Games similar to my idea + Analysis of three
27/09/23
There are a few different types of Minesweeper games available on the app store (Apple/ios). I actually had to scroll quite far to find these since when you search "Minesweeper" it mostly shows different variants of Minesweeper but (from what I can tell from the images) mostly the same gameplay. The ones below have features that stood out to me.
I also found these interesting online adaptations which were shared on this website:
On the left is Introduction and Download - Crossmines (johnvalentine.co.uk) Crossmines which groups together the squares using colours. On the right is Betrapped which is a mixture between Minesweeper and a cluedo style game.
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| Minesweeper Adventure Story |
The style is really cute and nice to look at, however, I don't want to create a monster to fight like seen in the trailer for it. (Also, I saw all these games after coming up with my base idea, but I think they will be helpful for further developing my idea and getting a better understanding of how to make my game based on some of these examples)
I will now explore the features of classic Microsoft Minesweeper and compare them to Microsoft Minesweeper Dungeon (Within the same app but quite different) and Minesweeper Adventure Story (Since these are the closest games to my idea). I can then better understand what features I want in my game.
Classic Minesweeper (There are customisations for Microsoft Minesweeper but I played it on the "Classic" version which is very similar to the original version which is available as an archive here: Minesweeper: Robert Donner: Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming: Internet Archive the main difference is how the mouse moves, so I have chosen to share my gameplay of the 'newer' version because it's probably easier to watch)
Ui: Timer, Number of mines left, A smiley face that gains glasses when you win
Other features: Sound effects (Varies on what is clicked: Placing flags, clearing 1 square and clearing multiple squares), different coloured numbers.
Win: Confetti, celebratory sound, reveals mines(green squares), shows the time taken and exp/level with exp effect.
Fail: shows mine (Red square), Fail sound, Ui appears offering the ability to continue by watching an ad, reveals the mines you flagged correctly (green squares)
The overall style is pixel-based with a 3D/embossed effect on the unclicked squares (clearly showing the difference between these and safe squares)
You interact with the left and right mouse buttons and there wasn't really a tutorial but there is a how-to-play section in the menu 
Personally, I wouldn't really replay this game much unless I was bored and it was the only thing available to do, though I could see it as being a fun/challenging thing to play with a few minutes to spare or if you are interested in improving your minesweeper skills / want to beat your quickest time.
Microsoft Minesweeper Dungeon: The base mechanic is the same as standard minesweeper however the layout is in a dungeon style and there are added elements like hearts, gold and objects that help you progress.
Ui: Menu and Back button in the top left. The bottom is similar to a toolbar with the dungeon number, Number of hearts, number of shields, keys, arrows, pickaxes, dynamite and maps. There is also a four-leaf clover symbol (potentially to display luck?) and the amount of gold (Which I'm not sure what you spend it on). I only completed the first two levels so these features might be introduced later on in the game.
Other features: a variety of traps (in place of mines) which do not instantly end the game due to hearts and shields (which prevent losing hearts), these can be found when uncovering squares alongside gold and consumables like maps which clear an area for you. You get an introduction whenever you pick up a new item. The layout of the map is somewhat maze-like since there are rocks which you cannot click on and can only be destroyed by a pickaxe or dynamite (I believe). The character has an animated torch which is a nice touch.
There is also a sort of satisfying animation when the blocks are broken (Including a character animation) as well as an animation when you collect gold. There is a cave-like background sound, footstep sounds, sounds for when the blocks are broken, sounds when you collect the different items and a hurt sound when the character steps on a trap. However, there is no sound when you 'flag' a square. The character moves when you click on a square and way finds from where it was before, it sometimes clips corners though when it walks diagonally.
The pickaxe tool which I use in the video clears a 3x3 around the character(including boulders), though once I clicked the tool I was unsure if I was able to change my mind and use it somewhere else instead. The map tool also was a bit confusing since in the description it said it would flag the traps for you, however, it just destroyed the blocks covering the traps instead( which wasn't a big deal but it was conflicting information).
Style: I believe the majority of the game is 2D (The character is the only thing I think might be 3D, but I might be wrong) but everything has a 3D style to it, including shadows on the floor from the stones. The icons have a somewhat cartoony feel to them, while the textures are slightly semi-realistic, with a quite realistic leather texture for the bottom UI. I'm not a big fan of the overall style, but it matches the theme of the game quite well.
Other notes on the style: Flags are instead exclamation marks. One trouble I had with this version was if your character was standing on a "1" you could not see the number (Although the character does become slightly transparent) and similar to this all the numbers are in the same style (which looks nice but is less helpful than having different numbers being different colours).
There is however a nice differentiation in the squares, the breakable blocks are similar shades but are not repetitive since they have slightly different textures (as in they don't all look the same, but are all 'rocks') The cleared area is a nice contrast with a dark grey and a lighter grey is used for the boulders and walls.
Win: To pass the level you need to reach the exit and you don't need to mark all the traps or clear all the safe blocks. There isn't really any animation (Which I would have expected since there was an animation showcasing the dungeon at the start of the level), it just shows a similar completion UI to the classic Minesweeper but with a slightly different design to match the dungeon theme.
There is also a completion sound. I am not sure how many dungeon levels there are but presumably, it gets harder? However, it could possibly be endless but just randomly generated each time.
Fail: you fail when you lose all hearts, the game then takes you back to level 1.
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| Don't have a video of this game, since I don't have screen recording on my phone. |
Minesweeper Adventure Story (aka. Naphood Hero Adventure Story - the name was different when I downloaded it)
-(The notes for this game will not be in sections but rather in the order I experienced the different features)
Upon opening the game I was greeted by a loading screen (including made with Unity) this led to a logo screen where you had to accept the TOS. There is then a really nice 2D animated cut scene, which introduces the main character as being lost. This leads into a sort of integrated tutorial where it shows you how you move the character using visual cues like a finger pointing to a square.
The character has a cute animation, including a walking animation and different interaction animations. When you click for the character to move there are footprints leading from the character to an x shape.
The concept of the game is that instead of mines (like in Minesweeper) there are spirits hidden in 'fog'? and you have to 'chain' the spirits. The indicators for the spirits include a floating 'pet' that shows the number next to the character and there are also indicators in the corners of nearby squares. (The numbers update when spirits are added in the boss level).
There are instructions/tutorials that show at the top of the screen during the first few levels which are animated (which makes them more helpful than written text), for instance, one shows you how to chain the spirits by holding down your finger and swiping towards a nearby square (the squares you can 'chain' are highlighted, but if you try to chain an empty square then you lose health) When you hold down your finger it is like charging up magic and this interaction is much more interesting in comparison to placing a flag in minesweeper.
When the main menu appeared it seemed quite overwhelming at first because there were lots of icons (and not all of them were necessary in the beginning stages) however I really liked the subtle animation of the character moving around on the menu.
The tips/tutorials make up different pieces of a puzzle and you unlock these by playing the different levels of the game (I wasn't able to get any in the second area of the game, so I am not sure how they differ). The better you do in the level the better rewards you get based on a 3-star rating system (you lose stars if you lose health for instance). You also require energy to attempt the different levels and you gain 1 energy every 5 minutes. When you click on a level it shows you how much energy you need, what the challenges are and what the prizes could be.
I really liked the loading screen between different parts of the game which was an animation of the character as a spirit (which is what it becomes when you lose all your health).
There is also a blue guardian-like character which sometimes appears in the levels and offers help like an extra heart or gold.
From a minesweeper gameplay standpoint, it is more challenging because not all of the numbers are shown at one time and there is more at stake since you can lose health which would result in losing rewards. (You can upgrade hearts, speed and the amount of numbers shown, so it makes sense why it is done like this.) However on the other hand the hearts are quite useful because they give you another chance if you make a mistake. I also like how the numbers (indicating the number of spirits nearby) are not obscured by the character.
There is also a help button which shows the tutorials again if you need them.
I also wanted to see what would happen if you click on an unchained spirit (even though the tutorial shows what happens in the level after I tried this), when you click a square with a spirit is animated eating one of the hearts (health) and when you lose all your health the character turns into a spirit then you get the option of using gems or watching an ad to continue (or you can decline this option).
The sound design is nice, there is calm yet somewhat adventurous music in the menu page and more adventurous music in the levels. The character also makes some sounds when it appears along with interaction sounds.
When you double tap a square all the squares around it are cleared (which is useful for squares with 0 on them or when you have chained all the spirits around a square) However if there is an unchained spirit in the area then you will lose health.
There is also the option to drag to move, but the character will always move square to square (horizontally and vertically, not diagonally).
One of the rewards from the levels is runes which you use along with gold to level up your character, however, you are not told by the game what the runes are for until the tutorial tells you to use them.
The symbols to the left of the levels indicate the speed and memory (how many numbers you can see), at first, I thought these were abilities since there was nothing to say what they were.
I was also expecting more story, considering the game was called "Adventure Story", however I played around 14 levels (including the 7 prologue levels and the boss level which was level 6 in the 2nd area) and there was no more storyline aside from the cut scene at the very beginning of the game. Because of this, I felt that the game was getting a bit boring since I wanted to find out more about the story. The boss level did break up the repetitiveness and was quite challenging, however, I thought there would maybe be some storyline after completing it.
The levels are cleared when you have chained all the spirits (there is an indicator for the number of spirits at the top right of the UI) and when you have done this all uncleared squares are cleared by the game.
Another thing that I found a bit annoying with this game was that there were only "try again" and "menu" buttons when you complete the level and no option to go straight to the next level, this breaks the flow of playing the game if you want to play multiple levels in a row.
I did like how there were different areas which have different appearances which are shown in the level backgrounds and the menu background. There was also the feature of daily missions which could influence the player to play every day. Another feature I wish the game had was a choice of the main character (different genders and skin tones) so that the player could better relate to the character, however, they might not have done this since they would have to make multiple versions of the cut scenes.
Overall, I liked how different this game is from classic Minesweeper and I also really liked the animations and sound effects, but I think there are aspects that could be improved on in particular for a game with "story" in the title there was much less story than what I had expected.
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