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[Android WUT!?] Pin Pong v1.0

farsiconfarsicon
edited in Projects
Hey guys

Update:

Released on Google Play and teh Amazons:

Google Play
Amazon

----

Previously...

1. Wooglie - just the basic free game, levels can be unlocked by scoring enough.
2. Facebook - free game + levels can be unlocked by spreading the word.
3. GameJolt - free game + achievements & high scores on the platform.
4. Kongregate - free game + achievements & high scores on the platform + levels can be unlocked via Kong IAP.

Cheers!
Thanked by 2DraughtVader Tuism

Comments

  • FanieGFanieG
    @farsicon - Man, I love your stuff!!! The way the camera changes as the gravity changes is trippy as hell. Would be nice if you made it a one button game (on easy level maybe), because every time the gravity flipped, so did my brain. Was hitting left paddle instead of right paddle all the time. Really cool!!
  • FanieGFanieG
    After playing this more. I think the thing that was confusing me is that the paddles could only move in one direction. Perhaps instead of left and right, the keys should make the paddles move forward and backwards. So that you could hit the ball no matter on which side of the paddles it was. That would feel like you have more control over where the ball is going, even when the gravity changes.
  • farsiconfarsicon
    @fanieg: thanks for the feedback man. I'm not sure one button or reverse paddles will really make it less difficult lol, but I will keep it in mind as an option :-)

    This is such crappy level design - I think proper levels will probably help a lot to make the transitions a bit less confusing.

    Glad you liked it :-)
  • DraughtVaderDraughtVader
    Wow, the gravity and camera movement really does mess with your head 0_o
    But I did enjoy it! Keen to play a build with scoring and some different maps or what ever you have in mind :D
  • farsiconfarsicon
    @DraughtVader: thanks dude! Just watch this space ;-)
  • farsiconfarsicon
    Anyone interested - please check out the update and give some critique :)

    Pin Pong [Web Build - 8.8MB]

    Thanks :-)
  • criticcritic
    Hi, really nice prototype. I do have some observations for you.

    Focus seems heavily tilted towards the ball, it should be in a pinball type game, but maybe a bit too much.
    Flippers are a bit small and slow, in pinball you usually feel that your flippers are powerful, it's basically your only input and you need to feel like you are controlling the game.
    Maybe you should map the flippers to left and right shift in addition to the arrow keys, this gives a feel of a real pinball.
    Not exactly sure how nudge would work in your setting but it's a core dynamic for a pinball type game, it extends your input from 2 to 4 inputs and allows you to influence the game on a "strategic" level.

    Great work :)
  • farsiconfarsicon
    @critic: good feedback, thanks - I'll try to implement some of these.

    Not sure what you mean with the focus on the ball? Are you talking about the camera tracking?
  • criticcritic
    Not sure exactly how to describe it, but it's a gameplay approach. In pinball you are basically waiting for the ball to come back to you, because that is how you get to play the game, you get to hit the ball. Of course the player wants to hit a combo and score points, but the basic principle is that the player is represented by the flippers and he is waiting to use those flippers.

    Point being that the ball is not the focus of the game, but the flippers are. In your prototype I felt like I was watching a nice show of the ball doing it's thing, but also felt like I was not participating enough. Problem is that that is probably the main tradeoff when designing a pinball game. You want to give the player a nice show, but you still need to involve the player in that show.

    The fact that you are playing with gravity is really hitting at the core of what pinball is, since real pinball relies on gravity to bring the game back to the player, the ball will always come back and that is a given. You are playing with that core feature and are leaving the player in a uncertain state, you can probably use that to your advantage, a distinction from other pinball games.

    To put it simply, yes, I'm talking about camera tracking :)
  • farsiconfarsicon
    @critic: Got it :) ... although I think that may mostly be due to poor level design... currently the level is just a test platform, and not designed to filter the ball down to the flippers - I think better design would combat the "ball doing it's own thing" problem :)

    I'll try to test this theory further by making a level using a traditional pinball design - that should help me to narrow down and tweak it a little further.

    Thanks dude.
  • farsiconfarsicon
    Updated:

    1. Faster flippers
    2. Added "Shift" and "Control" Keys
    3. Use "Space" for random nudging
    4. "Enter" and "Escape" manipulates buttons
    5. Minor playfield adjustments
  • criticcritic
    edited
    Wow, that was fast :)

    Feels better now, I have some more suggestions.

    Pinball machines are huge show-offs, you can comfortably get away with a huge text saying "Gravity Shift" and a sound effect on top of it. Also you can have combo names and then show them off.
    If you want to give the player something to play towards you can add a "status" table, the table can contain the different combos and achievements that light up.
    You can anchor the camera on the flippers and then tilt towards the gravity and ball direction, this way the flippers are the center of focus. Keep 360deg flip as it looks very nice :)
    Maybe you should increase the minimum velocity of the ball, so it doesn't appear to stall sometimes.

    Looking forward to the optimized level design.
  • FanieGFanieG
    edited
    @farsicon - nice update. There is a whole lot more going on, on the screen now. Must admit however I liked the previous build in the sense that it felt less "open", guess it was because there were more borders in the previous build. I did spend quite a lot of time just watching the ball (as critic also pointed out). I think adding more paddles could sort that out (maybe one more set at the top of the screen and one more set of left/right moving paddles). That little white rotating warp particle system is really cool. How did you do that? Rotating items with the particle system attached to only 1 side of the object, or did you use a type of tail renderer? This game would be super addictive on touch screen devices. I would def play it while waiting in a que somewhere, or on a long car drive etc.
  • FanieGFanieG
    Also the coloured blocks should respawn after a while. Unless you mean to make that the way to progress to the next "table" once they are all destroyed.
  • farsiconfarsicon
    Hey guys

    Pin Pong is now in Alpha and has some new levels.

    Pin Pong [Web Build - 15.5MB]

    @FanieG / @Critic - I have implemented most of your suggestions - please let me know what you think of the changes.
  • FanieGFanieG
    @farsicon - LOVED level 1, HATED level 2, felt level 3 was OKAY. I think the thing that annoyed me in level 2 (and somewhat in level 3) is the left/right paddle. The controls felt jittery. The straffing was not smooth. I think the speed needs to be tweaked a bit. Which is weird, as they didn't feel that way in the previous builds. Could be my laptop, as I played the last build on my PC at home. Will try it on that when I get a chance. Level 2 also needed traditional paddles at the bottom. I really liked the BEZERK and SLOW-MO power ups. I also really liked how level 1 has a somewhat isometric feel, which made it look extra cool.

    Overall the game is solid and I really enjoyed it. Are you planning a version for touch devices?
  • farsiconfarsicon
    @FanieG: thanks for trying again, dude. It seems that the paddles start sucking when the frame rate goes down - I can make them move slower, but then they are not responsive enough to catch the faster balls.

    Yes, the game is designed specifically for touch devices - I have already deployed to windows phone and android phones, but that same paddle problem exists there too due to slower performance. I'm looking forward to try it on a tablet with some more horsepower so that I can get a proper baseline.

    I love that you hated level 2 (even if it was just due to frustrating paddles) - but I am hoping to have some insane and frustrating levels in there too :)
  • farsiconfarsicon
    Hey guys

    Pin Pong has now been "early access" released (just to build the community) on Facebook, Wooglie, GameJolt, and Kongregate, and oh boy am I having fun with this XD

    Basically here's how I am rolling this game out:

    1. Wooglie - just the basic free game, levels can be unlocked by scoring enough.
    2. Facebook - free game + levels can be unlocked by spreading the word.
    3. GameJolt - free game + achievements & high scores on the platform.
    4. Kongregate - free game + achievements & high scores on the platform + levels can be unlocked via Kong IAP.

    Some things I am proud of as this is my first released game:

    1. Featured on GameJolt for a few days after release :D
    2. One of the top rated Arcade games and Popular games on Wooglie (for now :3)
    3. Let's play on youtube by probably the most unknown "let's player" in the world \0/ lol

    My next phase would be to build out the game (more levels and gimmicks :P ), and look at release on mobile platforms, consoles, and maybe steam (though I doubt this game will get greenlit :P ).

    Cheers!
  • FanieGFanieG
    well done on releasing this.
  • TuismTuism
    Replacing post 1 entirely with this had confused me very much :P

    I'd love to hear how the results come out! :)
  • farsiconfarsicon
    After forgetting about this game since last year I decided recently to go back to check on all the minions still playing it, and to my surprise there were still quite a lot of daily activity. Which made me smile. There were several requests for a mobile version, so I took the plunge and did an android build which has now been released on Google Play and Amazon \0/

    Links are in the OP if anyone is interested.
  • FanieGFanieG
    That's really cool! I was wondering what was happening with this. Will download on my tab tonight. Glad to see you're still around :)
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