User Generated Minigame news - Clones

In my previous news posting i described how it's possible to use the logic and event objects in the Clones level editor to create a map with dynamic spawn and exit points. This time we'll examine a map created by a fan (who happens to be #1 on the singleplayer leaderboards) which uses the flexibility of the editor to create a map that plays like the classic game Minesweeper.

The gameplay of the map is what you expect for a Minesweeper clone, clicking a square will either reveal a number indicating the number of adjacent "nova" squares, or reveal a blank square, or trigger a nova which ends the level by causing the big clone at the top to explode out of shame. There is also a score counter at the top right which is a nice touch.

To pull this off requires a little bit of thinking, and a lot of copy/paste. Each square is an "Annotation Trap" which is normally used to display a voice bubble message to the player, in fact you can see some in the gameplay video and there are others in the editor to explain the layout. Each Annotation trap has it's "Clicked Close" event linked to a corresponding "Proximity Trap" which is the main logic element, it's really an event relay capable of modifying itself and other traps in the level. So on a blank square the proxy trap will simply propagate the click to nearby annotations until a numbered square is hit.

There is a "Updater Trap" set to Counter mode at the bottom which tracks how many non-nova squares have been triggered. If you manage to solve the level then that counter will fire it's event triggering a "Win/Loss Trap" which allows a level designer to instantly end the level as either a win or loss.
Currently the map is one big hard coded array, but we are thinking about how we could enable level designers to dynamically create a map this this so that it would be different each time.

Also, this Saturday April 23rd we are planning to have another multiplayer jam at 17:00 UTC - Bit.ly. Everyone is welcome to join, simply download the free demo and find or start a multiplayer server.