Elemental Connection
A downloadable game for Windows and Linux
Elemental Connection is a minimalist abstract board game about... making elemental connections. Relax, think, and solve the situation as it unfolds.
You can play the FREE browser demo here!
Connect colored tiles on the same board as your opponent while using the growing field of vivid squares to gain an advantage. Struggle against six types of computer opponents, each with their own method of outwitting you. Learn the gentle nuances of play to eke out those precious few points.
FEATURES
-Simple, easy-to-understand gameplay
-Satisfying strategies
-Online multiplayer, single player, and puzzle challenges
-Minimal visual elegance
-Smooth soundtrack by Lannie "Merlandese" Neely III and Fernando Carabajal
-Light visual customization
-A good aura, like an old friend
Elemental Connection is a board game I developed in 2003 to play with friends. It started with poster board and markers, then slowly progressed into hand-crafted wooden versions that I lugged around different countries to play with fellow strangers. It's pretty cool. We can play in real life if you like. Or online!
Connect with people on DISCORD to plan matches or talk!
Thanks for taking your time to play! Enjoy!
OPPONENT AI
Creative - Only cares about matching tiles.
Simplistic - Cares about matching tiles and gaining points.
Normal - Doesn't care about misconnections if it thinks it can get more points on the next turn.
Mindful - Cares about matching tiles and borders for the most points. Avoids misconnections.
Thoughtful - Carefully tests the mentality of lesser and greater AIs.
Efficient - Will do whatever it takes to win.
Purchase
In order to download this game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $2.99 USD. You will get access to the following files:
Development log
- Elemental Connection Soft Rebrand!Jun 27, 2022
- ECON - Hotfix 21.1025Oct 25, 2021
Comments
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Def good input. This was adapted from a real wood-and-paint board game I made about a decade ago, which accounts for its strengths and weaknesses, I feel. If played in real life, a match or two, like with checkers, would be a nice enough game to play over some coffee every now and again. As a video game, it doesn't quite have those surprises and random elements that might keep you coming back, it's true. There is something more that probably could have been added during the translation between mediums, fo sho. I've been keeping it in mind for future projects. Thanks for the feedback. :)
Just played this and it was a really nice experience. Relaxing but still puzzling!
Windows version: I like the concept but completely unplayable due to a bug that causes placed tiles to visually rotate despite not programmatically updating. Causing mis-tiling and frustration.
This is a lovely puzzlegame that stops just short of being a great one. Its a vs puzzle game (against another human or AI), where you place a tile and depending on how the colors match, you get more points. Match one side, 1 point, match all 4 sides 10 points, points subtracted for wrong color placement. The game has online multiplayer, single player challenges and single matches and it feels like a well made family board game that you can have some good time with. There is a bit of strategy, considering you always have 2 pieces at hand, so you can try to prepare the board for your other one, but I wish the game had more of these strategical elements (additional bigger shapes for extra points, like big diamonds, or T shapes and whatnot), as otherwise your decisions feel a bit too railroaded with relatively limited options. Still, lovely and absolutely worth checking out, if only for the SP challenges and some light family socially distanced boardgame fun. 3,5/5
More Racial Justice Bundle impressions:
https://itch.io/c/915453/quick-impressions-bundle-for-racial-justice
I played this a few months back and remember thinking it was nice but not varied enough to keep my interest. There are an admirable number of options of board size, etc., but none of them make a huge difference to the core gameplay, which is what I didn't fully connect with. Also the controls took a little more work than I expected in some way. But the presentation and such is generally great, even if not for me personally.
I really like the style of this game but had a game breaking bug happen - my GF and I tried to play online multiplayer together (side-by-side) and the game gave us the wrong information about our tiles. I placed a red-red match and got -1 point, while on her screen it did not match, then she placed a tile and had the same issue. our screens showed different tiles.
THEN I tried to exit the match and I cannot click the "exit to menu button". I can click the exit game option, but when I restart the game it takes me back to the same screen. so since I had only played a little I tried un and re-installing the game. It launches to the same screen. So the game is fully unplayable for me at this point and I'm sad about it.
Could you tell me which version you're playing? (Windows, Linux, Mac, etc.) I think I might have a fix already that just needs ushered out.
LINUX LAUNCH FIX
If Linux is having trouble launching because of font issues, try to "Set Launch Options..." as:
I like the general gameplay, and I like the ability to change the color scheme and background (though the original color scheme is still my favorite!).
I found the controls a little clunky at first, but I definitely prefer them to faster controls that might lead to more mistakes, and I got used to them pretty quickly. Good job on that! A lot of games like this have controls that make it really easy to make (frustrating) mistakes, so HUGE kudos on making tile-setting more deliberate.
The only thing I'm not a huge fan of is that when I've selected a tile, all available spaces for me to set it down on flash. Having them change color to make it more clear to the player which spaces are open isn't a bad idea, but the flashing is distracting and hurts my eyes after a bit, even though I plan where I want to set tiles before selecting them to minimize the time in between selecting and setting down a tile. I wish there was an option to turn it off - if there is and I somehow missed it, please let me know.
Overall - quite nice. I like the several levels of opponent AI and simple but strategic gameplay, and the controls are great.
Love it! And I totally agree with KeronCyst - this would be great for mobile, and I would totally purchase it if it released for Android.
Having played this and Fleuret Blanc. So many similar sounds. Such nostalgia!
Makes me want to play Fleuret Blanc again.
Played only two games, and it feels like such a planning-based game. Easy to play, hard to master, it seems. Nice!
Hahaha! Ya caught me, I definitely have a selection of custom SFX I like to reuse.
Glad you like it. :)
Great fun! Definitly something I can see myself getting a bit lost in playing.
Fascinating and well made. This would be excellent as a phone app. Will it be coming to Android?
Thanks for the compliment!
I had spent a couple of months working on an Android version but never managed to optimize ECON into an acceptable form worth launching. If the game ever makes enough money for me to hire a professional Android porter I'd love to do so, but right now it's not financially viable. I'll keep my fingers crossed, though!
Darn. I have no coding skills but it's tooootally worthwhile as a mobile game. Maybe rev-share offer?
I always offer RevShare when hiring, but I gotta say, almost no one takes that deal. Maybe a simple one-time contracting payment seems more secure or something. But maybe I'll poke around again when I get some funds and see if I can make it happen. :)
If you've got this for free you're not getting a Steam key. Please stop asking the same exact thing on every game page you claim for free during a sale.