Polyhegrams
Introduction
"Awaken guardian! The galaxy is being invaded by strange polyhedron shaped beings from another dimension which we have come to call Polyhegrams. They are stealing all the planets and pulling them through the rift. If you do not act to defend us then all will be lost."
Description
Polyhegrams is a game that combines word knowledge, 3 dimensional spacial relations, and dexterity.
There is both a single player story mode which allows the player to challenge the various puzzles as they attempt to steal back the captured planets from the Polyhegrams.
And then there is a multiplayer mode which allows the player to compete in short 3 minute games against any and all comers to find as many unique words that can be formed on the faces of a large 12 or 20 sided Polyhegram.
Finally there is Random game mode which serves up random types of Polyhegrams for instant enjoyment.
The game is supported by a cloud based service that can update the dictionary, add new puzzles and even new levels to the game.
There is also an awards section that contains a modest number of accomplishments for you to shoot for.
Developer Perspective
This application was originally developed for the Windows Phone 7 using Silverlight/XNA however I postponed the release when I had the opportunity to expand it onto the Windows 8 platform. Currently it is awaiting certification.
Since the Windows 8 tablet does not support XNA I had to convert the project to utilize MonoGame 3.0 for Windows 8 and refactor large portions of the code to isolate the platform specific details. In addition I modified some of the libraries that I was using for particle effects(Project Mercury) and 3D Fonts(Nuclex fonts) to support this new platform. Finally I had to rework the local database and file storage mechanisms so that I could take advantage of Windows 8 remote settings.
Since there is a multiplayer component, I had written a WCF backend server that I was able to host on AppHarbor and utilizing a MongoDB database. In addition to serving up the current multiplayer puzzle and high score list I also was able to leverage it to supply updates for new puzzles, dictionary terms and a few other clerical duties.
In Progress or coming soon
Improving the graphics, sounds and overall experience
Keeping track of the best overall scores of all time for a particular puzzle
Adding the ability to share your accomplishments with your friends including exporting the leaderboard or the result of a particularly challenging puzzle
Head to Head mode.
Local network multiplayer.
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