Today I gave myself an alliterative challenge in design. I wanted to come up with a game using nothing but tetrominoes, tiles, and a timer. The game is called Architetro and, as you might expect, it's about building things.
The game is meant to be a light strategy game where players are given a certain number of tetrominoes and are dealt five floor plan tiles. Each floor plan has cells that must be filled in to score and a bonus placement (sometimes two) for that tile which gives you extra points.
Once a player has finished a floor they place the floor plan on top of that floor and move onto the next one. The first person to finish all five floors flips the timer. Once the timer is out, the game is over and points are totaled.
Each placement of a bonus tetromino is worth 4 points. Proper finishing of a floor is worth 7 points - 1 point for each square that should have been filled in that wasn't. Buildings may have protrusions which will be a nice place for the residents to sit and eat a leisurely Sunday brunch.
I'm surprised at how quickly this game formed in my mind and how easily it took shape. Obviously, there is some work to be done in balancing scoring and tiles so that they are all possible, but at this point all I need to do is print out the tiles and I'll have a working prototype.
I'll report back when I have something more concrete.
