11.05.2018
The idea began around 2015. I had a plan to make a Construct2 tutorial based on some random project and this came into my mind.
The concept is simple, and it is based on some mental behaviour that happens to me since I was a kid or a teenager. And that is to count the different surfaces of a given random thing from my surroundings. For example, if I see a car plate with the numbers 124, the count will be 1 for the 1 plus 1 for the number 2 and 2 for the number four plus one for the background given a total of 5. The number for 4 has an inner part and the rest, that’s why is 2. Most letters and numbers have only 1 or 2 count value. But for example this ü will count 3. That is like that given 2D and single color surfaces. If I start to see bevel objects, or 3D object the count will be different. I have a rule for 3D which is like if the surfaces is rounded it counts only 1. For example, a cube will count 6, a ball will count 1, but a dice could be more complex.
Count For a Bevel Dice
It will be as follows
6 for each cube surface.
1 for the whole bevel.
1 for each inner half sphere representing a the numbers: 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 = 21
Given a total of 28
Count For a Hexagonal Pencil
This could be easier
1 for each hexagon facet = 6
2 for the top: 1 for the wood + 1 for the graphite.
If the back is like the top and the graphite is visible it will be the same: 2
2D Logo Peace Count
In this case its easy
4 for each inner surface
1 for the contour
1 for the background
Total 6
The name comes from the name of a variant OCD which is related to the constant brain behaviour of counting. For some unknown reason to me some people counts different things all the time. In my personal case, I see a logo, or a car plate and I have to count how many surfaces it has. I hope this game will help me reduce this behaviour.
Why I Decided Not To Use Construct2 for This Project
The idea of making a Construct2 tutorial never come to life. For some reason I was never totally sure about Construct2. I’ve discover it around 2011, and made some quick experiments. I found really awesome how fast you can develop stuff, but on the other hand, when the game or project starts to get more complex, it becomes more difficult to maintain, or to introduce new elements.
I’ve made quite few things with it. My first project that saw a nice light was Happy Moon, which is kind of an art interactive piece based on a super awesome photograph.
Happy Moon
http://happymoon.lucasdima.com/
This piece of digital art was part of some editions of the Game On! Art Exhibition.
Then during 2012-2013 I’ve made some small interactive trivia games for an educational project.
And my biggest Construct2 use was during 2015, when I had the big challenge of making an interactive manual for electoral authorities for the presidential elections in Argentina. Here I developed more than 10 different mini games that were sections in this big manual to help voting authorities understand their tasks. It was a great success, and Construct2 was a good tool for this, but then again, when a project is too big, it can be tricky.
Also I wanted to make games that can be ported to mobile, and I was never able to make it work seamlessly. So, long story short list of why I decided not to use Construct2:
- The concept of no code is hard to apply on big projects. You end up with an event sheet that’s longer than Instagram’s T&C.
- It’s not compatible with Mac. I considered Construct3 as an alternative, but I did not feel well working inside the browser, and I also don’t like the subscription business model.
- It is not native on mobile and tablet platforms.
So I decided to learn Swift and make this game for iOS in the first place. Then maybe migrate it to OSX, which I think it will be easy to do it.
Game Concept
The concept is to given a certain figure, or image, or text, or numbers, the player have to count for each surface within a given time. The faster this is done, the more he scores.
In the beginning the levels will be as follows:
Numbers
Words
Phrases
Simple art pictures with clear contours
Icons
Software Principles
It is very important to point out the following software principles that this game will have:
- This game will never be Free To Play. It will never have any add ons to purchase or nothing similar. The full game experience will be available as you buy it. No pay to unlock game features. If there are any game futures to unlock they will be unlocked only by playing and winning leves with certain conditions.
- The game will be fully playable without Internet connection. There is no multiplayer in mind for this version.
- The game will never track any user activity of any kind. The game will never track anything about the user, neither GPS position, country, or any user or device related data.
- The game will never have a subscription business model. The game might be free or may cost, but in case it have a price, it will be only a one time fee. No regular payments of any kind.