Technical Design for Match-3 Fighting Game

This document outlines the technical implementation of the game, including algorithms, data structures, and system architecture.

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Architecture Overview

Main Systems

The game is built on Unity (C#) using a modular, component-based structure:

1. Game Manager

• Controls the main game loop.
• Handles phase switching between Match-3 and Fighting.

flowchart TD
    A[Start Game] --> B[Match-3 Phase]
    B --> C{All moves collected?}
    C -->|No| B
    C -->|Yes| D[Fighting Phase]
    D --> E{Enemy defeated?}
    E -->|No| D
    E -->|Yes| F[Check Rounds]
    F -->|More rounds| B
    F -->|Last round done| G[End Game]

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2. Match-3 System

• Manages tile spawning, matching, clearing, and falling.
• Tiles stored as a 2D GameObject array.
• Smooth gravity movement using A* pathfinding logic.

graph LR
  subgraph Match-3
    GMGR[GridManager]
    TSPN[TileSpawner]
    MDTC[MatchDetector]
    TCLR[TileClearer]
    GRTL[GravityApplier]
  end

  GMGR --> TSPN
  TSPN --> MDTC
  MDTC --> TCLR
  TCLR --> GRTL
  GRTL --> GMGR

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3. Fighting System

• Turn-based combat using collected moves.
• Enemy AI uses a predefined array of attacks, picked randomly at intervals.
• Behavior Tree architecture for logic.
• Special Attack system added (unlocked via 30 green tiles).
• Animation of splash art triggered upon activation.

graph LR
  subgraph Fighting
    PCHAR[Player]
    ECHAR[Enemy]
    ATTC[AttackComponent]
    TMGR[TurnManager]
    BTREE[BehaviorTree]
    SPBAR[SpecialBarController]
  end

  PCHAR --> ATTC
  ECHAR --> ATTC
  TMGR --> ATTC
  BTREE --> TMGR
  PCHAR --> TMGR
  PCHAR --> SPBAR
  SPBAR --> ATTC

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4. UI/UX System

• Manages grid interaction, battle transitions, player/enemy health bars.
• Custom player health bar, shared enemy health bar.
• Uses Unity Canvas with SafeArea handling for resolution scaling.

flowchart TD
    A[Canvas Root]
    A --> B[SafeAreaHandler]
    B --> C[Dynamic UI Layouts]

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5. Frame Rate Management

• FrameRateHandler limits or locks FPS to avoid lag across devices.
• Ensures consistent gameplay on both high-end and low-end hardware.

flowchart TD
    A[Start Game] --> B[Check Device Capabilities]
    B --> C[Set Target Frame Rate]
    C --> D[Apply vsync / frame limiter]

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Match Detection Logic

• Iterates the 2D grid for horizontal and vertical matches (≥3).
• Stores matches, clears tiles, applies gravity, and refills grid.

flowchart TD
  A[Start Detection]
  B[For each cell]
  C{Horizontal run ≥ 3?}
  D{Vertical run ≥ 3?}
  E[Mark matched tiles]
  F[Clear marked tiles]
  G[Apply gravity]
  H[Refill empty cells]
  I[Done]

  A --> B
  B --> C
  C -->|Yes| E
  C -->|No| D
  D -->|Yes| E
  D -->|No| B
  E --> B
  B -->|all done| F --> G --> H --> I

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Additional Notes

• All core systems are component-based (GameManager, EnemySpawner, RoundManager, FrameRateHandler, etc.).
• Visual FX managed through VfxComponent.
• Levels loaded via LevelManager, progress stored per session.
• Tested across multiple resolutions using Safe Area UI implementation.

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