0.5.0 Experiments with mechanics and level design
BounceBreak! » Devlog
This version sees small steps toward features I’m planning for while still prioritizing exploring the ball mechanics and level layouts for playtesting.
During this week’s playtests I wanted to see how players responded to the following design choices:
- If the default input is the billiards style drag-to-shoot mode, is it more intuitive to players?
- A: Not really, at least for these players.
- Does it feel better for the rebound mechanic to be more generous?
- A: Yes, though understanding why and when it activates is still fuzzy. It’s still too subtle and overcomplicated, but player feedback was more of a “motivated frustration” type than a “disappointed” type, which is a step in the right direction. (e.g. “I made a bad shot and lost my progress, but I’ll go again.” vs. “I am trying to catch it and I can’t, why?”)
- How do players respond to much more complicated BounceBreaker mode levels?
- A: Pretty well, though right now the game can feel too random.
- How do players respond to the less developed secondary mechanics, like multi-ball, zooming out, zombie.
- A: Multi-ball is still the most visceral fun, but isn’t a viable mode at this point. Zombies has little context in this version. Different zoom levels was a little confusing but players adapted very quickly.
Major Changes:
- Renamed to “BounceBreak!” to avoid a name conflict on the App Store.
- Default input mode is the “drag” type in this version.
- BounceBreaker mode has a new set of levels and is more difficult.
- You can rebound (catch) the ball any time it hits a brick, but you’ll lose half your bounces.
- Rebounded balls’ bounce counter can’t be less than the number of times you caught it.
- Combo text now goes to a 10-combo, with an 11-combo being a “BounceBreak”.
- “BounceBreak” combo gives an extra shot, in modes with total shot rules.
Minor Changes:
- Ball animates away immediately when the round ends, so you don’t have to wait for it to fall before the round ends.
- Cleaned up combo text display to avoid overlap in some cases.
- Included a endless “zombies” mode with multi-ball enabled.
- There’s now a separate tutorial mode so the basic gameplay tutorial doesn’t depend on whatever else happens in the other modes.
- Balls can’t collide with each other.
Files
bouncebreaker-web.zip Play in browser
Version 0.5.0 Oct 13, 2023
BounceBreak!
take a break and do some bouncing
More posts
- 0.6.0 Controls & AccessibilityOct 24, 2023
- 0.4.0 -- Abilities & streamlined flow for testingOct 06, 2023
- 0.3.0 -- Playtesting & SimplificationOct 02, 2023
- 0.2.0 -- Rebound mechanic & progressionOct 02, 2023
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