What The Ball / Monsters Roll In - Beta Testers needed

That's a pretty smooth tweening and I did the same tweening thing and will upload in next build. The one differnece between your tweening and my new tweening is that mine's bit jerky. Yours is smooth.

The updated control scheme is a step in the right direction but it still needs some work. I would use a slider button to give some visual feedback, I should be able to get to the full range of the tilt with a full swipe to the side, it shouldn't take 2 or 3 swipes to get to full tilt of the curve.

Hey Colburt,

Thanks again for the response. I'm in a bit of a dilemma whether the slider would be best or the current style would be better.

So here's what I'm planning now. I'll implement slider mechanics and will have that scheme by default and include the current control scheme as a choice for the players. I'll make these changes in my next two builds.

Why can't you make it that a swipe from the middle of the screen to the edge takes the curve to its full rotation, the current swipe system slows down the play.

You also need to workout what you are going to do with the large block of empty space a the bottom of the screen? a slider would give some visual feedback, or if not a slider then some sort of pattern that moves when you swipe.

Why can't you make it that a swipe from the middle of the screen to the edge takes the curve to its full rotation, the current swipe system slows down the play.

I initially started working in a slider thing (when I realized that the curvey can't be dragged by itself as it hides the pipe). That's the slider I now have in settings page. I was still not happy with the slide thing mainly because it will limit the user that he can control only between the slider. But if that would be better than the current mechanism, I have no objection in bringing it back

You also need to workout what you are going to do with the large block of empty space a the bottom of the screen? a slider would give some visual feedback, or if not a slider then some sort of pattern that moves when you swipe.

Yes, including a slider would resolve both the problems. Also, when we do gameplay video, viewers might have better understanding. I'll incorporate slider thing.

Well done, the new control scheme feels much better, I actually feel like I'm in control now.

Well done, the new control scheme feels much better, I actually feel like I'm in control now.

Great, Beta testers from Outside Stencyl also seem to enjoy the game with the basic mechanism itself. It all happened with your feedback at the right time. Thanks again.

I hope the game would be more impressive with the new stuff I'm adding in a day or two.

Things Planned:

=> Color shift - After a few seconds, the pipes would change it's color to the pipe that's left to it. (Please let me know if this description is clear or not. Because I need to include it in tutorial).

=> Disobeying Curvey - If you drop the a particular white ball into the pipes, the curvey will start to disobey the orders for 15 seconds. It'll move in right when you swipe left & vice versa.

=> Whole New Theme - Started working with an amazing graphics artist and I believe he'll achieve things he already promised. Instead of going with simple abstract images, I'm planning for a theme (but the shapes of ball/pipe & curvey would still be the same as shapes matter in this game).

Sorry I haven't been able to get back with feedback earlier, but here it is. First of all, good job so far!

I've tested all 3 versions of this and the current controls are definitely way better than what it was first. I noticed with the first build I was getting annoyed quite quickly and couldn't play it more than a few rounds, but with the current one I find the game hard to put it down; I think I'm beginning to enjoy it My current highscore is 166.

It's nice that you earn extra lives after each reaching combo 5, but maybe getting a extra life for every hit after that is a bit too much. Also, most of the time I can only get the combos to reach that at the very beginning. Because of this most of my games go like this: I start off with a combo between 7-10, maybe I pull it off twice, giving me around 10-20 lives pretty early on. So maybe you can come up with something that balances this.

I think that the curve should have rounded corners instead of sharp edges, something like this:

Do you think that's possible? btw how do you make the collision shape of the curve? I thought we could only do circle collisions from the outside.
Another thing with the curve is that when you turn it really fast, the collision shapes probably overlap and the ball gets teleported to the closest possible location. Maybe continuous collision detection can help?

I found since the beginning something was weird looking about the game overall, but it seems that's because the scaling mode is set to stretch to fit, the balls basically look like eggs. Great to hear that you're working with a graphics artist. Is it only for the in-game graphics or the whole UI? I won't comment on the UI yet, because mechanics and gameplay seem to be the focus now.

Also, I managed to do this haha, the 2 purple balls fell off the curve at the same time and are stuck now.

I've tested all 3 versions of this and the current controls are definitely way better than what it was first. I noticed with the first build I was getting annoyed quite quickly and couldn't play it more than a few rounds, but with the current one I find the game hard to put it down; I think I'm beginning to enjoy it My current highscore is 166.

That's great. Nice high score. Try to beat my 356 though

It's nice that you earn extra lives after each reaching combo 5, but maybe getting a extra life for every hit after that is a bit too much. Also, most of the time I can only get the combos to reach that at the very beginning. Because of this most of my games go like this: I start off with a combo between 7-10, maybe I pull it off twice, giving me around 10-20 lives pretty early on. So maybe you can come up with something that balances this.

I have had that feeling as well. Instead of automatically increasing life. A life ball could pop up for every 5 (multiples) bonus points. Only if the ball is dropped into the appropriate pipe, the player will get life. This way, the player will also visually understand that a life has increased for him/her.

I think that the curve should have rounded corners instead of sharp edges, something like this:

That's a nice idea. Probably a bit more time consuming. But I think this would solve one of the problems I faced. Sometimes, when the ball is at the edge of the curvey and the curvey's edge is perfectly flat, the ball doesn't move further at all. I was wondering how that could be solved and tried some different shaped curvey and none looked as good as the current curvey. May be this round edged curvey will fix that problem. I'll check and implement it.

Another thing with the curve is that when you turn it really fast, the collision shapes probably overlap and the ball gets teleported to the closest possible location. Maybe continuous collision detection can help?

Unfortunately, I can't do anything for that. I've already set the 'Enable continues collision' to No for the balls and the curvey. But it still gives the trouble. Any idea how that can be fixed?

I found since the beginning something was weird looking about the game overall, but it seems that's because the scaling mode is set to stretch to fit, the balls basically look like eggs. Great to hear that you're working with a graphics artist. Is it only for the in-game graphics or the whole UI? I won't comment on the UI yet, because mechanics and gameplay seem to be the focus now.

I feel stretch to fit is the best scaling mode since it avoids any unnecessary white space. With the new theme, I feel the egg feeling won't bother anybody. Because according to the theme we've planned now, we are going to add an egg like feeling to the ball already. If the ball feels like egg'gy, it would just add value to the game. At the same time, the shape would still be cirvle instead of oval.

Also, I managed to do this haha, the 2 purple balls fell off the curve at the same time and are stuck now.

Lol!! That's kinda tricky.

Thanks for your valuable feedback, batuhancan.

Good feedback from Batuhancan. Are you sure stretch to fit is your best option, I have never been a fan of it. Its going to affect your text as well. What is the problem with FullScreen Scale to fit? I don't think you should have any issues with white space. Set you game up to the actors always base themselves on the centre of the screen as a reference.

Set you game up to the actors always base themselves on the centre of the screen as a reference.

I'm afraid I don't understand. Any help would be appreciated.

Can you show me a screenshot of what the game looks like when you use fullscreen Scale to fit, and where the problem areas are.

Hey Colburt, here's the screenshots with Full Screen scale to fit:

Also, I've implemented the rounded edge curvey:

Advantages of Rounded Edge Curvey
Feels much smoother. Kind of cute.


Disadvantage of Rounded Edge Curvey
If the edge is sharp, you can use the sharp edge to push the ball into the pipe (like in below gif). This appears to be difficult with rounded edge curvey. I've included the demo above



In a dilemma now.

The curvy edge looks more aesthetically pleasing. I'd say go for that as long as you fix the ball pushing issue.

That's true. It looks pleasing and cute. I'm just going to use the curvey sprite but sharp edge collision. Let me see if it looks awkward or creates a buggy feel. If not, I'll implement that.