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Tidy Bubble DevLog!

Tidy Bubble is now available on the Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.invisiblespaceship.tidybubble

Purchase (http://www.invisiblespaceship.com/tidybubble/)

Demo (http://www.invisiblespaceship.com/tidybubble/TidyBubbleDemo.exe) - includes the tutorial and course mode limited to 3 rounds.

This game is sort of a mash up of a couple different ideas. It's like a cross between a chain reaction game and a peggle game, or maybe a break-out style game. There's also a couple of game modes that are just completely different.

Modes
Infinite - Just random levels one after another, great to chill out to, play while talking whatever.

Course N - Played like a golf game, least amount of throws wins. Takes you through a course of N levels. Where N = some number, currently 9. So essentially the best score you could get on a 9 course game is 9 if you clear each level in one shot. I would like to add difficulty ratings for this, so that some courses have a par rating, etc.

Clean - An area is covered over the game screen, every bubble you burst clears part of that area. The area cleared is calculated between rounds and whenever a finish threshold is reached the game ends. This one is pretty challenging.

War - Multiplayer mode! 4 players square off against each other on the same computer and try to protect their bubble stash while destroying everyone else's. Modeled after Warlords on atari.

War Net - Same thing as War mode, just over the internet. Works great, surprisingly. Has chat and a ready system which regular war mode doesn't need.

Infinite Spawn* - An infinite mode with a constant spawn rate.

Challenge* - Player must complete levels that have a series of challenges such as time limits, goals, and other modifiers.

9 Ball* - Destroy bubbles in a specific order.

Darkness* - level is dark, paddle acts as a flash light beam, probably extra environmental lighting to set the mood.

*denotes planned modes, not yet implemented

Screen shots
(http://i.imgur.com/61MBSKJ.png) (http://i.imgur.com/61MBSKJ.png) (http://i.imgur.com/0lMZ4Ya.png) (http://i.imgur.com/0lMZ4Ya.png) (http://i.imgur.com/dWVohTk.png) (http://i.imgur.com/dWVohTk.png)

How to play
1. The object of the game is to explode all the little bubbles floating around on the screen.
2. You start by launching your ball peggle style at the bubbles.
3. Exploding bubbles can cause other bubbles to explode.
4. Use the round paddle at the bottom controlled by the mouse to keep your ball in play.

Controls
Mouse - move the paddle back and forth
Left mouse button - launch the Tidy Bubble Ball
middle mouse button - pause/menu
spacebar - pause/menu

---

Features
-Procedurally generated levels
-Several different game play modes
-Realistic physics system (Box2d)
-Original sound track
-Relaxing and addicting gameplay
-Up to 4 player local multiplayer
-4 player network multiplayer, should work over lan or internet
-Use of shaders for enhanced fx
-Configurable graphics options menu to turn enhancements on and off
-Course/Level sharing
-More backgrounds
-OS X and Linux


Planned Development
-Stats tracking
-Microbe/bubble editor
-Online matchmaking
-Stats driven course difficulty ratings
-More game mode types (Story, 9Ball, challenge mode, etc, etc, etc...)
-Environmental Obstacles
-Tablets/Mobile


If you'd like to get emailed development updates you can sign up here:
http://www.invisiblespaceship.com/signup.php (http://www.invisiblespaceship.com/signup.php)

-Greg

This weeks changes:

-made mouse clipping a toggle in gamedata for multiplayer testing [gamedata.mouseclip]
-made net multi reset properly
-players must now "ready up" by pushing space bar at the start of a "war net" game
-a system message is broadcast now when a player is ready
-fixed giant trails in warnet
-changed delay loop slightly in warnet
-restarting a local mutiplayer game works now.
-fixed volume bug with fade out, music played very very very faintly.
-reworked ready system, players ready up and then host starts the game with space bar
-added middle bumpers to net multiplayer mode
-added newsletter and support us menu items

-changed bumpers in local mutliplayer
-upped joystick sensitivity in local multiplayer
-increased bubble top speed in local multiplayer
-fixed multiplayer chat box being too small cutting off bottom text
-hitting space while chatting no longer sets ready flag
-fixed an issue with inconsistent physics timestep

Local multiplayer screen shots (still some place holder art):
(http://i.imgur.com/JIlhCZd.png) (http://i.imgur.com/JIlhCZd.png) (http://i.imgur.com/YnK25Dk.png) (http://i.imgur.com/YnK25Dk.png)

Played around with a lot of uncommitted code today.
-added correct end round detection
-added particle explosion at the end of a round for the tidy bubble/player bubble
-added some screen cap code
-minor type change for particle angles

playing around with the screen caps:
(http://i.imgur.com/xyyHi0A.gif) (http://i.imgur.com/GIJCcmI.gif)

-fixed toast texture not appearing bug
-added options menu to pause menu
-added restart option to pause menu
-added portable random number generator based on Mersenne Twister (this is the setup for level sharing and ratings)
-a few other minor bug fixes

-fixed volume range error
-fixed volume reading/display bug
-menu items aren't selectable until menu is fully displayed now
-menu items only highlight when the mouse is over them now
-menu items only play selection sound on a successful selection
-fixed war local restart from pause menu

Lots of updates!

-moved tool tips up in menus
-added level codes to course mode display
-modified course mode generation
-added interpolation to paddle movement
-added paddle texture & rotation
-added new backgrounds
-added backend for background selector
-fixed projectiles not being destroyed on reset (fixes exploding after reset)
-fixed particle system, now the biggest bottle neck for particles is drawing them
-added new paddle textures and animations
-fixed bug that was causing particle system to hang game
-changed end of round particle explosion
-fixed end of round particle bug
-new progress bar

I like the simplicity of the art style. Also the pulsing of the exploding elements has an awesome retro feel to it. I don't know why but this reminded me of scorched earth.

I'm guessing its the gif but it feels a bit slow-motion.

Thanks, I bet it's the slowly expanding rings of explosion that makes you think of scorched earth. :)

The game logic runs at 60fps and I've put a ton of time into making sure it's smooth, unfortunately the gif doesn't do it justice.

Looks very professional.

What program do you use to make gifs?  Perhaps you have them on the wrong settings?

I dumped screens every couple of frames from the game and then combined them using imagemagik. I'll try to make a smoother gif with a better framerate tomorrow.

Try this gif capture software http://www.cockos.com/licecap/

Thanks, that software worked perfectly.

(http://www.invisiblespaceship.com/tidybubble/test2.gif)

wicked how you have it following the projectile up above and off the screen. Looks good.

-round over toast is now wherever the projectile explodes at
-changed round over camera behavior in infinite mode and course mode
-toast are now on top of the action
-changed meter texture
-course level codes
-course mode options menu
-new projectile texture

Have some more textures that need implementing, I will probably move onto another game mode next week.

The course level codes are looking pretty awesome, you can play a course, and then give someone else the code and see who can complete the course in the least amount of throws.

version b13
-added more particles to end explosion
-esc key aborts text inputs in menus
-added new bumper texture in local & net multiplayer
-changed the menus so it doesn't reset course mode everytime you cycle the game modes
-updated projectile texture to better match the paddle (again)
-added variable projectile size
-added mouse clipping to the options menu
-changed framesleep resolution to microseconds, elminated some jitters
-upped the physics simulation iterations, and made it easier to vary by an option

-added death particles
-changed lose ball particles a little
-changed how dead microbes are stopped (dampening, this might have been the cause of a div by zero)
-changed autopause so it doesn't come on during round end, eliminates double pause effect
-added a slowmotion option during level creation, for later use
-added on/off switch in class for particle system
-added win condition to screen_3 & 4 round over toast
-added textured multiplayer paddles
-dead players now get disabled in multiplayer & disabled texture

version b14
-added per level score tracking to course mode, end scores are used for tiebreaking
-fixed a bug in network multiplayer that makes balls fly all over the place
-fixed minor menu text bugs
-sectioned off non portable code into it's own area
-added lots of defines for win32 sections
-got the code compiling on OS X (10.6.8) but the game crashes
-changed the way the display window is handled
-added vsync as an option
-game now runs on OS X (10.6.8), textures are getting corrupted but everything else seems to work

brofist for games about circles doing things :brofistR:

it looks really smooth!

Looks fun! great work so far

This is money in your pocket.

Thanks for the encouragement guys, this last week has been rough. I almost gave up on having a mac port. Almost.  :coffee:

This week in tidy bubble land:
-setup viewports for scaling, instead of the silly child window system, much much more portable
-added physics based rotation to projectiles
-adjusted wall creation so that the friction is low, spinning projectiles weren't bouncing well
-added aimer pulse
-added paddle desaturation when not in play
-added mouse cursor visible option
-minor bugfixes related to the above changes
-replaced aimer circle with projectile
-added initial tilt to projectile

I think I may have a releasable game here in the next couple of weeks, I keep saying this, but it's probably true this time.  :shrug2:

version b15
-setup variable resource file path
-created Mac .app bundle packaging - needs more work
-changed how/when some resources load
-particles & emitters allocate on the heap instead of the stack
-added the initial graphics menu
-added particle options

Working on some particle eye-candies, some gifs will probably be forthcoming. Not really sure what to do with them yet but they're too much fun to just throw out.

(http://www.invisiblespaceship.com/part2.gif)


(http://www.invisiblespaceship.com/part1.gif)

nifty :)

slow progress lately

-added input sensitivity adjustment
-added controls options menu
-change window setup, paving the way for fullscreen

Did some testing on some low end machines and the game runs like a pig, not really sure what to make of that. Will probably need more optimizations and further testing.

I really like that smooth Geometry Wars-esque style. Looking quite cool!

lots of changes!

-added input selector widget
-added input sensitivity selector widget
-minor minor smoothing optimization
-selected input save/load
-added selected input actually changes the input mode in game
-changed how input controls launch the projectiles
-changed netplay token assignment, fixed rejoin crash bug
-added flag for course mode restarting
-added a box at the end of menu items that indicates sub menus
-changed clean up mode win conditions to 30-60-90% depending on difficulty level
-changed clean up mode difficulty selection tool-tips to accurately describe amount needed to be cleared
-clean up mode resets now once it's been cleared
-mouse lock now locks the mouse inside the game window area only

version b16
-brought tutorial mode up to speed with the latest UI changes
-added achievement framework/counters
-in progress: tutorial redo

-reworded some of the tutorial lessons
-added new icon for menu, menuitems
-added new icon for mode selector
-fixed sensitivity widget operating reversed
-added selector icons to selectors in menus
-added a menu for end of tutorial, allows replay or return to main menu
-changed new course option so it doens't reset selected course length
-added brackets to input selection widgets texts
-added stop functionality for ball cloud
-set static seed for tutorial ball cloud and added controls for tutorial toast placement
-fixed phantom combo bug
-fixed tutorial redo bug
-added paused sections to tutorial with "setup" shots
-added click to continue between lessons

-added replay course option to course over menu
-fixed minor mouse clipping bug
-added particle explosion when a combo ends on the paddle
-added version check and outofdate flag (win only atm)
-added update link to menu when out of date
-added app icon

This should be about enough for a first release, going to do some testing over the weekend and see how this goes. Version 1 should be purchasable next week. :beer:

version 1.0
-fixed a minor menu bug
-final credits update


Game is now available for purchase here: http://www.invisiblespaceship.com/tidybubble/ (http://www.invisiblespaceship.com/tidybubble/)

Demo is available here: http://www.invisiblespaceship.com/tidybubble/TidyBubbleDemo.exe (http://www.invisiblespaceship.com/tidybubble/TidyBubbleDemo.exe)

This is the windows version, mac and linux will be coming soon.

Hell yes! This is such a great game.

Thanks so much, I'm glad you enjoy it :D

I'm currently working on getting the mac port sorted, just need to implement mouse capture/warping on OSX and then figure out how to package it properly and it will be good to go. I'm going to try update on Tuesdays, (Tidy Bubble Tuesdays  :lol: )

Looks pretty neat so far, really liking that graphical style! I'm thinking about uploading some blind gameplay of the demo to YouTube, and linking back here in the description. Would you mind?

Just purchased a copy of fraps the other day, so I'll get on that :D

Sorry I miss read that, Yes feel free to upload gameplay to youtube!

Good luck with the release, hope it goes well :)

Progress still continues. I've been concentrating on the mobile port at the moment which is coming along nicely. I decided to switch over to using Haxe for that. It has been extremely useful in getting a prototype up and running. The gameplay has translated over to mobile without any real difficulty. I ended up having to add a launch projectile button but other than that it remains very true to the PC version.

Tidy Bubble PC version is also on sale for 4.99. Get it here (http://www.invisiblespaceship.com/tidybubble/)

And we've had a couple of favorable reviews!

http://thelonegamers.com/game-review/tidy-bubble-review/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cR-sZGdc-YA

Forgot to keep this updated! Started mobile alpha testing, changelog as of yesterday:

version a4
-added initial end of level score display (report)
-hopefully finally fixed the sticky paddle situation (for real this time, paddle now set to never sleep)
-initial stat tracking added
-added course / normal mode toggle button
-added a main menu button to pause screen
-added course mode menu ( play, course length, re-roll, Back)
-game loads into course mode, or normal mode (infinite)
-added icons
-fixed back to main bug not clearing menu from pregame menu
-fixed bug, backed to main not clearing report
-added course drawn to report screen
-ui score tray resets on return to main
-complete meter is now pixel perfect, with a 2px border
-fixed pausing at end can still cause problems (seems to be fixed)
-fixed rolling off buttons causing them to activate
-added score card, course drawn to report screen, show current level and past scores
-fixed score getting reset in normal mode
-added score to report screen
-added score card to report
-fixed level reset bug
-fixed rolling off launch button causing paddle to freeze
-changed pause button icon
-added version number display
-changed screen size  detection, fixes overlapping nav menu on phones


version a3
-added play area box
-adjusted scrolling, scaled properly across devices
-fixed button bugs
-fixed motion controls, has sensitivity multiplier
-got embedded fonts working
-added level loader animations
-fixed motion control aiming
-fixed input not working during level loader
-changed exploding circle draw to a single sprite.graphic context
-added graphic for launch button
-moved play area rect draw to backg, offset of backg still needs to be scaled for different resolutions
-added win sound
-added Proj class for handling projectiles
-added bop sound for projectile
-fixed accepting input during ending, no launching!
-fixed launch button weirdness
-launch button is fixed in motion mode
-added score counting
-added combo tracking
-added combo toasts
-added ui tray
-added buttons for main menu
-added pause menu and buttons
-added paddle bounce sound
-fixed pressing pause button during ending makes the round not finish, game now resumes to last fpUpdate state when pausing/unpausing
-fixed paddle not responding at start


version a2
-added motion controls, needs to be exposed in options
-added blackholes and exploder bubble functionality
-added complete bar
-added death rings

version a1
-switched to 16:9 format
-added a fade layer, for fade screen transition effect
-setup game base
-started changelog

Entering the last phase of testing for the mobile version. An android release is imminent!  :screamy:

current changelog:

version a11
-replaced placeholder continue button on report screen
-fixed another pause input bug
-changed level code display on report screen
-fixed reverse motion controls by turning off sensorLandscape
-added a score attack mode, 3 lives to get as high a score as possible
-toasts stop short of pause buttons
-added lose ball sound

version a10
-fixed ballcloud playin, more centered
-added a few more playins
-fixed combo displayer
-added level code input mode
-added Course totals after last course level.
-report screens data now properly aligned
-added level code display to pause menu in course gametype
-fixed pressing menu buttons more than once causing them to fire off more than once

version a9
-added serialization to course class
-added serialized load to course class
-fixed offset on course mode slid menus
-fixed timing on slidy menus
-added level seed to scorecard display in pregame menu
-added backing to scorecard on pregame menu
-new menu selection sound
-fixed bug: repeated and rapidly pausing the game causes a crash

version a8
-added a seedable RNG
-added level code system
-fixed negative seeds bug
-new slidy menus
-removed buttons, added text
-score tray slides in/out of menus
-menu text now orange, highlight white when touched
-added menu titles
-added scoreboard display to pregame menu
-fixed microbe types repeating in course levels & +1 to maxcount
-changed some microbe colors that were similar
-fixed ui tray rising at end of a course
-fixed course mode ending too soon

version a7
-fixed menu music switching back to game music when re-pressing the pause button
-fixed some of the music stuttering on slower devices
-fixed music hiccup on load
-optimized a couple loops

version a6
-added music system & music
-added sound off option button
-added music off option button

version a5
-changed Round Over text to orange on report screen
-unified ui backing color and opacity
-switched complete meter to it's own class
-added in/out tweens for report
-added in/out tweens for tray
-added in/out tweens for meter

Looks like I'll be publishing on the Play store around the first week of February, then I'll start working on the iOS version or something else.

Tidy Bubble is now available on the Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.invisiblespaceship.tidybubble :tearsofjoy: