Dashmetry Game — Paper Abstract Dashmetry is a fast-paced, competitive puzzle-action game that blends precision platforming with rhythm-inspired mechanics and procedural level variables. Players dash, snap, and chain movements to traverse obstacle-filled arenas while managing momentum and timing. This paper defines Dashmetry’s core design, mechanics, player experience goals, technical architecture, procedural content generation, balancing approach, and recommended metrics for measuring player engagement. 1. Introduction Dashmetry focuses on short, repeatable runs where mastery emerges from learning movement rules, pattern recognition, and risk-reward decision-making. The central loop encourages high-skill play, speed, and score-chasing while remaining accessible through incremental difficulty and clear feedback. 2. Design Goals
High skill ceiling with simple controls. Immediate, responsive feel (tight input-to-action latency). Short sessions (1–3 minutes per run) suitable for competitive play and streaming. Procedural variety to keep runs fresh. Clear audiovisual cues to support learning and flow. Meaningful progression and social features (leaderboards, ghost replays).
3. Core Mechanics Controls (minimal):
Move (left/right) Dash (short burst, consumes dash charge) Snap/Lock (brief freeze mid-air to redirect momentum) Wall interactions (wall-slide, wall-jump) Ground-stomp / Drop (fast vertical descent) dashmetry game
Key systems:
Momentum physics: velocity carries through dashes; dash direction adds impulse. Dash charges: limited recharge on ground or via pickups; advanced play uses charge conservation. Snap mechanic: allows micro-corrections, reversing small trajectory errors at the cost of a cooldown. Combo/Chain scoring: consecutive obstacle clears and near-miss interactions build multiplier. Dynamic hazards: moving saws, timed lasers, collapsing platforms, gravity wells.
4. Level and Mode Design Modes:
Time Trial: fastest completion wins; leaderboards per map. Score Attack: maximize points within a time limit or single run. Endless: procedurally spawned segments increase difficulty over time. Daily Challenge: a curated seed shared globally for competition. Multiplayer Race: synchronous arenas with player collisions or asynchronous ghost racing.
Level structure:
Short segments (10–30 seconds) joined into runs. Difficulty ramps within runs: safe intro → technical mid → risky high-reward finish. Telegraphed teleporter/portal transitions to vary topology mid-run. Dashmetry Game — Paper Abstract Dashmetry is a
Procedural generation:
Segment library authored and parameterized (obstacle density, rhythm, required mechanics). Seed-driven composition ensures reproducibility for leaderboards/daily runs. Constraint solver ensures traversability given player capability envelope (max dash distance, wall-jump count).