Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Improvements to ShapeMatch?

I am considering making some improvements to ShapeMatch. Here are the things I have in mind:
  • Changing the scoring system - I am not too sure I want to do this because the game targets toddlers, and I don't know the value of keeping score for kids that age.
  • Adding sounds - Thinking about adding sounds to describe each shape. "Circle." "You matched the circle!" Of course, I would include a Settings menu item to disable the sounds.
  • Adding different difficulty levels - Currently there is just one 4x4 grid. I don't want to go any bigger because the buttons are just the right size on my Droid for my kid's fingers. But I would consider smaller grids, maybe 2x2, 3x2, 4x2, 4x3 grids.
  • Making the matched cards disappear or become disabled - the matched cards serve a UI purpose: you can touch an matched card to get an unsuccessful match to turn over. If I added this, I'd probably add the next improvement
  • Adding a timer to turn cards over after an unsuccessful match - this would remove the need to touch a card to continue after an unsuccessful match, but it would consume extra battery life to run a timer, which is a side effect I don't like.
  • Improving the graphics - I am not a designer, but I could play around in Inkscape some.
What improvements would you make to ShapeMatch?