.
Implementation
First development milestone - background artwork and music
The game will feature 20 backdrops, split into four seasonally-themed groups, plus the title screen and a small demo animation.
The game will feature eight ingame songs, plus the title, character select, 'you win', 'you lose' and 'game over' songs.
Second development milestone - character designs and all foreground sprites
The game will have four selectable characters.
The game will have two 'boss' characters.
The game will have different playfield borders, depending on the background.
The gems will need to be drawn and animated.
Third development milestone - all functionality will have been implemented, alpha build should be available
Fourth development milestone - debugging, crossing fingers, praying, more debugging (=
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