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Elemental Connection is a minimalist abstract board game about making elemental connections. Relax, think, and solve the situation as it unfolds.

Connect colored tiles on the same board as your opponent while using the growing field of vivid squares to gain an advantage. Struggle against six types of computer opponents, each with their own method of outwitting you. Learn the gentle nuances of play to eke out those precious few points.

Elemental Connection is a board game I developed in 2003 to play with friends. It started with poster board and markers, then slowly progressed into hand-crafted wooden versions that I lugged around different countries to play with fellow strangers. It's pretty cool. We can play in real life if you like.

This version is just to spread the love. It has no multiplayer yet, but someday...?

Thanks for taking your time to play! Enjoy!



CREDITS

Design/Audio/Programming: Lannie "Merlandese" Neely III
Testing: Fernando "Ferdk16" Carabajal, Marina Moraes Leite, Kan Gao

The song "Scrapping" is by Fernando "Ferdk16" Carabajal


OPPONENT AI

Creative - Only cares about matching tiles.
Simplistic - Cares about matching tiles and gaining points.
Normal - Doesn't care about misconnections if it thinks it can get more points on the next turn.
Mindful - Cares about matching tiles and borders for the most points. Avoids misconnections.
Thoughtful - Carefully tests the mentality of lesser and greater AIs.
Efficient - Will do whatever it takes to win.

Latest Blog

Steam and Itch.IO versions released!

ECON is released! Multiplayer, new challenges, new boards, all of that.

We also have a Discord if you want to set up games with strange weirdos!

It's pretty nice having this released. I hope you like it. :)

-------------------------------------

STEAM: https://store.steampowered.com/app/971780/ECON__Elemental_Connection/

ITCH: https://merlandese.itch.io/econ-elemental-connection

DISCORD: https://discord.gg/Qu4Xf7w
  • Completed
  • Merlandese
  • Construct 2
  • Puzzle
  • 06/04/2018 12:54 PM
  • 12/16/2018 07:00 PM
  • 05/31/2018
  • 15324
  • 2
  • 74

Tags

Posts

Pages: 1
Cap_H
DIGITAL IDENTITY CRISIS
6625
This looks like you made some fancy ai.
author=Cap_H
This looks like you made some fancy ai.


Yeah, too fancy sometimes! I made this game 15 years ago and have played it in the thousands of times against humans. Then I made this digital version and I still struggle to beat the Efficient AI. XD
Okay, this game addicted the hell outta me within a couple of days. Seems like I have to connect colored blocks for the rest of my life.

Greetings
Tw0Face
Glad to hear it! :)

There's an online multiplayer coming soon, as well as a few new board shapes, so keep your eyes peeled. :)
author=Merlandese
There's an online multiplayer coming soon, as well as a few new board shapes, so keep your eyes peeled. :)


For sure. :) Tell me when it's finished.

If I were you, for the sake of completeness, I would as well show the AI's score during the game.

Greetings,
Tw0Face

author=Tw0Face
If I were you, for the sake of completeness, I would as well show the AI's score during the game.


There's a big lesson in game building like this where you can't show both the End of the game and the Full Score at the same time. It's a tricky thing to explain, but the simplest way is this: If you know that the game is beating you by 10 points and you only have five turns left, you might lose all hope and stop trying, or you'll just quit the game. It saps the enjoyment whether you're ahead or losing. It's probably not a big deal with the computer (since they don't care if they lose against you) but this definitely happens in the real-life game, and would certainly happen in online multiplayer.

The early versions had the score shown, and at one point had a tug-of-war style track as well, and all of these fell flat. After researching board games more I realized the either End or Full Score "rule" and changed the Full Score to be hidden info. :)
I think I understand what you mean by that. Thank you for explaining it to me.

Greetings,
Tw0Face
You're still working on this? The game lagged a bit the last time I played it. Still looking forward to multiplayer mode.

Greetings,
Tw0Face
Yep! I've been trying to work with people to optimize a mobile version. Then we'll release PC multiplayer versions simultaneously. So far so good, but it's still not ready for release. :)

The updated version will hopefully have less lag, if any at all.
Some random idea: How about giving the player an option to save a finished game so he could watch it as replay (with fast-forward option and visible enemy score)?
Pages: 1