Ball Blitz by Dante2001
We added the mobile version as everyone suggested. Hope you guys like it! For now only Android. Android version has 8 more levels due to it being after the LD. If you want to judge/rate just do it with the web version in mind please
| Android | https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bigboot.blitzball |
| Original URL | https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-35/?action=preview&uid=91668 |
Ratings
| Coolness | 30% | 1854 |
| Overall(Jam) | 3.34 | 444 |
| Fun(Jam) | 3.78 | 93 |
| Humor(Jam) | 1.98 | 739 |
| Innovation(Jam) | 2.60 | 889 |
| Mood(Jam) | 2.91 | 686 |
| Theme(Jam) | 1.84 | 1125 |
I suggest that you change the animation during dragging the ball/arrow since it was difficult to see how much I changed since last try.
Also, for some reason, the fast-forward button simply killed my computers performance :-O
Otherwise, really awesome game!
My only suggestion would be to optimize the fast forward. Waiting for the balls to resolve themselves is painful at times, but the fast forward sometimes lags the screen if there are too many things on the screen.
In response to @Z4f1's comment, you don't have to make a game based around the theme; it says that in the rules somewhere. But in this case, you are literally shifting balls around with your primal urge or destruction and havoc.
Were this to be released on Android, I'd play it a great deal
Some of them were really smart!
But the game itself definitely needs some polishing and some bugs need to be fixed:
Better graphics/textures would be nice.
Audio needs polishing too, especially the music which gets repetitive after a while.
The game lags, especially when fast-forwarding.
And currently it's very hard to aim the ball:
White ring that shows the throw power is very hard to see because of the decorative animated rings.
Also, I have some bug reports for you:
Sometimes current level renders on top of the gui.
Edges of the gui were cut off on my resolution (1680x1050).
Moving objects on some levels are glitchy (the ball ricocheted incorrectly off a horisontally moving block; also on a level with downwards moving platform on which you need to shoot quickly before balls get into the pit, after the platform stops, it starts to vibrate, sometimes making finishing the level impossible, because the balls never stop).
Also, the power indicator ring behaves strangely (especially when shooting downwards).
And some feature requests:
It's very hard to aim, thus it would be nice to get some visual hints. I see two options: First, you can always show the player a fly arc of a previous throw plus a power and the direction they had used; second, when player drags a ball to shoot it, you can dynamically calculate a fly arc that it will take and show it to the player.
Also, as it is now, power and direction indicators are a bit inaccurate. The throw power and direction depends on where you press the button and where you release the button. It is inconvenient (at least to me) because the cursor position does not match the intersection of the direction indicator arrow and power indicator ring when you start moving your mouse not from the center of the ball. (It's a bit hard to explain. :c) I see 2 options for an easy fix: You can draw a ghost ball under player's cursor; or you can (which is better) don't take into account the point at which the player had started dragging the ball, instead always use the center of the ball as a starting point (optionally, plus the ghost ball under the cursor).
And of course, more features and more interesting levels!
I'm sorry for this wall of text. :P
Don't be upset about the bug reports.
Actually, the game is good. Polish it a bit, fix some bugs, and you're ready to release this on the mobile.
Nice job overall!
1. It is really difficult to judge the actual strength of a launch from one time to the next. No matter how many times I did it, it always felt like when I succeeded, it was more luck than intuition.
2. The dragging launch feature is hard to use. When I played using my mouse, I could maybe get it to grab once every three tries. Using the touch screen was much better, but I still had a lot of flubbed shots and times when it just would not grab.
Also, no use of the theme??? I guess that is three complaints. The physics engine felt good though and puzzles were easy to understand but a good level of difficulty. I knew how to identify everything I came across right away.
For those of you struggling with the theme connection: I think it's going for literally shifting shapes off of a platform.