Thanks for the feedback.

Is there anything about the bounce mechanic that you don't like, or is it just that you want more depth to the controls?

I prototyped blue paint, which the ball rolls on instead of bouncing. It works fine, and makes the game much easier to control.

However, the game is designed primarily for iOS, and I can't really think of a good way to have two different types of paint with only a touch screen. I tried a virtual button at the bottom (either a toggle or like hold it down for jump), but that felt very awkward.

I tried paint and hold for bounce, let go for roll. That didn't work very well either.

Probably the best scheme I can think of would be something like, touching with two separated fingers and releasing makes a pink straight line (that you bounce on), whereas touch-and-drag paints a blue line that you roll on.

On desktops of course, I can just use left-click and right-click as different paints, and this works quite well. However, I think the game suits touch devices best.

Does anyone have any other control scheme ideas?

[Download]

Gameplay video!
Video of iPad version
   
   

Download
Windows: WizardBall.zip (requires MSVC runtime, OpenAL)
Mac: WizardBall.app.zip (only tested with Snow Leopard)

Wizard Ball is a coffee break action-physics game, designed for iPad/iPhone.  As the wizard, you draw magik lines which bounce the ball around. The objective is to collect as many ▲s as possible to get a high score. It scrolls vertically upwards, and continues infinitely until you die.

I made a prototype for the game in 2007.



Any feedback would be great! I've been working on the game too long to really see it from the eyes of a player any more. What do you think of the concept? The controls? Difficulty?

The graphics, I'm not sure about. I've been trying to learn how to make decent looking art, but it's been a struggle. The term programmer art comes to mind. If any artists are interested in working with me please send me a PM or reply in this thread!

Technical stuff:
- entity/component game engine, written in C++
- integrates SDL 1.3, Lua, Box2d, OpenGL ES, OpenAL, Ogg/Vorbis
- game code written in Lua
- engine currently supports Win/Mac/iOS (possibly Android in the future)

Writing my own engine has been fairly painful. I'm not sure why I decided to do it. I tried making the game in Unity but had a lot of problems doing 2D. So, I figured I'd write my own 2D engine that works a lot like Unity does (entity/component).

  \ 

Super fun. 
Please allow using the spacebar.

Interesting experience. Creepy.

I really liked the music in the billiards room. What is it?

My only criticism is the mouse sensitivity was way too high. Not sure if this is tied into OS mouse settings or? Is there any way to configure it via Unity?

This seems very similar to the hacking mini-game in Bionic Commando Rearmed:

When you switch screens while holding right, you need to let go of the key and press it again before you start moving.

I got this error about 3 or 4 screens into the game:
___________________________________________
ERROR in
action number 1
of Collision Event with object obj_player
for object obj_trigger_player:

Error in code at line 3:
           if (instance_exists(obj_princess) and (par_player.x-obj_princess.x) < 1000 )
                                                                            ^
at position 75: Unknown variable x

Well, 3 simple steps:

1 - first of all, get rid of the blocking opponent disc
2 - now, get a player of yours as close as possible to the disk, in a nice position for the next shot
3 - aim & score

Seems that the AI is using those 3 basic steps, too

Sure, but you're able to do this consistently?
Perhaps an option to turn off the tracer dot would make things more challenging? (so that you have to gauge how much to fill up the power meter yourself)

Anyone else care to give some feedback as well? I'm curious about what different people think of it.

Only one minor remark: it's a tad easy to win. I'm currently playing on "pain" (1st game): 3-3 with either side having no difficulty scoring.

I don't know... have you ever thought of adding a "defensive move" before the last turn of the attacker (or something similar)?

For the rest, interesting and well made (tried on WinXP)!

Wow, you're a machine! Most people find the game too hard at first. Do you have any particular way of scoring?

Not bad. Liked the atmosphere created by the sound effects. The graphics are a bit plain, though. Maybe try adding a simple glow effect or other screen-space filter, perhaps something that looks like scanlines? You could even animate the alpha on the glow texture to make the glow pulse in and out as you peek at the level.



I probably over-did it a bit, but you get the idea.

Pretty awesome. There's a definite Smash Bros. feel. Nice graphics. The main character's head looks like Astro Boy.

I always juggle enemies by standing inside him, then repeatedly pressing X while holding UP. Using that method I can usually kill an enemy without letting him out of the juggle, and get up to the maximum height in the level.

I've released my first iPhone game: Joe Barilla's Pocket Hockey. It's a turn-based, 2-on-2 hockey game. There's more info, and a video trailer on the website:

http://www.squareearthgames.com/jbhockey/

Since not everybody has an iPhone or iPod touch, I built PC and Mac versions just for you. 

PC (Windows XP/Vista): http://www.squareearthgames.com/jbhockey/PocketHockey.zip
Mac (OS X Tiger or Leopard, universal binary): http://www.squareearthgames.com/jbhockey/PocketHockey.dmg

The PC and Mac versions aren't really supported, so some of the iPhone-specific stuff in the help hasn't been altered. The main thing to know is that you press F to fight (when available). This is done by shaking the device in the iPhone version.

Any feedback on the game itself, the trailer, or the website would be appreciated!

If you're wondering who this Joe guy is, he's a fake celebrity. It's sort of a parody of the old celebrity-endorsed games like Madden '94, Arnold Palmer Golf, etc..

100% treasures means you collected all the treasures but took damage.
100% perfect means you collected all the treasures without taking damage.

And the other thing... well that's a secret. Although, I think I should probably explain why you got it, maybe on the level complete screen. "For <doing a certain something> you have received a <secret thing>!"

Ladies. Gentlemen.

This game is Wizard is a kinda-sorta remake of Wizard on the C64.

Development is coming along nicely, and I'm at a point where it's fully playable. I thought I'd release a build and get some feedback. The build is for Windows. XP and Vista should both work. It should run on a moderately ok computer. (Sorry Mac people, an OS X version is coming, I promise.)

Arrow Keys: Move
Spacebar: Jump
Ctrl: Use Spell (when available)
Esc: Back to Menu
Alt+F4: Quit

It auto-saves your progress. Try and get all the treasures on all levels; that's where the real challenge lies.

All feedback welcome.

http://www.brasshats.com/wizard/This_game_is_Wizard-Oct-08-2008.zip (1 MB)

Nice game. It's kind of a cross between Jenga, Pachinko, and other physics-based games like Crayon Physics or Hamsterball.

I love the water and the splashes. It's funny watching the expression on the star change from a smile to "Uh oh, I'm going into the drink!"

One thing that I find weird is, when you restart, it scrolls to itself. This doesn't really make sense. I think it would be better to just 'poof' the screen back to the original level, minus the scrolling. (The scrolling is good for going to the next level though.)

Fun game overall.

I finished level 20 with 2 moves.

Well, I use BMT Micro to sell my game (http://www.brasshats.com/) by dowload. Depending on the price, they take about 10% per sale. I have never had a problem with them.

Fun game. I have three suggestions, which I think would dramatically improve the game:

1. Make the normal enemies die in one hit.
2. Make the black background flash that excellent pink colour from the health bar when you get hit.
3. Make the controls configurable, and support joysticks. (My keyboard doesn't let me fire and move in certain combinations, and I'm sure this problem is widespread.)

Very cool man. Reminds me a bit of this painting from i am 8 bit...

http://cobolhacker.com/images/content/the_mk_emroca_flores.jpg

Great, glad to hear it works on the new Intel Macs!

About widescreen, how did it display? Were there black bars on the sides, with the game in the correct aspect ratio, or did it stretch the game?

Yeah, I had a fighting fantasy book, too.

Now that I think about it, these types of adventure books are what got me into computer games in the first place!

I loved choose your own adventure style books as a kid.

I played through your book multiple times. Actually, I tried every single path! It's short, but entertaining. The art is really nice. The ending is unexpected and humourous, and so are a few other parts. I like it.