Need Some Advice - Preparing to build 1st game - Dominoes Based

prmirage

Greetings all,

As the title suggests, I am new to game design and GameSalad. I am a graphic design "hobbiest" with linear programming history (waaay back in the FoxPro days - don't laugh). Anywho, I have an idea for a game and would like to tap your brains for some advice. It's actually not a "new" concept - it's a Domino game but for a very niche market. I know niche can be both good and bad but this market would definitely pay and it absolutely does not already exist so I think I have a money maker here if I can pull this off.

So, here are my questions and thanks in advance for your assistance...

1.) First of all, has anyone here ever designed a basic Domino game that can offer any suggestions, help, tips, tricks, etc?

2.) I need this game to be player vs bot and multi-player turn based (2-4 players) with "Your turn" notification to the handset. Is this possible with GameSalad?

3.) In addition to above, I would like this game to be cross-platform Android/iPhone compatible. Meaning, Android users can play vs iPhone users and vice-versa.

4.) Did I mention teams in #2? The multi-player, turn based, must be able to support teams. I.E. - 4 players w/2 teams playing each other.

5.) Lastly, accumulative scoring for teams.

I appreciate any help and or suggestions. I know this may seem like a lot to tackle on a first project but it's the only type of game I'm interested in creating at this point.

Thanks,

RV

ShmirlyWhirl

Here are a few answers that I know:

#2-#4) With GameSalad, it is impossible to have network play, so that rules out cross platform connectivity. However, you could have a system in place for pass and play (i.e. multiple players, one device). I'm sure you could have a bot to play against, but that would require a heckofalotta AI, which might not be too simple with GS the way it currently is.

If you are working within these constraints, #5 would be simple.

As far as #1, I have not made a domino game, but there are plenty of useful videos on youtube and gshelper.com that will make your time spent with GameSalad much easier.

prmirage

Here are a few answers that I know:

#2-#4) With GameSalad, it is impossible to have network play, so that rules out cross platform connectivity. However, you could have a system in place for pass and play (i.e. multiple players, one device). I'm sure you could have a bot to play against, but that would require a heckofalotta AI, which might not be too simple with GS the way it currently is.

If you are working within these constraints, #5 would be simple.

As far as #1, I have not made a domino game, but there are plenty of useful videos on youtube and gshelper.com that will make your time spent with GameSalad much easier.

Truly appreciate your feedback. I think given the restrictions, perhaps GS isn't the way to go. Unfortunately, the success of the game would be heavily if not almost entirely dependent on its cross platform compatibility and "playability". It's just that type of game. A bot would only carry it so far and I would see sales peaking rather quickly. The fun is in the competition of playing real people.

Anyhoot, I think I might change directions here and start looking at a collaborative path with a programmer.

I may post back on here to see if anyone is interested. I'm sure someone designs outside of GS to some degree. Need a confidentiality agreement first... :-)

Thanks again @ShmirlyWhirl!

ds1239

I would recoment using a table for scoring. If you want t display it, you could use the display text-click on the little "e", click on the arrow, click tablecellvalue, then you put in the table, row, and column of the specific score you want to display. To save a score, do the same thing but in a change attribute, tablecellvalue for the attribute being changed, then change it to a number. REMEMBER: if you just have change to 1 and the person has 3, then it will change it to one. Fo that, you have to do +1.