[WIP] Ball Blast

I was extremely bored today so I decided that I would work on a mini game. The reason being was because I have come to realise that every game idea I work on is massive and takes ages to finish. I never work on anything small. So i decided while working on my line of defense game, I'll try to make a couple of mini games just to keep me sane. I based this game on an experiment I did the other day which I posted on my blog .

The idea of the game is to cause an explosion amongst the balls on which you get scored on. Each level you get quota you need to beat, and more balls to cause more mayhem. Your blast radius also expands with each level.

One thing I need to fix up, other then the graphics and sounds is the scoring system.

How it works at the moment is the stage is broken up into 10 zones, each ball when it reaches its maximum height calculates its score. The calculation consists of the zone score * the balls weight. Each ball has a weight between 1 - 4. Now that part of the scoring works fine. But the quota is where the problem is at. How it works is I calculate the average possible score for the 3rd zone based on a ball of the weight of 2 and divide that by 2.

So say if there is 10 balls on the screen I base it on 10 balls of weight 2 in the 3rd Zone which scores 15 points. So quota of 300 / 2.

Does anyone have any recommendations on formula that might work better. I know its hard without seeing the game code. I think I want to involve the blast radius but not sure in what way. Think the bigger it gets the bigger the quota gets.

Ow and doe's anyone have any ideas on how to make this game fun to play :)

Well anyway enough rant from me here's a link to the game post.

Ball Blast

erm, yes ...

it's very unpredictable what score you will get, so the game idea pretty much fails for me at the moment.

Currently it seems to be very random (like the way the balls drop).

Maybe if you allow up to three clicks for the running explosion (and subtracting some points for each click more than one).
I also think there should be some kind of reward if you score good (visually, maybe?).

nGFX

8385 on first try. Its not that much fun, you always click where the biggest clump of larger balls appears.

I agree with tony. Wasnt very fun and nothing much changed as I progressed.

That highscoretable is reeeally easy to hack.. just check my score^^

Yep, If you remove the random element, add in some powerups, things to aim for or ways to create chain reactions you could have a very good game on your hands.

8935 on first try.

nGFX: Yeah thats whats annoying me at the moment is the random placement of the balls. I think I'm going to restrict the amount of large balls per level, so users have to try and include them in there explosion. Just trying to work out how to place the balls in a not so random fashion has got me. Any ideas? I like the idea of multiple explosions.

tonypa: Yeah I know, I'm just trying to find out ways to make it more entertaining. And work with a different idea of gameplay. Seems not to be working too well at the moment. Back to the drawing board.

tidenburg: Yep trust me I know, I've played it at least a million times while making it :) Just trying to find ways to make it playable. I wouldn't even call it a game yet :(

T1ger: You have to remember I have to approve the comments on my blog, and I can edit them too ;)

DancingOctopus: Some very good ideas, Just the ones I was looking for :)

ImprisonedPride: The scores get much higher then that :)

At the moment, this game feel like a lost cause, needs too much added to it to make it even the slightest bit fun. Just trying to do something different. Oh well worth a shot.

Thanks very much for the replies guys. Appreciate it.