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  • Fossil Sweeper - minesweeper meets palaeontology (was Bonesweeper)


Hi people!

I'm proud to announce that I've been given partial funding via a recoupable grant from Screen Tasmania to develop one of my prototypes into a larger game.

At its core, Bonesweeper expresses Minesweeper style gameplay as players excavate individual fossils from a dig site. Some of those fossils will belong to mesozoic creatures (dinosaurs, but also pterosaurs, pliosaurs, etc.) and can be assembled into skeletons using Tetris-style controls once the player has found enough. If that sounds like fun, you can check out the prototype over on Itch.

In the full version, dig sites will be selected from an interactive map screen with a time slider showing how landmasses have changed over time. Here's an early WIP screenshot.

There'll also be a museum for players to put their fossils and assembled skeletons in. Here's a mock up.

I'm looking forward to sharing my progress as I go!

Wow! This looks pretty cool. Congrats on the funding.

6 months later

I've started doing video dev logs for this project. It's been fun to try to condense recent activity down into something bite sized!

I recall standing before the door to my apartment with a wooden box, in it a pile of human bones from an archaeological excavation, the long ones sticking out over the rim, a partly assembled skull on top, fumbling for the key when the neighbour stepped out of her door and turned pale. I was the talk of the tenement.

It was a rescue excavation and there wasn't enough room in the uni to spread them all, so some people had to take stuff with them for assembly and statistics:-)

    13 days later

    Another status update video! It's still very bare bones but I'm excited to be moving onto museum gameplay

    I find this a really nice and thoughtfully made project :-)

    a month later

    Another month, another progress update ^_^

    a month later

    And another update video. Not a lot of big work from me over the past month or so, but I'm excited to have some new music from the composer I'm working with and first audio from the sound designer I'm working with. I also touch on recently having a chat with a local palaeontologist.

    23 days later

    It's that time again! Getting some of the rarity systems implemented, and fleshing out base museum functionality

    The whole earth 3d portion of the game seems like deadly feature creep and I'd suggest just getting out the minesweeper part of the game, even possibly excluding the museum/skeleton part. This could be supplanted early with just a "you unlocked x/10 parts of skeleton y" unlocks. IMHO you are going too far away TOO FAST from the regular game loop. Also I drank every time you said the word chunk. Cheers to the chunks that come up later. Also if you do a diff accent next time I'll add more feedback. <3

      I like the approach the game takes. I find it lives from the atmosphere it creates, and being not as straightforward as a shooter imho belongs to it.

      Actually, real world excavations are often times subdivided into squares, for documentation and reconstruction purposes, and to assign responsibilities to workers. 3D is really important when it comes to judging a stratigraphy, and a timeline.

      Idk how far @Cheeseness wants to take it, but I think he's on a good way.

        Erich_L Hi! These are some very large scope alterations you're suggesting. What leads you to think they are a good idea?

        I've already shipped a version of the game that's just the dig and assembly phases. I'm not sure what I'd gain by removing features that are already functional in this larger version.

          Pixophir Right! There are some fun parallels between Minesweeper and palaeontology! Very early on, I experimented with having suspended string divide up the dig grid, but it was more visually complex and harder to "read" than the kind of presentation that's in the game at the moment.

          My angle for this project is "how can I best make Minesweeper fun/interesting for someone with my tastes?" rather than "How can I best depict palaeontology in a game?" so I'm OK with just hinting at some of these things or leaving them out if they lead away from the game I'm making.

          The museum is where I'm planning to surface more real-world information. In Hive Time, I added a "bee fact" to the bottom of every Beepedia page as a way of guiding players toward learning more about bees, and I want to do a similar thing here with unlockable museum displays (although research will be the primary focus rather than a footnote).

            Cheeseness The museum is where I'm planning to surface more real-world information. In Hive Time, I added a "bee fact" to the bottom of every Beepedia page as a way of guiding players toward learning more about bees, and I want to do a similar thing here with unlockable museum displays (although research will be the primary focus rather than a footnote).

            When a game not only entertains, but also teaches — it is excellent. I wish there were more games like that. Ideally, any game should have something new and interesting to learn. 🧑‍🏫

            Cheeseness

            "I've already shipped a version of the game"

            In that case ignore what I said, I bet you got all the feedback you need. Congrats