N-Ball platform game in progress

http://www.radicalrebound.com/n-ball.zip

control with left, right, space to jump (keep space pressed most of the time)

Jump levels with "8"

I'm mostly interested in what level you reach before losing interest :P

I think it's awesome. Are you willing to share the physics engine behind this? I have yet to beat the first level but i'll let you know.

Keep up the good work!

Edit: Okay, so I'm on the third level. I really like the feel of this game. It's a little difficult but I really enjoy it.

Hey thanks Daniel!

I'm not planning to release the "engine" as of now (also because it's quite messy), maybe in the future.

But if you have some question on how something is done feel free to ask!

Matteo

The dynamic collisions are amazing. How did you do the ropes?

One trick about collisions is that it only does ball-ball collisions (which are easy) and ball-rectangle collisions (only against the "long" sides of the rectangles, it does not have to worry about collision on the "short' side since every rectangle is delimited by two balls, so fbefore colliding on the "short side a ball would have to collide with the ball that is there)

So it does not even have to do rectangle-rectangle collision, since a rectangle collides against another always with one of it's extremities ( a ball) first

every figure is made of balls and rectangles so in the end you just have to figure ball-ball collision and ball-rectangle (on long side) collisions.

I can give you the code for the ropes :) (Blitzmax)

Global distance#
Global numballs=30
Global shiftx#[numballs]
Global shifty#[numballs]
Global g#=0.1   'gravity
Global r#=10  'radius
Global x#[numballs]
Global y#[numballs]
Global xv#[numballs]  'x velocity
Global yv#[numballs]  'y velocity
Global dx#
Global dy#
Global oldx#[numballs]
Global oldy#[numballs]

For i=0 To numballs-1
	x[i]=i
	y[i]=i
Next

Graphics (800,600,0,60)	
	
Repeat

	Cls
	
	x[0]=MouseX()
	y[0]=MouseY()
	xv[0]=0
	yv[0]=0

	For i=0 To numballs-1
		yv[i]=yv[i]+g
		oldx[i]=x[i]
		oldy[i]=y[i]
		x[i]=x[i]+xv[i]
		y[i]=y[i]+yv[i]
	Next
	For j= 0 To 30
	
		For i=0 To numballs-1
			shiftx[i]=0
			shifty[i]=0
		Next
	
		For i=0 To numballs-2
			dx=(x[i+1]-x[i])
			dy=(y[i+1]-y[i])
			distance = Sqr(dx*dx + dy*dy)
			shiftx[i]=shiftx[i]+((distance - 2*r) / 4.0) * (dx / distance );
			shifty[i]=shifty[i]+((distance - 2*r) / 4.0) * (dy / distance );
			shiftx[i+1] = shiftx[i+1]-((distance - 2*r) / 4.0) * (dx / distance );
			shifty[i+1] = shifty[i+1]-((distance - 2*r) / 4.0) * (dy / distance );
		Next
		
		For i=0 To numballs-1
			x[i] = x[i]+shiftx[i]
			y[i] = y[i]+shifty[i]
		Next
	Next
	
	For i=0 To numballs-1
		xv[i] = x[i]-oldx[i]
		yv[i] = y[i]-oldy[i]
	Next

	For i=0 To numballs-1
		DrawOval(x[i],y[i],2*r,2*r)
	Next

	FlushMem()
	Flip

Until (KeyDown(key_escape))

much of the program is done in this fashion (all figures are really "complex ropes" with angle constraints)

As you can see opening the levels with a text editor, everything is made by

-balls (different size, mass...)

-links (every link connects 2 ball and specifies the length and the width of the rectangle that connects them)

-tensions (i.e. the angle you want between 3 linked balls)

Looks pretty nice...

One suggestion that I think could improve gameplay a lot: You may want to think about putting a 'mini' map of the level in one of the corners, since a lot of times you're flying relatively blind, no idea what's going to be ahead...

Sort of like in the bottom right of this screenshot of the game Lemmings:

MAN DID YOU SEE THAT!

What a great game. Held my interest the whole time after I put some techno music on. If there were more levels to beat, I'd definitely be coming back for more. This game reminds me a lot of Elastomania - which held my interest for months.

Some suggestions:

I think there are too many vehicles in the game: it started to seem contrived when I got to the skateboard.

I found the wall that you need to go under at the end of level two to be the most difficult section of the game. Maybe move this obstacle to a later level?

Display the elapsed time and the current level on the screen. Ditch "lives" altogether. Keep track of fastest completion times for each level.

I was able to skip some difficult parts of the game by speeding rediculously quickly over them and finding a helpful wall to slow down with. I only ever jumped on the middle platform of the three-hanging-platforms object. Maybe you could make some objects need to be touched before the player can continue (either because they lower platforms, raise doors, or just make the goal work.) Alternately, you could put a limit on the horizontal velocity, or make it more difficult to accelerate the faster you're already going.

I don't think it needs a minimap - exploration was fun! :D

Good points octothorpe.

>too many vehicles in the game

cmon there are only 3 :P



good point. I dont want people to get stuck at the beginning



Heh good point. I'll see what I can do


>Display the elapsed time and the current level on the screen. Ditch "lives" altogether. Keep track of fastest completion times for each level.

Nah, I prefer "lose as least lives as possible", I dont want people to rush!

>I don't think it needs a minimap - exploration was fun! :D

yeah I dont want to show too much otherwise people would just zoom through the whole level ;P

Thanks!

Matteo

I meant anything which you need to ride in or on down a slope, including the rolling boulders, the swinging bag, and the pulley system. Those were my favourites!

Oh, and I forgot to mention earlier that I've slipped through walls a couple times when I had a phenomenal horizontal velocity.

Argh! You cant run too fast, it's against the law! You will be arrested and punished with unspeakable punishments (yes, that's it).

Damn, I just read http://www.nuklearpower.com/ for an hour and I'm starting to speak like that :P

That first level is tough! How about making the ball a little more elastic? You know, slight pause when it hits something and squash it for good effect/feel. Not much, just enough for people like me to get through a little easier :)

Finished first level the swings are cool keeep it up m8 my hand is killing from 5 mins of play :)

plays well. Look forward to seeing some graphics on it.

Its very hard if you dont know the level by heart. A minimap is a must, or at least a more zoomed out view. It would also be cooler if the ball reacted to directions in mid air more responsively.

Definate potential here. I'm right into ragdoll physics myself right now as you may have seen so I'm very interested in what others are doing with it.

Some constructive citicism ...

I found the controls awkward .. I guess they'll get better with practice but I think you need to refine them a bit.

It may be a good idea to have checkpoints that you return to after loosing a life to save you having to start at the beginning again ... I can't even get past the 1st level ... then again maybe I'm just pish!!!

Although I like a minimalistic look it ... it would look much better with graphics rather than loads of circles ...

An idea ... instead of a ball ... why not have a ragdoll with rotational momentum ... it would work well if controlled similarly to Wizball on the old C64 ;)

Stevie

Ahhhhhh the last part of the second level!!!!! This game is very cool, makes many fun. Buuuuuttt please add [S] for save and [R] for reload *cry*
thumbsup!
I love it :)
cu olli

Maybe there aren't too many vehicles, maybe it's just that that they're too close together in the levels. I've since replayed the levels and have figured out the trick of the skateboard.

A simple way to prevent players from skipping parts of levels would be to close off parts with red killing walls. Having such a wall above the skateboard ramp would have prevented me from getting rid of the skateboard altogether and taking a leap of faith on to the next section.



Just slow down. ;) As long as you remain in control of the ball, you can see far enough ahead to know where to go next. There are a few exceptions to this where trial and error is required, namely where vehicles are involved and you need to know when to jump off.



A timer need not force people to rush. Simply surviving to reach the goal is reward in itself the first few times you play a level, but being able to compete against your own best times is a fun way to encourage replayability as your players challenge themselves to learn new tricks on the same old levels.

Being able to see a replay of your best time for a level would be pretty cool too!

Sorry, I'm trying to turn this into Elastomania. I'll be quiet now. :)

lol this game is good. It's a lil on the hard side but makes you want to finish it.

Good Job :)

I love this :D The controls, for this type of game, were fine. Just hold in space bar most of the time. Very tricky to get started, but so cool :D The mini-map isn't really needed. I likes this alot. Although, after 35 goes on level 7, i lost the rag, swore at myself, then quit. pretty cool stuff though. I got nervous when i had just cleared a hard part, and was moving on. hehehehe!

Thanks guys :)

Yeah this game can get very frustrating, I got frustrated myself too playing it!

I need to put some lighting or at least anti-aliasing, if just I knew how...

this is a neat little time waster.. :p
I couldn't get past that thingy on level 2 though, where you have to jump over a gap whilst still under a vertical line?!?

Other than that, it was cool.. :)

one note thoug.. the difficulty level might rise too hard for people.. I mean, I found even the first level to be a bit of a challenge.. :)

Woot! Level 4 in 11 seconds!

I'm still trying to knock the tree/ladder over at the beginning of level 8.

Thanks for the source! It means a lot. And works well too!

From what I've seen, this game is very good. Hard as nails, though, which is why I said "from what I've seen". Won't embarrass myself by saying how far I've got. :P

Good to see a game being made where all the mechanics are being put into place before the fluff of GFX and sound. ;)

P.S. Any chance of a fullscreen version? :)

Suggestion! Please add check points!