Another excerpt from the daily dev blog we've been writing for Spirit Sweeper. Check it out here.
Let me continue where I left off a few days ago, when I said I didn’t want to make a copycat game. Of course, that means I need to discuss a bit about minesweeper and how it works.
Traditional minesweeper has some pretty simple rules. 1. You open a
tile. 2. If a mine is in the tile, it’s game over. 3. If a number
appears, “n”, then within the 8 adjacent squares “n” number of mines
exist. 4. If you open an empty square with no number or mine, then it
will keep opening squares until you hit a square with a number on it.
You play until you can eliminate the possible squares that have mines,
with the goal of reaching 100% certainty. Often, there will be
situations where two squares have a 50/50 chance of having a mine.
MineSweeper Flags
This game is MineSweeper Flags, which was available on MSN messenger.
In this game, you could play against friends. Spirit Sweeper is very
similar to this game. The rules for this game work as follows: 1. Users
take turns opening tiles, 2. If a number appears, the user’s turn is
over, 3. If a mine appears the user gets 1 point and can get an
additional turn, 4. whoever finds half of the 26 mines first is the
winner. The fun of this game is the competition factor. It’s easy to
tell who’s good at minesweeper and who’s not by playing this game. Plus,
the fact that the game doesn’t end when you find a mine means that
there’s a different kind of excitement and stress from the game. Whereas
in minesweeper, the game can end at any turn, in this game there’s no
way to lose without a series of good moves made by the opponent. Special
items are available in the game that can be used when losing, for
example there is a bomb that allows you to open a 9×9 plot of tiles
instantly. But this item only becomes available when the score is
extremely lopsided.
Spirit Sweeper is very similar to Minesweeper Flags, with some minor
enhancements and rule changes. But I’m out of time… it’s time to eat
breakfast. Time to go to work!
