Dressing up a block manipulation game

[Phil Steinmeyer]

One concept I'm playing with now has a basic mechanic of block manipulation, ala Tetris, Collapse, Lumines, etc.

I'm looking for good examples of how to 'dress up' the graphics for a game like this.

Because the blocks are linked into various patterns (sometimes dynamically), I can't readily use discrete gems or flowers or anything like that - blocks that join to their neighbors (with color match-3 style elimination) is what I'm looking for.

Tetris is old and visually boring by modern standards. Collapse II was ok visually, but not great. I've played Lumines before, which seems to be pretty snappy visually, and I may go and buy a PSP just to play it some more, but plunking down $300 for a handheld that I otherwise have no interest in seems a bit excessive.

What other games out there have nice/inventive visuals for block manipulation gameplay?

[Bmc]

you could always use chain links, but then that may be too similar to the mumbo jumbo game "chainz"

maybe you could make them jelly like, similar to the shapes in Shape Shifter

http://i.games-here.com/shape_shifter.jpg

maybe slime or jelly chuzzles ;)

[soniCron]

Puyo Puyo (http://www.retrogaming.it/megadrive/puyo-8.JPG) has a good "gooey" style which is used to combine blocks.

Gururin (http://www.geocities.jp/neogeosnapandtitle/snap/image/gururin.png) uses people and a rotating board.

Mr. Driller (http://dsmedia.ign.com/ds/image/article/569/569686/mr-driller-drill-spirits-20041130045227686.jpg) has a fun "combining-block" style as well.

I'm not sure I understand what you're asking for?

[Phil Steinmeyer]

Hmm - I couldn't figure out how to get into Gururin.

I have seen the Jelly-ish games before - there was a Dr. Mario style game called Candy Crisis I think that used it. I don't think it's a good fit for what I'm doing.

Sonicron - I'm just asking for references for other games worth looking at for this (mainly to see if I can get visual inspiration, not game mechanics).

I'll probably have to check out Lumines more closely - I think it's the current standard-bearer...

[Bmc]

denki blocks has a fun style, of course it would need to be fancied up a bit (it's a gba game so the gfx aren't as detailed as they could be)

[steve bisson]

plunking down $300 for a handheld that I otherwise have no interest in seems a bit excessive.


thats were i shamlessly plug our freeware lumines clone ;) ( still in development , we are planning a big update soon and will double the skin/level count )

Lumixed 4E4 (http://www.dakurv.com/lumixed)

[princec]

Mr. Driller (http://dsmedia.ign.com/ds/image/article/569/569686/mr-driller-drill-spirits-20041130045227686.jpg) has a fun "combining-block" style as well.

Never mention Mr Driller again!!!!!!

Cas :)

[luggage]

Dr Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine had the blocks joining to each other in a 'jaunty' way.

[impossible]

I'm surprised Meteos hasn't been mentioned. While Lumines gets all the attention, Meteos is really a much more interesting game (and more fun imo). One of the most innovative match 3\falling block games I've played in a long time.

[Artinum]

I saw a demo for an Amiga game once where the 'blocks' were little creatures that joined hands/feet when they matched up. Something about "furry", I think.

What about going for an unusual premise and making your blocks different materials, such as metal, wood, rubbery squishy stuff, ice...?