Hex-based match-3

[Phil Steinmeyer]

Word games have often used a hex-based layout, rather than an orthagonal layout (i.e. Bonnie's Bookstore, Bookworm, Acropolis).

I'm curious if any match-3 color games have used a hex layout? Hex layouts open up more possibilities, so you'd have to compensate by making the game harder in other ways (more colors, and/or more stringent matching criteria, like match-4).

Then again, it may just confuse players accustomed to 4-directional matching.

Any examples of 6-way/hex based color matching games?

[Bmc]

Hexic is probably the most successful/known one, I've seen others but nothing that has ever made a big splash.

http://zone.msn.com/en/hexic/default

[soniCron]

Any examples of 6-way/hex based color matching games? Atomixer is another.

[svero]

Mad caps was another popular hex based matcher game

- S

[Phil Steinmeyer]

Hmm - they're all pretty obscure - no hits. Maybe that means something...

[Ricardo Vladimiro]

I'm developing a Hex-Match-3 game and have tested the gameplay with some casual players. I'm also trying some diferent gameplay and the feedback until now is that it is fun and easy to get started, even with the aditional gameplay.

I started a thread about it (sorry, I'll look for it later) and I'm trying to push it just a little bit forward from the typical match-3 approach.

It's still a very young game, some graphics and the basic funcionality but the "negative" feedback I'm getting is only from other game developers or non-casual players, mostly because it needs a lot of graphics, scores, yada yada yada.

My conclusion (for now) is that from the gameplay point of view, having a slightly diferent gameplay mechanic and a hex-board is something casual players hang on to very well.

[Sharkbait]

Atomixer is another.

I just wanted to share a comment from a reviewer from a major portal that turned Atomixer down - He felt that the tripple-swapping mechanic is too unintuitive, especially since the player can swap clockwise or anti-clockwise using the Left and Right mouse buttons. Also, the reviewer said the game was 'too innovative' with both a hex board and the tripple swapping mechanism and that the hex board by itself could have sufficed to make the game stand out from the crowd. They suggested implementing a simple two-way swapping mechanism just like Bejewelled, BKR etc.

I must say I was tempted to follow their recommendation but it would have meant redefining a workable Puzzle Mode for the game and throwing away the existing Puzzle levels because they rely on the tripple swap mechanism.

Hope that helps :)

[Bmc]

Hmm - they're all pretty obscure - no hits. Maybe that means something...

Mad Caps was a hit (I forgot about that one) and I believe Hexic was a hit, but I'm pretty sure it's only available from MSN, I don't believe any other portals ever had it.

[Grey Alien]

I considered a hex-based match-3 recently, maybe I won't bother now...

[svero]

Yeah mad caps did very well.

- S

[Bmc]

now that I think of it, if Mad Caps is hex so is Super Bounce Out which also did extremely well

[Stu]

Interesting thread. (nervously closes window blinds) We are also working on a hex-based matching game.

Yes, the hex changes things a bit but I don't think that the hex alone makes for an unworkable mechanism. It's really just a fundamental starting point. Obviously the goals of a hex-based matching mechanism are the same as traditional matching (fun, balanced, intuitive, etc.). Rather than try to squeeze another variety out of the square we chose to begin with the hex and stick with it unless it caused us serious problems. We ended up sticking with it.

As long as we get the rest of it right I don't think hexes will make or break us.

[Julian Gollop]

Doesn't puzzle bobble/bust-a-move count? I mean, adjacent circles create a hexagonal layout.

[Bmc]

Doesn't puzzle bobble/bust-a-move count? I mean, adjacent circles create a hexagonal layout.

not really, he is basically refering to swapping games. puzzle bobble is a whole other mechanic.

[Julian Gollop]

He only makes a reference to colour matching in the original post. The actual mechanic of how to create a row of colours isn't mentioned.

[Bmc]

match 3 usually implies bejeweled and it's siblings

[StGabriel]

I worked on two versions of a progressive-fill,l hex-based game a while ago that used a match-3-like mechanic (in my case you had to create strings of 3 or greater, not necessarily straight). I created a wonky physics engine, kind of like my Crystal Chaos game, which forced round balls to fall into hex shapes. It worked ok and with some polish it might have made a fun game. In general it seemed to be pretty easy for the game to create 3 or larger strings of the same color -- maybe I just needed more colors. What I tried instead was to limit the number of matches you could make in a given period but that ended up just being frustrating for the player.

Glad you reminded me of it, I may revisit that on my blog at some point soon.

[oldschool]

http://zeratul.cellosoft.com/hexagem.php
hex matching game and its free.