IMGA 2006

~ Pending Splash Screen of the Game ~

Designed by

Mr. Sai Chung, Tam

Contact Email

chung@filmplus.com.hk

Reference WebLink

http://www.filmplus.com.hk/games/IMGA_2006/Synchro.html

is a game of endurance by means of synchronization. You should be calm while keeping pace, i.e. to nize, with the rhythm generated by the game in order to win. Hurry as well as reluctance will fail you ...

Being the host supposedly, you invite 2 opponents, namely A and B, to play with. Bluetooth, WiFi or infra-red maybe, is planned to cater for the communication among the 3 mobile phones/devices engaged.

The following self-explanatory image illustrates the 3-Player scene. Each player him/herself is always located at the bottom whilst his/her opponents at upper portion on his/her screen. Obviously, the image below shows your own screen. As for A, he/she will have B and you at the upper left and upper right corners on A's screen respectively. The Left and Right Buttons are associated with the left and right keys on the respective mobile phones/devices. You're all sitting 'triangularly' in virtual space but not in real world as long as you're all close within the vicinity.

The actual gameplay will have much closer view as seen in later images.

~ Game objects illustration ~

Simply put, your goal is to attract the ball towards you - I refer it to 'homing'. How? Throughout the game, will generate a rhythm, or simply a 2-tone beat, either through sound of high/low-pitch or dim-up/down graphics, or both. You have to press on your mobile phone/device, the left and the right keys alternatively, to catch up with, but no faster than, the rhythm. The closer your match with the rhythm, the stronger the attractive force you achieve. It's this attractive force that 'homes' the ball - rolls the ball towards you. Certainly, a perfect match, though almost impossible, will let the ball 'home' in a dash!

In other words, the strength of the attractive force is inversely proportional to the difference between your key-pressed rhythm and that generated by ; either faster or slower, to any extend, will your attractive force be reduced. The maximum attractive force can only be achieved by a perfect match.

The following 3 images show typical conditions during gameplay. Please be reminded that the blue arrows do not represent mathematical vectors. They are solely for easy illustrations. However, a thicker blue arrow depicts a stronger attractive force whereas a thinner one depicts a weaker attractive force.

~ Condition 1 - Equilibrium with equal attraction ~

If all players make the exact key-pressed rhythm theoretically, or none of them make a single key-press, thereby achieving the same or null attractive force, an equilibrium occurs such that the ball remains stationary (Condition 1). It may happen though, since a certain amount of tolerance should be allowed to account for the unequal key-press sensitivities of different phone/device brands or models.

Once there occurs differences in key-press rhythms will the ball 'home' to that player, you for example (Condition 2), who make the best / closest match of rhythm. So you achieve the strongest attractive force. The ball will be closer neither to A nor to B if they both achieve the same key-press rhythm and thus the same attractive force.

~ Condition 2 - Your attraction > A's attraction (=B's attraction) ~

Note :- By means of vector calculation, each player bears a unique vector resulting from his/her attractive force. The sum of all players' vectors gives rise to a resultant which resembles a force with direction to move the ball.

Catching up with the game-generated rhythm, but still lagging behind you, A defeats B (Condition 3) and thus dragging the ball closer.

~ Condition 3 - Your attraction > A's attraction > B's attraction ~

You should always be aware of being distracted, especially by your opponents. Once you are distracted, you will easily loose pace and find it hard to synchronize again. So, the golden rule - be concentrated.

As mentioned earlier, your goal is to attract the ball towards you. And to win is to endure along the game, attracting the ball until it arrives 'home', which is the corner right in front of you. The following images show 3 cases of 'homing' - winning.

~ Case 1 - You won by 'homing' the ball ~

~ Case 2 - Player A won by 'homing' the ball ~

~ Case 3 - Player B won by 'homing' the ball ~

It is planned to be a multi-player game, not just 3. With 4 or more players, there occurs increasing uncertainties but less tense. The game may even come to a draw. I'm afraid if the hosting mobile would overload or not - I've not yet down to the coding - let's check later. 3 should be optimal, I guess. But competing against only 1 opponent should be most concentrated and challenging.

But if you hardly found a playmate, will still let you compete against your own records. That is, the shortest time to 'home' or the nearest 'home' within a time limit. You can then submit online and compare with those lonely players.

So, be concentrated, keep pace, endure and nize ...

Extra Movies of Interest

Synchro_Splash - preliminary openning shot

Synchro_P1 - in-game view mode (top to perspective)

Synchro_P2 - in-game view mode (perspective to top)

Synchro_End - end of game shot