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scott0077, I have a relatively easy strategy to it: drop a very big ball, and wait until it touches all key balls. When they vanish you get some slowmo time, but buy some more so you can destroy with a mouse click the red ball you are going to hit next. After that one is gone your ball should land to the bottom of the screen. And then just use thrust to get the S-balls. Might take few tries, though.
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Good ideas, acidDICA. I'll make the slowmo last a little longer and be slower. 2X is a bit too much, 1.5X is what I'll try. Otherwise you can just slowmo, -25pts, and then hit max boosted ball, +30pts... Anyway, I've added these to TODO list and will do most of the stuff there at the end of the week.
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Btw, just my opinion, but I've always felt that the slow-motion should be slower or maybe last slightly longer. Currently, there almost seems little value in hitting it. If it were twice as slow, then it'd encourage us to use it and to 'boost' the ball a bit - making the game as a whole more interactive. I assume you want that? Also, if it returned to normal speed over the course of a few seconds rather than all at once, it'd help get rid of accidents at the end of the slowmo period. And it'd look cool.
Although I noticed a new counter which helps eliminate that problem anyway.
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In any case, being able to check out thumbnails of the levels directly within the game and DL them that way would be cool. Maybe for the sequel, alongside the tutorial and better level progression?
Oh, and I hope you get badges soon - congrats on the rising score. I was SURE 3.5 was the cutoff. :-/
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Thanks for the mention.
You know, ideally, this game would work well with a portal-system for its levels - something like Platform Racer or even Newgrounds - with 'most recent', 'top 5 of today', 'top 10 of the last week' and 'top of all time' so that everything has a chance at initial exposure, but then the most popular rise. Or maybe have it something like '10 most recent', 'top 5 today', 'top 5 this week', 'top 10 this month' and then a list organising them all by rating. Of course, then you'd have to introduce ratings and probably user IDs to avoid spam-voting.
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Thanks guys! I hope more people liked the game so I could keep on enhancing it, and make a sequel to it. :) Anyway, I'll add some new, small stuff later this week...
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having the level editor pushed this from a 4 to a 5 for me. and i love the gravity balls. just made a fun gravity ball level, going to experiment a lot more with them.
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darknote, I alread have a "restart level" button on the TODO-list, so you can press that if you think you can't reach your previous score...
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one thing i might suggest as a minor detail is to make it easier for people like me who practice the same level over and over again, either by a) making the default action after the round is over to restart the round and a button goes back to the main menu, or b) highlight with a color or something the last level that was played. also, maybe a hoverover of the level shows rank in addition to your score/best score.
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Darknote, nope, there is no such place, but I have the stage scores in my database, so I could make such page to my www server. I'll add that to my TODO-list...
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scott0077, can you please tell me more, how it happens? You do get "saving the game..." text after a level ends? But if you exit the game and go to the title screen "continue" is unavailable?
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gamerlukeee, nice ideas, thanks again. Next time I'll touch the code I'll replace the collected special balls with some other balls (violet?).
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Ttursas, Would you be able to make it so when you get the special balls, they don't go when you want to play it again? Just fade them out a bit, because then it's harder to get a higher score because you can't get the points from them.
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gamerlukeee, well, we had very young testers at one mobile games company, the youngest was 21? But age doesn't matter there, experience does. I've also seen people who don't play or have played three games in their lives, working in the business, and man do they suck... They don't have a clue.
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Most of all, create your own demos or even complete games on your free time. That's more valuable than any university degree you can get, if you want a job in the games industry. But both a degree and a couple of demos, that's the best way to go.
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gamerlukeee, it's good that you study on your free time. Getting good grades will help you getting into the games business. :) Depends on what you want to do. If you want to become a tester (the easiest way to get into games) you need to play a lot, and different kinds of games. Programmers need maths and programming skills. And social skills as well, a little. :) A designer with math skills would be really something, they don't usually understand the formulas they are creating...
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I think i'd fail at games :) i play them too much aha. But I don't get much spare time with school and in my spare time I do like rugby and coursework and study for my exams. what qualifications do you need to get into the game industry?
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Anyway, instead of spending all your free time on booze and bars and watching sports, you could always make a game like this instead, or something better. :D
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gamerlukeee, when you get older, consider getting into the games industry. :) I work as a game programmer, and wish we had testers with your skills...
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On an ordinary business day I spent something like 0-3 hours on making Ball Drop One, and 3-20 hours every weekend. But min 15 hours a week, I guess.
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I've worked on this one for something like hmm three months now, but not every day. And I do have a full time job that takes most of my time. :) But too long if you ask me. And I spent too much time playing the damned game while coding it...
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Ok, reaching "lightspeed" doesn't explode the balls. I reset the highscoretables, and I'm expecting to get a lot of flame for this. :) Anyway, if people still have the energy to play the game, it should be better now...