This game still has a long way to go but I figured, since it is my first game that I would post it here for feedback to see what needs to be changed, added, or taken out completely.

Things to keep in mind:

-The title screen isn't finished yet
-The game icon is only temporary
-The loading screen is only temporary
-Only the first 9 levels are finished so far

Things I would like you to comment on:

-Was it fun?
-What did you like? (why?)
-What didn't you like? (why?)
-Any suggestions to improve the game?
-What would you suggest as a price for the full version of the game with over 60 levels, and 5 different themes, with 2 extra hidden themes, 3 modes of play, and 3 difficulty settings?
-How many levels would you give free in the demo?
-Also, what do you think the title of this game should be called? :p

If you notice any bugs or have any trouble at all playing the game, please let me know.

The keys are:
left and right arrow to move the slider.
Z and X keys to swing the paddles.

game.zip (http://home.xroad.com/members/1872/game.zip) (1.32MB)

P.S. I already have the above answered myself, but since this is a first attempt at commercial software, it would probably best to have various opinions to help choose the best action.

Thanks :)

It is a pinball style game with a mixture of side-scrolling elements. You basically have to free the little yellow guy in the cage by reaching each level's goal score. Once he is free you travel on to the next level.

Just downloaded and played it. The idea is quite nice but the frame rate was very poor. My specs are P4 2Ghz, 256 DDR, Geforce 4-ti4600. The frame rate was so bad it was giving me a headache after a few minutes play.

Things that could do with being improved.

* increase the framerate
* smooth the camera - get it so it lags slightly behind the ball. At the moment it's too rigid.
* improve the ball physics. It also seems very rigid. When you launch the ball it just goes straight up and straight down, there's no acceleration or anything.
* collision on the flippers can be quite odd. I held a flipper in it's up position and even though the ball hit the underneath of the flipper it moved through it and away rather than bouncing down the hole.
* I couldn't understand the scoring system. Am I meant to be clearing blocks or collecting stuff? I completed a level by losing a ball down the hole, is this right?

I'm probably not the best person to ask about price and stuff as we're still trying to put out our first batch of titles.

good luck!

scott

I like the mix of game styles, Arkanoid meets pinball! these type of games appeal to me as it tests your reflexs which is in my opinion great for gameplay! What I don't like is the way the screen scrolls, I think the entire level should not scroll as it made me a bit sick. Also like Luggage said the frame rate is pretty poor.
I didnt know the conditions of how to comlpete the levels, I take it you have to fee the little guy in the cage but sometimes the cage just opened and I hadnt done anything? A great start and I look forward to your updates.
Keeganb

Originally posted by Mickey Crocker
This game still has a long way to go but I figured, since it is my first game that I would post it here for feedback to see what needs to be changed, added, or taken out completely.

Things to keep in mind:

-The title screen isn't finished yet
-The game icon is only temporary
-The loading screen is only temporary
-Only the first 9 levels are finished so far

Things I would like you to comment on:

-Was it fun?
-What did you like? (why?)
-What didn't you like? (why?)
-Any suggestions to improve the game?
-What would you suggest as a price for the full version of the game with over 60 levels, and 5 different themes, with 2 extra hidden themes, 3 modes of play, and 3 difficulty settings?
-How many levels would you give free in the demo?
-Also, what do you think the title of this game should be called? :p

If you notice any bugs or have any trouble at all playing the game, please let me know.

The keys are:
left and right arrow to move the slider.
Z and X keys to swing the paddles.

game.zip (http://home.xroad.com/members/1872/game.zip) (1.32MB)

P.S. I already have the above answered myself, but since this is a first attempt at commercial software, it would probably best to have various opinions to help choose the best action.

Thanks :)

1) Yes, it was fun except for certain facets which took away from the fun..
2) Concept was decent. I thought the character art was great. The "scenery" art wasn't. (although I assume it's stand-in..)
3) The biggest thing which bugged me was the physics/collision detection/response. There were several times when the ball would get stuck/overlap the paddles or bumpers (on the first level, I managed to get the ball STUCK on one of the bumpers, which resulted in mucho points until the level ended). The physics didn't feel "right" - I expected the game to play like pinball - which (unfortunately?) includes the expectation of realistic feeling physics... the collision detection had a very imprecise feel to it, which is not a good thing to have in this kind of game..
4) I didn't notice a severe problem with frame rate - it seemed okay to me, (of course, I have an AXP 2600+ with 512 megs of RAM and a Radeon 9600 w/128 megs, so if it runs slow on MY system, you've got SEVERE problems..)
Also, the constant up/down scrolling did make me a little nauseous. Perhaps if you pulled the camera back a bit more so the board didn't have to constantly scroll up and down so much. 5) Price? I would say a standard $19.99 if the game is polished up and improved, but it's really hard to put a price on something which isn't done...
6) How many levels? Don't know - would need to play the finished version..
7) Potential Names (don't laugh, I'm not a marketer..): Breakin'ball, er, I guess I don't have any good name ideas...

I guess my main comment would be - "Get the physics/collision up to snuff". For this kind of game (where the basic gameplay is well known to the average person), people expect the physics to be perfect, otherwise the game just feels weird.

Oh, and love the animals/birds... More please.. =)

Chaster

You've all helped a great deal. I actually found myself getting "use" to the way most of these things, which kinda made me believe they didn't need to change. But since you are all saying basically the same thing, I think I'll have to rethink how some of these things are working. I have a lot more ideas now on how to improve the game.

Thanks again,
Mick

arghh tried it - nice idea but on games like this (ie breakout style) I expect the physics of the ball to be perfect although not a lot of programmers seem to manage it - just in case you haven't tried it already check out DXBall 2 at http://www.longbowdigitalarts.com. The physics in that were pretty much exactly how I felt they should be.

Also, I got the ball stuck at the top of the birdcage on the second level - you should check the balls vectors to make sure they aren't just constantly rotating between a and -a more than about 3 times otherwise just 'introduce' a new force which releases the ball from its current vector

I checked out DXBall 2 and the physics in that game seemed to be a lot like mine. With a very few differences... There was not much notice in that game of the ball speed increasing or decreasing.

However to make my game's ball move more like DXBall 2, it wouldn't be that hard to change at all...

However, I don't find that game's physics to be very realistic either. But if it's more fun that way then I'll make the change.

Good concept of mixing breakout/pinball.

Keep going. looks great.


The only think I dislike is the performance. It's too slow for this type of game, which should have high FPS.

It looks like you're using game maker? That probably is the reason why it's slow.

I already put the speed up quite a bit because I also found it to be too slow. I find it goes at a good speed now. I'm going to work on perfecting the performance of the game before I continue on adding more levels, items, enemies, graphics, etc...

Thanks for your comments :D

Hi Mickey,

I think when eveyone is talking about the game speed FPS, they are talking about the refresh rate of the game, not the actual speed of the gameplay.

I think people are saying that the rate of refresh is a little low so the game looks "choppy". This is completely separate from the speed of the ball/camera movement. Basically, to increase the FPS, you need to increase the efficiency of the engine, not change the speed of the gameplay.

Cheers,

Chaster