RELEASED ... Upgrading the GLBasic Arkanoid Sample Game

[GarBenjamin]

Hello. I've been away quite a while but truthfully I still load up GLBasic every so often and mess around with it.

Anyway, I am off on my Thanksgiving Break this week and for fun today I spent some time upgrading the Arkanoid sample game that comes with GLBasic.

I thought... ya know GLBasic can do some nice stuff and I think if the samples that came with it had a little more oomph and pizzazz it may help to bring more people in.

Not sure how much I will do with it but this is what I have so far...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BwkSwwIyiM

Upgraded the Block graphics & animation speed
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hCyq_2bhTY

Added a trail to the ball
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oH-7ip0DsZs

Updated the ball trail and added Multi-Ball
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCcTszfVa8E

Updated adding powerups to collect that grant multi-ball and lasers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9M4SJ3nM9A

Multi-Ball trails and Play Balancing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxkwTdi5CY8

Music and Some Code Cleanup
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsmRWlwBSbU

Updated 2016-11-27 to fix an issue with handling different resolutions.

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

I don't know 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. Thanks! I hope it is useful to someone.

I think it would be very cool if other members of the community take my updated project and push it forward even more.
It doesn't have to be a lot of work. Even just adding 2 or 3 things is enough. If each person here did that just imagine how awesome this sample game could become.

[spacefractal]

that example could evenetuelly use as example to how to add gameinput api and such thing im have created for example Apple TV support and such. Could been nice to use that, since its a very nice little game to do a example with.

[GarBenjamin]

Fine with me. I will put the source online as soon as I get bored enhancing the sample.

Then you can add the GameInput API stuff.

Might actually be very cool to sort of "pass it around" and make a community project out of it. One thing that is always sadly lacking for any game dev engine even the highly popular Unity are real (as in fairly big) game examples. Everyone seems to make super simple stuff for samples. Which are great but leave a lot of people scratching their heads trying to figure out how to get to that next level.

Maybe with the community working together on a single sample that comes with GLBasic "out of the box" we can do something about that.

[GarBenjamin]

The graphics for the blocks were annoying me so I just updated those. After all despite the game play being the most important thing, we want to make a good first impression and graphics do that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hCyq_2bhTY

[GarBenjamin]

Didn't do much today. It's Thanksgiving here in the states.

I did spend some time though adding a little more FX to this sample game.

The ball now has a trail.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oH-7ip0DsZs

Next I'll switch focus back to gameplay. Gonna add 2 to 3 powerups.

[erico]

Ha! It is looking great an is a fine idea.
Checked all videos, I like the improvements.
Maybe one day we should call everyone and do compos on each GLB example?

[GarBenjamin]

Ha! It is looking great an is a fine idea.
Checked all videos, I like the improvements.
Maybe one day we should call everyone and do compos on each GLB example?

Thanks. It's coming along bit by bit. I am only working on it in a very relaxed way. Actually this is the first game dev project I have done in a couple months or so. I got burnout and had to take some time off. But this week started playing around with GLBasic and that led to this.

I am not much into the compos but it would be great to see other people working on upgrading some of the samples. And also carrying on from where I leave off on this upgrade. Imagine how cool of a game it could become if you and others each took turns updating this one after I submit my work.

[GarBenjamin]

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.

[GarBenjamin]

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

[GarBenjamin]

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.

[GarBenjamin]

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.

[GarBenjamin]

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!

[MrPlow]

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!!

[GarBenjamin]

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.

[erico]

Yes, that is my feeling too.
Amos on modern computers able to compile to multiplatforms.
It was a long while from the 90s to finally find GLBasic.