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I'm building a 3D tic-tac-toe game and this is what I've implemented so far:

  • 3D renderer with texture mapping
  • Playing against the computer
  • Playing online (multiplayer)

Now I'm a little lost what I could add. Obviously, tic-tac-toe isn't that exciting or advanced, but I just miss something to salt it a little bit.

Therefore, could anyone please suggest some ideas that would be worth implementing?

Thanks!

pimvdb
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  • What are you doing for audio? – michael.bartnett Mar 26 '11 at 23:12
  • Are you looking for ways to extend the game or the visualization? –  Mar 27 '11 at 08:08
  • @Tim Nordenfur: Well, both perhaps. As bearcdp stated, audio can also be an interesting addition. – pimvdb Mar 27 '11 at 10:16
  • Depends... what's the purpose of making this game? Are you just building your programming skills? What kinds of programming are areas of interest to you? If you like databases you could hook it up to an online leaderboard with player statistics; if you like graphics you can add new ones; and so on. Basically, instead of thinking "what feature to add?" think "what do I want to get out of this for my time?" and the features should come naturally. – Ian Schreiber Apr 01 '11 at 19:40
  • @Ian Schreiber: This is basically my first game programming project which I'm trying to make complete and perfect. Of course I could just only care about graphics, but I was wondering if someone could come up with ideas that would perhaps not have come to my mind. I do understand that ideas should come naturally though, otherwise this would not be a good hobby of mine :) – pimvdb Apr 02 '11 at 08:13

5 Answers5

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Kind of a crazy second answer here ... you can always convert it into a full-fledged strategy game. Just turn tic-tac-toe pieces into, say, Orcs or something exotic, and start building it up from there ...

I know, it's weird, but you already have an established board with game mechanics. Start by adding pieces that modify the existing behavior (eg. enemy can't be placed diagonally adjacent to a certain type of unit, say) and build it from there.

You can slowly expand functionality, board-size, and rules for winning (eg. wiping out all enemy units).

ashes999
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You could add more visual effects to the game to make it visually appealing (especially when a player wins. I personally don't like the classic "You won!" text, I prefer fireworks and fire all over the screen, but maybe that's just me)

Jesse Emond
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  • I'm currently letting confetti in all different colors fall from top to the bottom of the screen. I think fireworks are more exciting, thanks. – pimvdb Mar 26 '11 at 23:29
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    and how are you handling camera movement when changing turns? Because you could add some fancy camera movement there too. But I must admit that I've never made a 3D Tic-Tac-Toe though.. – Jesse Emond Mar 26 '11 at 23:32
  • Well that's not too bad at all. It will most certainly make things more attractive. Thanks for your input. – pimvdb Mar 26 '11 at 23:55
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    I implemented some automatic camera movement and it makes it quite attractive indeed, thanks! – pimvdb Mar 27 '11 at 16:22
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Make it 3d. 3d Tic-Tac-Toe is played on three 3x3 grids. You can win on any single board, or across boards (eg. top-left square in every board; or top-left, center-middle, and bottom-right across the three boards.

Some win conditions:

x.. ... ...
.x. ... ...
..x ... ...

(Winning on a single board)

x.. x.. x..
... ... ...
... ... ...

(Same location across three levels)

x.. .x. ..x
... ... ... 
... ... ...

(Same row across three levels)

x.. ... ...
... x.. ...
... ... x..

(Same column across three levels)

Edit: You could also make it a 4x4, connect-four style.

ashes999
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    That game is trivially won by the starting player in three moves. –  Mar 27 '11 at 08:09
  • Oh I see, very interesting indeed. I currently just have a 2D grid placed in 3D. Thanks. Difficult to win though I guess, as there are more escaping possibilities (not every move can always be blocked). – pimvdb Mar 27 '11 at 10:18
  • @Tim really? That's awesome. I played it years ago, so I never bothered strategizing. Tic-tac-toe itself is also trivially winnable almost all the time if you have the right strategy. – ashes999 Mar 27 '11 at 11:09
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    If both players use perfect stragedy, all games will end up in a draw ;). – pimvdb Mar 27 '11 at 11:26
  • @pimvdb that was my experience, too. – ashes999 Mar 27 '11 at 11:30
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Some easy implementation that I find would extend the game is make a time mode. Each player has a second or two to make a move, the game continues if it's a tie, and maybe make the time less and less. So you will eventually get a winning player by the other player messing up.

And/Or make the previous moves invisible, the player would have to memorize the other player move, and if they select a square that has already been played they lose their turn. This would be great as most players would be focusing on offence (their own moves)

Spooks
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I've just gone through 20 pages of Google search sites to find a 4x4x4 online to play against the program I just wrote. Can't find what I want - just the same stuff over and over. So here's your NEW NEW NEW twist: First person to hit the same variant of the game from different 4 different sources in a row looses and has to go home.

J-Day
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    This doesn't explain much. You should try explaining your answer more instead of telling us what you couldn't find. – House Mar 28 '12 at 20:48