Match Three Together

It’s match 3 (like Candy Crush), but …

  • As a local multiplayer game. You must play with multiple people on the same device.
  • Players are part of the grid. You “swap” yourself with another element by simply moving into it.
  • Which is a unique movement system that also allows all sorts of special actions and cooperation.

Map

The field is a grid of elements (candy, food, items, artifacts, whatever).

Player Input

The game works on a “clock” or “tick”:

  • Every turn, all players have X seconds to decide their input.
  • Once time’s up, the last input for all players is collected and executed at the same time.

Input is merely in which direction to move.

  • You swap places with whatever is in that direction.
  • If this creates 3-in-a-row (or a bigger combination), it’s removed and scores you points.
  • What if two people want to move to the same square?
    • The strongest one wins. (You can collect weapons/lives/strength by swapping during the game.)
    • Otherwise, if a tie, nobody moves.

Scoring

This could be cooperative or competitive.

  • Cooperative: one score, try to get it as high as possible.
  • Competitive: each their own score, get the biggest one.

Besides scoring points by making combinations, you can also …

  • Make combinations that result in some other benefit. (Lives, strength, powerup, …)
  • Simply swap with one thing to activate that for yourself.

When does the game end?

  • A fixed number of rounds/moves.
  • Or until nobody has lives left.
  • Or until the whole area is cleared. (Or one type, like “the finish flag”, has been swapped and cleared.)