[Comp H] BubbleGrab!

WilliamHK

Hey guys, so I have a prototype working showing how the movement will work.

I think it can be an interesting game - still figuring out what it's going to be though! Collecting pickups, avoiding enemies with power ups maybe? Multiple planets - see how far you can get within 7 minutes? Maybe have elements on the surface that slow you down or give you an aerial boost....

Those are my initial thoughts :D.

Video here;
https://youtu.be/KgTrmWCEwIs

Cheers
Willliam

Elyaradine

The movement feels pretty good to me from the video. :)

I'd personally try to consider things that would be fairly unique to your being on a sphere. Collecting pickups doesn't necessarily seem any more interesting on a sphere than it would be in the way it's done in games elsewhere. But maybe avoiding enemies becomes a bit more interesting, because running "away" may not always be obvious. And if they shoot at you, and you dodge, maybe it comes back around the other side of the planet, and the game gradually gets more and more difficult as bullets keep continuing indefinitely until someone gets hit? I'd suggest trying several different things, experiment -- maybe you stumble across something cool by accident too.

I seem to remember Super Mario Galaxy having some levels based on spherical planets, though I don't remember if they did anything interesting with that.

WilliamHK

Great, love the feedback - thanks. I played around and one possible unique addition is a dynamic where if you press a key the avatar pops up from the surface and moves at a different elevation until you release the key...maybe that'll be good!

roguecode

Reminds me of the new Geometry Wars, which I'm in love with:

WilliamHK

Awesome, thanks - Geometry wars is cool and super colorful.

So below another update. I have played around with a dynamic where you can play at different heights around the sphere. Changing levels are done by holding down a controller button. Each level is a specific colour and get's activated when you move to that level.

The challenge lies in collecting all the coins but maybe not enough..? I was thinking perhaps making this multiplayer i.e. one player versus another player to pick up the most coins.

Video of progress below. It has a lot of promise but not quite there there...
https://youtu.be/VmnJJCqWxms

Cheers
William

WilliamHK

So the game has evolved a bit more into a split screen multiplayer game.

Demonstration of the demo below. :)

https://youtu.be/B118-vvhoWY

Elyaradine

I'm personally still not sold on the "collecting coins" mechanic. :P

But in terms of what you've got there, I think I'd be trying to find more interactions between the players, and more ways for one player to affect the other player's game experience.

I like the skybox and the palm trees and stuff that makes it look like a little planet, but it's kind of strange that the actual gameplay items (the player's representation in the world, and the pickups) are super abstract. I don't know if those are just temporary, if you've thought about them yet.

farsicon

This looks really cool. If you are looking for ideas, while watching the video I thought it would be really cool if each of those "layers" were actually a level of their own with features and traps/hazards etc. And that you could only go up or down at certain "points", while seeing only the level you are currently on (and possible lower levels) - essentially creating a maze-like level that could open the door for some cool cat and mouse gameplay.

WilliamHK

Elyaradine said:

But in terms of what you've got there, I think I'd be trying to find more interactions between the players, and more ways for one player to affect the other player's game experience.

Yeah, thought I would add some powerups that affect the other player, think mario kart! I want to add at least three, one that creates a big sphere where you activate it and then slows down the opponent, another where you free the opponents movement for a second or so. The last maybe a magnet effect that pulls the pickups towards you.

Also thought the pickups would be located between the levels so that there's a bit of strategy when you zip up between levels to grab them.

Elyaradine said:

I like the skybox and the palm trees and stuff that makes it look like a little planet, but it's kind of strange that the actual gameplay items (the player's representation in the world, and the pickups) are super abstract. I don't know if those are just temporary, if you've thought about them yet.

Jip, still prototyping :) - what the pickups will be will become clearer when I've wrestled through what the aesthetic will be.

As for the theme, thought maybe it could be a dark god versus a light god (player1 vs player2) and the pickups define how much the primitive people on the planet worship you, so maybe the pickups are a worship type object.

A lot of ideas sound cool but may not be in practice - so I'm letting it all stew a bit and having the game take it's own form in time.

farsicon said:

This looks really cool. If you are looking for ideas, while watching the video I thought it would be really cool if each of those "layers" were actually a level of their own with features and traps/hazards etc. And that you could only go up or down at certain "points", while seeing only the level you are currently on (and possible lower levels) - essentially creating a maze-like level that could open the door for some cool cat and mouse gameplay.

fars, love this idea! Let me first add the powerups and see how that affects gameplay but if not included in this demo I'll expand on it in another. Really solid idea! More welcome :)

WilliamHK

Hi all, so my entry in the link below - note you should click on the DOWNLOAD button at the top of the link window to download the zip folder.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9KV9Pw-6OPoMFZBclFwM09jQ3c/view?usp=sharing

The goal is to grab all the spheres before your opponent.

I would have liked to tweak this more but time was an issue - right now it as is but with the next round it should go better! Hope you enjoy.

If you want to view the video check below.