So i'm working on this game..

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#1

It’s an android game. More specifically a breakout (if you don’t know what breakout is, think arkanoid or dx-ball) clone with physics and as many insane powerups (and downs) as i can possibly implement. Oh. And it has bosses too!

I’m doing this to learn more about programming for smartphones, and making a game is good training :slight_smile:

The problem is, i’m starting to run out of ideas. so if any of you guys have some ideas for crazy and weird powerups and downs (preferrably serving some kind of purpouse) feel free to post them here. i’m gonna put as many as i can in there :slight_smile:

#2

A powerup/powerdown (or maybe “powersideway”) to change the curve of the paddle. One to make it more convex, with another to make it more concave. If you get an even number of the two, then your paddle remains flat. If you keep getting more of one than the other, then the paddle will be deformed (to an extent) and deflect the ball at unusual angles depending on how far from the center of your paddle is hit.

I’m sure you also remember the usual powerups and powerdowns… Wider paddle, narrower paddle, larger/laggier ball, smaller/hastier ball, ball-duplicator, timed magnetic attraction,

and how about some chalk powerup to allow the ball to curve if it’s hit by a sliding paddle (like english in pool)? I suppose it could wear off some after every hit… or be rinsed by an oily powerup to make paddle motion irrelevant to the deflection angle.

#3

Angled paddles and panels sounds like a great idea!

Perhaps a mode where the bricks continually spawn and either:
a) Work down the screen like space invaders
b) Fall down the screen like Tetris bricks

Also, perhaps toy around with small gravity wells and fields. Could be interesting.

Also also, what about a game that uses a pinball table type field with the bricks at the top? Maybe not a brilliant idea, but it is different.

Also Also Also! What about mixing the game with pong, having an AI paddle on the other side, but two lots of bricks, each lot behind either paddle acting sort of like bases, and you have to try and break through the enemies base whilst protecting your own? Seems easy, but add in stacks of balls and difficult powerups and then it could be fun.

You gotta put us in the credits if you do this things though!
(Not really, but I’d be excited to play a breakout game with these features and seeing my tag in the credits would be cool.)

Hmm… would it be on the apple store?

What visual style would you be going with?
I’m partial to neons and vector geometry myself, like geometry wars.

#4

I’m working on something too, it’s a story, and for similar reasons no less.

But on topic, you might add a powerup that causes some sort of symmetry or reflection effect, like a ball that bounces off of the normal ball or causes you to have two paddles that move in opposing directions.

#5

As of now the game has pretty simple graphics based off vectorized objects, but i will be putting in some eyecandy in the days to come. I’ve already added some rudimentary particle effects. I might even provide a download link when i feel its ready to be betatested. It won’t be on the apple app store since i don’t have a developer license for iOS. And sure. Every suggestion that makes it in will be credited :slight_smile: Now; off to work :slight_smile:

I’ll post a few screens later today.

#6

a couple of screencaps from the emulator.

#7

Interesting, I guess we’ll need to see the game in action to get a better idea of how the movement works.

Keep us posted :slight_smile:

#8

Here’s an idea, but you’d want to make it optional if you use it.

Allow for the device’s accelerometer to alter gravity on the playing field, as if it were being played on a table and can be tilted. Don’t make this a drastic change, just enough to allow the player to tilt their phone/tablet to tweak a ball’s trajectory. You could make this a timed power-up, or just a feature of the game.

You’ll want to have the option to turn it off (or not show up, if you make this a power-up), in case someone has to hold their device at a funny angle while playing.

#9

That sounds pretty cool. Now i have to figure out how to get the accelerometer to work :jizz:

Game APK (Mind you, it’s still very much a WIP)

Sorry about all the permission requests. Apparently Corona (the SDK i’m using) likes to add a lot of libraries outside my control. I assure you i’m not hijacking your phones or anything scary. The devs are aware of it, and hopefully it will be fixed.

Here’s a post about the issue. Link

Anyway. I’d love some feedback on the gameplay. :slight_smile:

#10

I’ve started working on levels and bosses now. Will update the APK as soon as it’s playable.

MODS: i think this thread would be better off in the Show Off category, since it’s turning in to a progress-thread. Feel free to move it around :slight_smile:

Also: made the menu prettier, added statistics. working on implementing options, etc.

The physics engine already does this (to some degree). it wouldn’t be too hard to make it more noticeable though :slight_smile:

#11

Turn your ball into a melon which on impact with the squares blows up into cluster of melon slices and a ball! :smiley:

#12

haha. I’m not HalfBrick :slight_smile:

Anyway. a little update on the graphical aspect.
Someone earlier in this thread requested a newschool retro-glow effect. So i’ve started to implement one.

Still working on levels and powerups and stuff. Will update with a new .apk when something big happens :slight_smile:

#13

I’m loving the graphical style! It must look great when smoothly animated.

Is that green thing a powerup?

#14

That looks really nice. Do the blocks move? Because you might be able to make a mechanic out of that; certain things increase the amount of shaking and perhaps make it possible to squeeze balls into hard-to-reach areas.

#15

The blocks get affected by gravity when they are hit once, you have to hit them again to make them disappear. They’re misaligned in the picture because they wobble a bit (for aestetic reasons only)

Yes, it’s a placeholder until i get myself to make some decent graphics for it.

Or, if you mean the green tail after the ball, that’s just a debugging feature.

I capped a tiny gameplay video from the emulator. Fraps and youtube totally destroyed the framerate, but ah well… it runs great on my phone :wink:
The misaligned text and graphical glitches is due to the emulator. for some reason it screws up on windows. works great on a mac though.

Youtube

#16

New version up. A lot of improvements, a lot less bugs. A lot still missing :slight_smile:
Currently working on an online scoreboard server.

Android APK

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