Puzzle game The Domingos is Hyderabad based TeaPOT games latest offering to the gaming lovers, which was released yesterday as a free a
pp on Android. This studio, that was started last year November is Founded and spearheaded by Satish Chandra, and has already won Excellence award at Square Enix GDCI for this game
Built using 3D assets, the game play of The Domingos uses the Domino effect as a core mechanic. In each level, the player must figure out a way to topple all the Dandits(a portmanteau of Domino and Bandit) without touching the Dominitas (Domino + Senorita). The player can achieve this by creating a sequence of Domingos (Domino + Amigo) across the map and make use of the environment and the existing objects in the level to his favor. Trailer Link
Speaking to AnimationXpress.com about the inspiration behind choosing this game play, Satish, shares, “The idea for the game came from a scene in the movie ‘V for Vendetta’, where V topples the sequence of dominos over Inspector Finch’s monologue on what is to happen on 5th of November.”
Initially, TeaPOT thought to develop tools where users/players can create their own designs consisting of sequences of dominos and have fun toppling them in a Sandbox type of environment but later realized that the domino effect mechanic can be incorporated with puzzle elements to create a unique puzzle experience.
“We wanted to make the game more about realizing the solution to a level, than drawing the solution to a level. This proved to be a challenge, given the core mechanic of drawing a sequence of dominos. The domino drawing algorithm was optimized and fine-tuned to make it as easy as possible to implement what the player has conceived in his mind.”, Adds more
Budgeted in between 50-1 Lac, Domingos art design is picked from The “Damsels in Distress” and brings out a cartoonish Wild West art style. The game is made in Unity 3D with Majority of the code written using JavaScript and 3D Assets are created using Blender.
Majority of the testing of this game was done at TeaPOT, but the final pre-release testing was outsourced.
“We play tested all the levels and ranked each level on a scale of difficulty and complexity. We used those metrics in setting up the difficulty ramp of the game.” Informs more
Physics optimization was a major challenge for TeaPOT when porting the game onto mobile devices.
“We will soon be launching the same on iOS. In future versions of this game, we would like to improve the 3D art and add minor idle animations to the characters.”
“The Domingos will be followed by an arcade top-down flying game titled- “No Hydraulics”, concludes, Satish