LudumData

BreakOut Typing by Schuster

[raw]
made by Schuster for LD 41 (COMPO)

BreakOut Typing

LD<em>Screenshot.pngLD</em>Screenshot1.png

Heavily inspired by Breakout/Arkanoid type games, BreakOut Typing combines block destruction with learn to type mechanics. Although not as riveting as classic Arkanoid, typing to keep your ball alive is much more difficult.

HTML5 Link: https://mdschuster.github.io/

There are two words displayed on the screen, one on the left and one on the right. when you enter one of the words, the paddle will move to that location. If the ball is headed to the middle, you must time your word entry so that the ball will hit the paddle.

This game was made in 48 hours for LD41 by Micah Schuster

Controls

  • Pressing Enter will submit the word you typed.
  • Pressing Esc will pause the game.
  • Pressing Space will release the ball.
  • There are a few cheats too, shown on the main menu of the game.

Tools used:

  • Unity 5.6.1
  • Pyxel Edit
  • Affinity Photo
  • Bfxr
  • Bosca Ceoil
  • Font: Orbitron (OFL included in the source code)

Known Issues:

There's something wrong with the collision detection in certain situations that causes the ball to behave strangely. I didn't bother spending more time to track down the problem code.

HTML5 (web) https://mdschuster.github.io/
Source code https://github.com/mdschuster/LD41
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/breakout-typing

Ratings

Overall 608th 2.875⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Fun 608th 2.675⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 222th 3.605⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Theme 60th 4.2⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 446th 3⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Audio 386th 2.658⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Humor 376th 2.529⭐ 19🧑‍⚖️
Mood 537th 2.618⭐ 19🧑‍⚖️
Given 23🗳️ 10🗨️

Feedback

Neon
23. Apr 2018 · 12:01 UTC
It's a bit hard. Certainly two incompatible genres, so that's very on-point for the theme. Maybe a word in the middle would ease the gameplay a bit? Certainly would make the game require less foresight, as now you have to be quite good at estimating the ball's and the paddle's speeds. All in all, nice game, just very difficult.
amras0000
23. Apr 2018 · 12:09 UTC
The idea has a lot of promise, and it's very novel. I think it's let down by the fact I can only move the paddle in a fixed time to the edges of the screen. If there were, say, 3 or 4 positions along the bottom of the screen I could predict where the ball would be and move there. But as it stands it's more a game of timing than of typing. While the ball's bouncing around I have all the time in the world to type the only word that will do anything, then I just need to press enter at the right moment; a task which is difficult because the paddle moves too slowly to predict accurately where it'll hit.

I lost a couple balls to the collision bug but you know about that already.

It's not a bad game, or a bad concept, but I think the controls need a redesign to make the game more playable.
JeffChen
23. Apr 2018 · 12:09 UTC
How you got this idea!It's too hard but pretty interesting.My speed is too slow to play this game.LOL
Valden
23. Apr 2018 · 12:10 UTC
Interesting mix. However, I found that you only had to type the world at the opposing side of the screen then hit enter with the correct timing to catch the ball. It could have been more interesting if you had more words on the screen and if the ball was somewhat faster for more challenge.
sndr
23. Apr 2018 · 12:11 UTC
This is fun! A bit hard to keep the ball for too long, but fun nonetheless!
Persijn
23. Apr 2018 · 13:10 UTC
Game fits the theme :diamond_shape_with_a_dot_inside:
The mechanics need some more work, the player has to little control of the ball.
:fox:
jf1989
24. Apr 2018 · 17:26 UTC
I think the way you've combined the mechanics of typing and breakout has failed to take advantage of their interaction. In the game as it is you have easily enough time to write the word on the other side of the screen to the paddle, then try and time the paddle moving from one side of the screen to the other to hit the ball. Conversely, when the ball is moving from one side of the screen to the other it is far too quick to change its direction by typing the other word. Hence, there is no real difference between the game you've made and a game of breakout where the paddle is always either at the far right or the far left and you can only move from one side to the other in order to try and hit the ball.

If, instead, you had slowed the ball down and had two paragraphs of text on either side of the screen and the paddle moves as you make progress in typing either of those paragraphs, then there would have been a much more solid/interesting interaction between the two mechanics.
tayl1r
25. Apr 2018 · 00:09 UTC
Man, and I thought I was pretty good at typing!
Hilvon
26. Apr 2018 · 21:25 UTC
Wow... When I read the rules, I thought this was... impossible. But I managed to beat level 1... eventually. :smile:

Still with words like "biology" the game becomes insanely hard. Especially if you get an unlucky bounce and need to catch the bal in the middle.

But a pretty fun experience. :smiley:
ropedog
28. Apr 2018 · 17:21 UTC
This was pretty tough, but a really good entry! I didn't expect this type of mashup to work, but it does! I enjoyed typing words like "fatty" and "bush" while simultaneously trying to play breakout (and losing... badly). I found myself wanting a way to place my paddle back in the middle of the screen as it was tough trying to time the movement of it. With that said, once I got the hang of it I was able to get to level 3 successfully!
Nice job - I think you really nailed the theme and innovation on this one. Fun stuff!
Smiling Cat Entertainment
29. Apr 2018 · 14:12 UTC
It is an interesting concept, and a great use of the theme. I agree with what others have said about the controls - this really becomes more of a game of timing when to hit Enter to properly intercept the ball. Oveall, though, nice job!
Alans Antics
29. Apr 2018 · 14:31 UTC
My ball got stuck in the upper-left corner of the screen. :-(

It's a little annoying that Space types into the textbox, but it's good that having an extra space at the end of your word doesn't cause it to be rejected.

You may have succeeding in finding 2 genres that are truly incompatible. A lot of people here have theories on how to make the game better, but I'm not sure if there's a single way to make it a compelling game. Kudos for doing about as well as is probably possible.
Antoniomm
29. Apr 2018 · 14:47 UTC
very smart idea! The game is damn hard