Messages

I'm not great at puzzle games and had never seen this kind before.
It took me a while to get my head into it but I actually found it interesting and quite challenging.
For some reason it started to remind me of a Rubik's Cube 

This game is extremely well done!
The presentation is excellent.
The rules seem simple but in practice they make it very challenging to complete the board.

Well done!

It's awesome this game is made in GLBasic and the language now supports building for the web!

I may have to grab this. I've been getting back into ultra low res pixel art the past several months and one thing I remember doing long ago is using graph paper to design tiles and sprites for the C64. But having a book full of grids sounds pretty handy. Could almost just get one just for doodling trying out ideas and then get one every time I start a new project. Be cool to have for the future. lol  Anyway, great idea!

[my Steam library]

In the mobile (more recent version) the scrolling stops you at the start and end of the level - it doesnt loop like the jam version...

Updated itch version so you should get an email from them about the update

Finally got a chance to try the update. The player controls much better now. The scrolling no longer stops when moving. It's actually pretty fun. Quite challenging too. I find it is best to actually play while watching the radar instead of the playfield.

Do you think this might be a good game to try get some interest out on Steam for a more extensive version?

I think if you added a good amount to it and also made it a little easier it may find an audience on Steam. Steam gets a good number of people who like retro style games. For example, if you look at the games in my Steam library you find a strong preference of retro style games. You'll also see that I recently purchase AGK2 and have been spending most of my time playing around with it. lol

For Steam I'd want more of an experience. The presentation in your game is excellent. The graphics and sounds are very nice. I mean it doesn't need to be some epic experience like Environmental Station Alpha (32,000+ sales on Steam) or ORCS (6,000+ sales on Steam).

For example Bit Blaster XL (120,000+ sales on Steam) is a very nice game. It is very simplistic but very well done. I think the main thing is to provide a good entertaining experience. Make the game easier in general. Start out with a simple level so the player can get the hang of it and that feeling of victory from completing the first level or two. Then throw something different at them. Etc. Maybe give them one other thing to do like collect X things along the way.

Games like ESA, ORCS and BBXL are very much like the kind of games I have an interest in making.

I have these two games on GameJolt (both can be played in web browser or download for Windows): Atlantic Crisis and Treasures of Ali-Gar. They are fine for free web games but if I was putting them on Steam I'd definitely add more to them. Atlantic Crisis would likely be turned into an adventure of sorts with scrolling screens and just a little more to do in general. Treasures of Ali-Gar I'd probably add some RPG elements to it such as different spells, mana generation and so forth.

Just my opinion. I kind of rambled on there a bit. Sorry about that.

Looks great, it was nice to see the evolution via YouTube too. 

Thanks. Link to the source is in the first post for anyone who wants to enhance it a bit more.

So did you play the mobile version too? You mentioned screen controls

No I don't play mobile games. Well... once in a great while I have played one just to provide feedback for a game dev. In general I think cell phones are just terrible game consoles for the kind of games I enjoy. And I don't have much interest in typical games that work best on mobile.

I played the Windows desktop version. Thrust and gravity were a bit stronger than I expected so it took a bit to get used to that. When moving left or right the screen scrolled a ways then stopped. After flipping around to face other direction then flipping back again the screen scrolled again. Not sure if that is a bug or if the idea was to scroll a ways then stop and clear out that portion of the level. The latter is how I ended up playing it.

Hi GarBenjamin,

Thanks for buying it, but the Jam version is not as detailed as the Mobile version so ...
Just for you! I will try to get a copy of the Mobile version ported to Windows and will send you a link!

That's awesome! Thanks. I definitely appreciate it. I went into it with the mindset I was getting a game jam work which is most likely not complete, not polished, probably has bugs and so forth. Only so much a person can do in such a short period of time.

I enjoyed it. I found the jetpack control took some getting used to and the screen only scrolls for a ways when I move before it stops. Once I knew those things I was able to get it into it more. Defeated that boss at the right side of the 1st level.

That looks really nice, funny how some particles and a tune lifts even old classics.

Sent from my 01v21_v89_gq3008s_89t_5g using Tapatalk

Thanks. Yeah really there is not that much that was added (compared to what could be!) but it definitely made a nice difference I think. Different sounds, music, an abstract backdrop, some color glow sequencing on the blocks, trails on the balls, and the particle FX for block destruction. About 50/50 time on polish and gameplay improvements. Powerups, multiball, lasers and a fair amount of playtesting & balancing.

I'm hoping someone else picks it up and carries it forward with even more enhancements.

Wasn´t the original for a jam? So there must be a pc version on the likes of itchio me guesses.
This reminds me so much of buzzard bait, we really should make one.

You're right. I found it on the game jam page and just bought it.

Windows version is here.
I basically never play mobile games so it always annoys me when people make fun retro style games for mobile and not for desktop. But in this case it is available!

Now gonna have a play or two.

Great stuff! And welcome back!
I definitely think that GLBASIC is under promoted and one of the best mobile games language that most people have never heard of...

Its fun to code with!

Nice Arkanoid clone!!

Thanks! Yeah I think I finally figured out what it is that I like about GLBasic. It reminds me of programming in AMOS long ago on my Amiga.
It's very accessible and since it doesn't get into all of the OO methodology it is easy & fast to knock things out.

Combine that with modern machines being able to easily draw hundreds and even thousands of objects per frame within a single vsync compared to back then. In AMOS I once created a shmup and struggled to maintain full framerate with more than a dozen bobs on screen at once. GLBasic is like going back in time only having far more power. I like it.

Glad you like the new Arkanoid sample game. It's all just based on the original Arkanoid sample that comes with GLBasic. Just thought it might be nice to upgrade it a bit for the times.

I just made one more update. Just a simple thing to correct an issue with the paddle movement when using a different size display than the standard 640 x 480.

And this really is my last update. I'll let someone else carry this forward but I think there is a great foundation.


NOTE: I UPDATED THIS POST BECAUSE I NO LONGER HAVE THE WEBSITE I HAD 6 YEARS AGO! SO I REMOVED THE URL!

Okay, this is my last little dev session on this project.

I added some music and did a little code cleanup. There is still a good chunk of the original GLBasic Arkanoid in there but a lot of new stuff too.
Certainly is not perfectly written but should be simple enough to follow.

Not sure who is in charge of such things, but if people think it is worthwhile please add it to the GLBasic download so new folks have it as an example of how to do a project a little bigger than the base Arkanoid that is currently included.

Latest video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsmRWlwBSbU

NOTE: I UPDATED THIS POST BECAUSE I NO LONGER HAVE THE WEBSITE I HAD 6 YEARS AGO! SO I REMOVED THE URL!

I'd really like to see other members of the community take the project and carry it forward even more. Doesn't have to be a huge amount of work. Just add a few more things. If each person did this think of what it could become.

Slept in til nearly 2 PM today. That's okay though I am on holiday break. By the time I get to this part of the year I am in much need of some R&R.

Just did one more little dev session on this.

Added the trails for all balls (for the multi-ball feature) and also did some play balancing on the max ball speed and the powerup appearance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxkwTdi5CY8

The code is a hybrid of the original and my updates at this point. I won't try to make it all perfect but I will do at least one code clean-up pass before uploading it.

I will try to get to that tonight.

[review of this game on Steam]

Just letting you know I posted a review of this game on Steam.

Managed to get in a late night session on this project.

Added powerups to collect for multi-ball and lasers.

These are rough atm but functional.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9M4SJ3nM9A

Tomorrow I will polish them up. Powerups won't appear at anyway close to this frequency. This was for testing.
Also need to fix up the tail trails on the multiballs that I broke in the last session. lol

Black Friday but I managed to get a little done on this project.

Updated the trail on the ball. Made it more like a tail thinning as it goes back.

Also added the Multi-Ball functionality and a test function wired to the M key.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCcTszfVa8E

This weekend, I'll add power ups to collect to activate the multi-ball. Then I might add one more powerup... maybe lasers.

At any rate the end of this weekend I will upload it.