Microsoft Jewel 2

My goal in designing Microsoft Jewel 2 was to offer a fresh take on the match 3 genre while still providing a sense of familiarity that all players could appreciate. I introduced innovative gameplay that would challenge and engage players, allowing them to improve their skills as they discovered and mastered new techniques

The first new mechanic developed was the Bonus Jewels.

Bonus Jewels

As the player creates matches and fills up the corresponding meters, they will earn Bonus Jewels.

Players can place these Bonus Jewel anywhere on the gameboard they want.  In the example below, the player is going to put a Red Jewel into the board to make a Match-5, which will give them a Power Jewel.

Bonus Jewels give the player the freedom to make larger matches, set up large cascades, and get yourself out of trouble. After we got the Bonus Jewels working, we moved onto the next new mechanic, the Challenge Mode.

Challenge Mode

Once the player makes the needed number of matches for that level, the game enters Challenge Mode. In this mode, the player must remove a certain number of Jewels from the board to continue. In the image below, the player needs to clear 32 Jewels or the game is over. Easy enough… right? To make things interesting, no new Jewels will fall into the board during this mode.  This turns the game into a small puzzle box and makes it feel more like a collapse game.

The player must look at every single match and think 2-3 matches ahead to make sure they don’t back themselves into a corner.

Players must use all the tools available to clear the needed amount of Jewels to continue playing.  That means using Bombs, Line Clears, Power Jewels, and their Bonus Jewels. Once they remove the needed amount, they can decide to move onto the next level or stick around and score more bonus points.

If the player decides to stick around and score more points, they could push themselves and try to clear the entire board of all Jewels and earn a huge bonus.

The Cycle Continues

After completing a Challenge Mode, the player moves on to the next level and starts to prepare for the next upcoming Challenge Mode.  As the levels increase, the difficulty does to. New colored Jewels, blockers called Rocks fill up your board, and the number of Jewels to be removed in Challenge Mode slowly increases.

New Ways to Play

Because Jewels stop falling into the board (causing empty spots on the board) and we don’t lock the player out from making matches while Jewels fall, it opens up new ways to play.

Players can move Jewels into empty space and make aerial matches:

What about dropping a Bonus Jewel high on the board and timing a Jewel swap at the bottom to make a Match-5?…

And there is even more you can do in this Jewel playground.  Go play it now at Microsoft Jewel – MSN Games!