This post is a follow up section to the concept page about the game's setting. This next post covers the way the game would be played, its functions, and the different mechanics used in the game. It's also where I put some explanation into the preview picture I initially posted on the Getting Started post.
This post is an explanative list rather than a post showing the process behind the idea. As such it should be more digestible.
Starting off let me explain the image. If you've read any of the other posts already you should know that hexagons are the key theme of this game.
The bottom right diagram's text talks about one of the concepts I mentioned in the Setting post. The text reads; 'Six potential directions, not including upwards or downwards.' This as I mentioned before is how player choice is incorporated into the game, six different directions, but which is the best to go in?
The top diagrams were the first proper look at the hexagon objects I'd be using for the game. The writing reads 'Platforms. Hexagons are the most efficient shapes at taking up space.' Again this reflects back to a point I made in the setting concept page. The second part reads 'Hexagons forming the path of the game.' Indeed this was the concept I'd come up with; using the hexagons as platforms, forming the design of the level. The key mechanic of the game is to complete levels by stepping on the platforms to repair broken circuit boards.
The other key part is that these platforms also serve as the footing for the level, in that these platforms are all that can be stepped on. The big catch with this idea comes with the drawings on the bottom left, detailing how the hexes work. The text is as follows. 'Stepping on a pad activates it', which then progresses to the second diagram with text that reads 'Stepping off the activated pad causes it to drop onto the circuit below, and it cannot be stepped on again.'
So in order to complete the levels you need to be tactical and smart when deciding which way to step in order to activate every piece of the circuit board and also reach the level's end. When I talked about this concept with one of the people I was interviewing for the primary research he told me the idea was reminiscent of an old arcade game known as Q*Bert. The game involved moving the character around and trying to make all of the blocks in a pyramid the same colour. I actually realised that I'd indeed used this game as inspiration for my own concept, though I didn't know the game's name at the time. Looking at the play-style they do a lot of commonalities, although there;s a big time gap between the two. It could be argued that making the platforms drop is harder than changing their colour, but Q*Bert's a well known retro game for a reason. that's means its play-style must've nailed the addictive quality that I'm aiming for, so it seems I chose wisely in my inspiration for my main mechanic.
With the key concept out of the way here are the other concepts I thought up for the game. There isn't any long history behind it, just the key features and possibly some inspiration to go with them. If you want to know more about the objects themselves, and their individual mechanics, they're explained in more detail in the objects concepts page, which I'd recommend also checking out.
When I was creating these mechanics I was looking for well known conventions used in other successful or addictive games that could be implemented into my game. These were the ones I came up with:
Level Based -
In the case of my game the structure would follow a multiple level system, like Angry Birds and Candy Crush, where there are multiple levels that need to be completed in sequence. With that I can gradually add in new elements and increase the difficulty as the levels progress. It suits the style of my game far more than games that have one infinite level for one big reason.
Infinite levels are what they sound like - Infinite, meaning you can't physically design the entire level yourself. It has to be randomly generated by the game system, but there's only so much a computer can do, and as such this style considerably limits creativity. With a multiple level system you have the ability to design each level yourself, and imagination has no boundaries.
A Scoring and Rating System -
Scoring systems are a staple among app games. They are the key encourager to not only play the game, but play it well. It's also the key way of connecting with other players. Leader board systems exist in a lot of successful games, where your own score can gets added to the board and you can also see what scores other people have managed to achieve. Candy Crush and Subway Surfers both have leader board systems that connect to your Facebook account, and you can see what scores your Facebook friends have achieved, which can lead to playing competitively to try and beat each other's high scores.
You earn points in various different ways throughout the different app games. In the case of my game the way you earn points would mainly be through activating the hexes, but also for completing the level, and doing it with a certain time frame; the quicker the time, the more points earned.
In a multiple level game there's also a rating system to accompany the scoring. Often times these are shown as stars. In Angry Birds when a level is completed you're given a score out of three stars depending on how good your score was. It encourages people to come back to levels if they don't score well on them the first time completing them.
The picture on the right is my idea of what the results screen of my game would look like. I replaced the stars with hexagons though to fit the theme of the game.
Different Play-styles -
Candy Crush doesn't have just one particular play-style across all of its levels. Some levels involve clearing jelly off the grid, others getting high-scores under a time limit or in a certain number of moves, and others require bringing certain objects down to the bottom of the grid.
I didn't just want every level in my game to be about stepping on every hex. That would get repetitive. Having a second element to the gameplay can really enhance the complexity of a level and add variety to the game.
So I came up with few different ideas. They include:
Standard Levels -
These levels are what they sound like. They don't have any additional mechanics or conditions for completion. All that's needed in these levels is to step on every platform and make it to the exit successfully.
A Countdown -
The reverse of having a normal timer that counts up, levels with a countdown have to be completed within a certain time frame, otherwise you automatically fail the level. The way score is earned in these levels is again determined by the standard scoring system. The difference is that you earn a higher score for how much time is left on the countdown when the levels are completed.
Bit Collection -
These are levels containing pickups called bits, which all need to be collected, along with dropping all of the hexes to complete the levels. Bits also fetch a decent amount of points to improve the overall score.
Lives -
This feature is less of a commonality in app games, but Candy Crush uses it to great effect in its game. You start with five lives and if they're all lost you have to wait for lives to regenerate, which provides space between playing sessions. That can be a good thing when thinking about real life situations, but for some it can just be tedious. Alternatively you can buy the extra lives at a reasonably cheap price to cut down the waiting time.
If its handled right a life system can be good way of bringing in revenue, and it can also give leeway to allow for in-game boosters, which I have haven't yet come up with any ideas for. If my game was to incorporate it it would need to balance out the number of total lives given and the overall difficulty of the game, and how easily you can lose lives in the game. By my guess on what I envision the game to be like, 8 lives seems like a good number, as far as I can tell at this current point.
And with that we have all of the different mechanics I've thought up. Hope you guys enjoyed reading. Look forward to more stuff in the future and if you haven't already then take a look at some of the other concept pages back on the previous page.
Thanks for viewing.
Q*Bert Image
Angry Birds Menu Image
Candy Crush Play-styles Image
Candy Crush Lives Image
I know I've been talking an awful lot about what my game involves, but haven't really given you much 
