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TIGSource ForumsDeveloperPlaytestingBrutal brick-breaker °__ Optical Ball
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Author Topic: Brutal brick-breaker °__ Optical Ball  (Read 746 times)
woodsmoke
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« on: July 17, 2016, 01:08:56 AM »



If you are a good brick-break-em-up player you may enjoy Optical Ball.

Each level has very different gameplay and goal to achieve.
In some places mashed up with other games (Tetris/GTA/Pinball/SpaceInvaders... level)
You can choose any level from the beginning; But can you master any?

https://melerski.itch.io/optical-ball

If 1366x768 use fullscreen, press F.
« Last Edit: July 28, 2016, 03:50:01 PM by melerski » Logged

LOUD
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« Reply #1 on: July 26, 2016, 01:32:27 PM »

  • Is it fun ?
It could be but i am bad at breaker games.

  • Is it consistent ?
Because of the title of game i would like to see optical fx. But awful flashy colors alone are not enough to me.
Maybe modifying size of shapes to give the feeling of some bricks going away and some others going near you would be interesting and looking like an optical illusion.

  • Is aesthetic working ?
Old style aesthetic is working well. I've looked at every levels and it has its own identity. Maybe level with the car is out of aesthetic because it is not flashy and too much figurative.
It reminds me old computer games.

  • Is it well balanced ?
No. It is unfair. I lost many times becauase of my skills but mostly because ball was going too fast, or a green brick appeared too close to the bottom pushing ball too fast to game over.

  • Is it alive through feedbacks ?
It is poor in feedback but it is almost fair with the aesthetic. Small fx when breacking a purple brick is correct, ball's speed trail is ok and sound fx are ok.
But, bricks disapearrance fx could show a better feeling of destruction, like disapearing slice after slice. And bar should have a sound fx.

  • Is it enough and equally polished ?
I don't find the game well polished because : title screen is really nice but levels don't follow its good level of aesthetic, game didn't get enough test with players because it is too hard and i wonder if you try to justify it by saying it is for really hardcore gamers.
Controls are a bit clunky (mouse get lost sometimes)

  • Is it repetitive ?
i would like to begin with another starting trajectory for the ball.

  • Is there a bug ?
Once the ball was boncing endlessly between bar and wall.
Once ball went through the middle of the bar.

  • What is lacking ?
At first, i didn't noticed that a green brick hit will re-appear elsewhere. I was thinking green bricks are simply added to the existing pack.
If i may, i would like to see where will go the next green brick i will hit in order to choose how i will handle the bounce.

  • Conclusion :
Like i was saying it is not my kind of game but after looking quickly at each levels, i wanted to try them because they were looking interesting.
But the lacks of polish and balance made me want to stop. I encourage you to work on that in the future.
I hope i helped !

Next time i will try another level Smiley


(If you wanna try my game : https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=57042.0)

Never forget : good games are well polished games Wink
« Last Edit: July 26, 2016, 03:17:27 PM by repstyle » Logged
Glocke
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« Reply #2 on: July 27, 2016, 04:44:09 AM »

Hi, I just tested it .. hell yeah, I didn't expect THAT classic game when looking at the title :D
The pinball-themed version make be laught :D Cool idea!

Btw, I was running the .exe on my linux system through wine - was working well!
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woodsmoke
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« Reply #3 on: July 27, 2016, 01:43:22 PM »

Glad you got a laugh out if it Glocke. And good to know it can work through wine.
 Smiley
Yo repstyle thanks for the thorough and honest report. You helped alot.
Optical Ball was my first game so it's rough as rino ass. Meanwhile I've learned that games need to be more "juicy" and polished. In hindsight I could have done alot more work on optical feedback.

I don't totally agree with you on difficulty though. We may have a differnent tastes. I find the reward to be bigger the harder a game is, and prefer punishing hard games. Even a dash of unfairness is very fun to me as long as the aftermath isn't a big deal. The game is divided into small chunks (levels), which can be chosen freely. Small chunks and endless lives allow the game to be very hard. This is because you don't get stuck in progression and plays are quick. Every level has been beaten multiple times, well except one (space invaders level), but I'm very very sure that it's possible. I did call the difficulty NIGHTMARE MODE at one point, so that's what you get. The ball is supposed to be very fast in some levels (I've tried it slower). There is a glitch when the ball goes through the paddle when the speed difference is too large and the 60fps are not enough to detect the collision. I'm probably "blind" to the difficulty because I made it. I guess if I want to appeal more to the masses I'd have to tone down the difficulty.

I'll be checking out your game soon...
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« Reply #4 on: July 27, 2016, 02:30:12 PM »

In fact difficulty can be here but not when you start the game the very first time. It was like playing end level game.
I like difficult games if they are fair. The kings of it are Dark Souls games. They are are but always fair because when you die, you can't blame the game arrangements and aftermath are always deserved.

A game with a wrong distribution/arrangement of its game elements can make player missing the learning/mastering phase of game mechanics leading him to frustration in front of to high challenges.

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Fincks
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« Reply #5 on: July 28, 2016, 02:44:56 PM »

I don't find the first level unfair.
Th green bricks disappearing and reappearing without any feedback is a mechanic that you either accept or don't, a bit like the random part of a card game or when you roll a dice in a board game.
Although I felt frustrated when I lost because a green brick appeared out of nowhere, sometimes the green brick actully saved me.
After playing like 20 times, I find that most of the time when I lost, it was because of my lack of concentration.
I won level 2 and 9 and I think I could win level 1 and 3 if I played more.

The pinball level is a nightmare for me.

Anyway, thanks for the game, really liked the simplicity of it Smiley.
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woodsmoke
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« Reply #6 on: July 28, 2016, 03:42:15 PM »

I'm happy that you like it.

..sometimes the green brick actully saved me.
Yes the bricks can save you in level1.
After a while they "stray" to the bottom because they don't get destroyed there.
Yeah level1 is a concentration marathon.
« Last Edit: July 28, 2016, 03:53:35 PM by melerski » Logged

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