Analysis Paralysis

Or, why did I choose to keep on going.

So, a little late I decided to research the ‘match 3’ market and see if there’s any chance that my game performs well. The fact is, it’s an overcrowded niche, with most of the contenders simply refurbishing the looks and mechanics from each other.

By digging game forums I discovered that it’s common to make the ‘match 3′ puzzle a kind of resource for the workings of another layer of the game, storytelling.

This made me think for a while, and I even started to write what would be the adventure of an undercover cop trying to bring a precious stones’ dealer to justice. And, you know what? The story was awesome. But it would take me a lot of time to implement everything because, as a one man project, even if I chose to make Burglar a mix of visual novel and puzzle (yes, visual novel, no movement but a LOT of scene frames), I couldn’t even guarantee the quality of the drawings.

Short story short, I decided that, yes, the mechanics of Burglar are innovative enough so that it’s reasonable to release it as a pure puzzle game. The cop will remain in the drawer for some time. Maybe in the future, who knows?