An Abstract Match Game
Blox is a minimalist, thoughtless match game designed to help humans zone out anywhere and anytime. It introduces a completely unique play mechanism that is designed to be easy to grasp, fast, and engaging.
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An Experimental Approach
Blox started as an experiment on how to apply the product design approach to game development. I felt it was the time to bring my experience from products into game development. So I went on a journey to learn about games, human psychology in game play and iterative exploration.
Inventing a Mechanism
During the process of development of Blox I explored many ideas, made iterations, built prototypes, tested them, and updated the game play many times until I was confident about the play rules and the feelings it creates.
This approach requires extensive prototyping. It helped me discover new possibilities to provide the key values to the players.Meditative Experience
I wanted to put people in the heart of our ideation and development process for Blox. This not only included a lot of testing and user feedback sessions but also thinking about the values and the desires of humans Blox is designed for. Blox is created to help people zone out anywhere and anytime to get back to life with a fresh mind.
Easy-To-Grasp
Creating a truly casual game means a casual onboarding. Developing a model which is easy to master was a key principle in the design of Blox. This was achieved by creating layers in the game play. The fist layer, which involves basic movements of blocks, is designed to be intuitive and easy to learn. While the next layers need more time to be discovered by the user.
Zoning Out
Anywhere and Anytime
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Progressive and Strategic
To have a longer term engagement I had to think of a model in which the game progresses as the player gets better in playing it. This needed to happen without chancing the mechanism of the play. The solution was to keep updating the algorithm so the game get harder as the user develops new skills. This way the game never becomes more sophisticated and challenging by time. As intuitive and casual to play, this unique play mechanism of Blox makes it a strategic and thoughtful game as you continue playing it.
Team:
Idea and Design: Amid Moradganjeh
Tech and Craft: Alvar Laigna
Sound and Music: Ottavio Cambieri