Bubble Blitz Online

Over the last couple of weeks I have been working with Indiepath to get Bubble Blitz online. We're using their igLoader to let people play our game in a web browser. There were a few teething problems, both with my code and the igLoader, but Tim was really quick in responding and the new version was released late yesterday afternoon.

Obviously igLoader is still young and over time it will become a lot more stable and feature complete, but as it is I think it's well worth using and definitely worth the moderate price they're asking for indie developers.

Let me know what you think or if you find any problems

I tested it last night. The look if the loader page and layout has been customised and looks great. good for you, and good luck with it.

Yeah - one of the cool things about the loader is you can customise pretty much anything, which means you can brand it all up for yourself. The plugin detection uses javascript and I modified the way that worked so that I could redesign those pages as well.

Hopefully it will do ok. Like I say I'm really happy with how it all turned out.

Scored 5838 on my first outing with it and got a bit bored... frankly I the only reason why I played it beyond 1000 pts was to see how high my score would be...

How is this different to Bubble Bomb?

Also I've played many many better freeware versions of this game, they might not be as polished but have far more stuff going on that makes them more interesting.

Indestructable bubbles, bombs appearing instead of a bubble that when clicked blow up along with the 8 surrounding pieces.

Random drop in bubbles / bombs / blocks from the top, which will fall after a random amount of time or will fall if you click them.

etc etc

Also...

There is this block game which I think is brilliant, although different to bubble bomb / bubble blitz / Jaw Breaker I think it's much better as it's got an educational slant on it too

http://www.mousebreaker.com/games/dropablock/play.php

well 5838 is a very good score. Not very often anyone gets that high - you're obviously too good :)

This is pretty much Bubble Bomb with extra spit and polish, I'm perfectly aware there are better games out there but it doesn't concern me particularly. Bubble Bomb has sold pretty well, and Bubble Blitz doesn't do badly.

I've got a number of ideas for updates/ new features but want to do something more original/ fun so will hold off on them for now.

I released Bubble Blitz a few months ago, this was more to do with the online-ness rather than the game being rubbish - that can go here :)

Ben, hopefully XMas Bonus will be online soon too!

Looks good Ben. The first time I tried it I got an error reporting a missing sound, (message went to fast to see which sound, sorry) but upon trying again it worked fine.

This seems like a good way of displaying your games and something worth considering if I ever get my own finished.

Jason.

Grey - that'll be good. What sort of things are you doing to limit the demo? I guess your game is level based which makes things easier. I had to spend a bit of time thinking to work out what I would do to stop people just playing online and never trying the demo. In the end I used the same system as the download demo. 20 runs and that's your lot.

Jason - strange error. I was getting that when I first set things up but it was fixed last year.

I think the online games thing is another way to get your game out to people. It's never going to replace download games but I can't see extra options being a bad thing.

Tested on Opera and IE.

Under Opera,

the [>] play game and [?] Download plugin buttons are unclickable.
I had to use IE to download igLoader (1,0,0,5)
Restarting Opera after that got me into the game.

Now though, going back to the game again (via your link) I here the music play but only see a grey (starred) background.

Good little addictive game Ben. I'll send the link to my Sister-In-Law, Niece, and Nephew since they like these puzzle types.

Ben. Basically the demo has only 1 background and music instead of 4 of each, also it is limited to 8 levels (like the cloverleaf version). You can see the other levels to "tempt" people but can't play them. Also of course there is no full-screen mode or boss key in the webbed version. It's actually online now, but I'm going to write an upsell screen first to explain it's only a demo so buy buy buy. The portal versions weren't limited to 8 levels but were limited to 60 minutes, but this sorta thing won't be possible without more code, and I don't mind if they play it until level 8. I guess there is a danger someone will keep playing these 8 levels, but as it is past christmas, the online version is really just an attempt to garner a few extra sales, and just to get my game/name out there a bit more. I did consider removing the highscore table and the resume game function from the online demo but haven't done that yet.

Jim: Send them a link to my game too :-) (sorry Ben, smack my wrists ;-)

You can go full screen if you want, igLoader can cope with that. At the moment the problems occur then you switch back to windowed, igLoader will have lost the window and it will not be embedded. This is simple to overcome, you need to send a WindowsBroadcast Message, igLoader will pick this up and re-embed the application.

No, I think it's best to have it windowed mode only as that feels right for a browser game then Full-Screen is a feature of the full version :-)

Jim - I hadn't tested the site in Opera. I will look into it thanks. I don't know why it won't load for you in future goes though. That's a bit strange, especially since you can hear the music. Thanks for the free advertising as well :)

Grey - SO basically you restricted the levels. I knew there was a reason I should have added a levelling system - oh well, I guess I'll just see how it goes :)

I think it's a Javascript issue with Opera, my site functions okay, your site does what Jim says. The plugin is definately running.

Ben: Not sure how you could add a leveling system to yours without changing the game radically. Obviously mine has different shaped levels so it's clear to see what is happening. Bejewelled had levels but they were all the same shape just a bit harder as more matches were required to beat it and the background grid colours changed, that was it. Bejewelled is actaully a very simple game, dare I say it, I think mine is better! There's more too it and a feeling of progress, with Bejewelled there is no feeling of progress, it's just a pick up, play till bored, stop playing type game (if that makes sense). [edit] Actually thinking about it, this is what Bubble Blitz is like as there is no feeling of progress, I think that's what people want to "buy", at least it's what I feel, I like games with levels. However, I do buy the odd sporty title on consoile like SSX, Monkeyball, Tiger Woods, Burnout, Tekken etc.

Yes, I would agree with you grey, although I think you made a mistake themeing yours around christmas, it is a good game in its own right, maybe it will reduce your sales now its not the festive season?

Yeah sales have dropped for sure now Christmas has passed, but this is also due to the game no longer being "new" on the portals and shareware sites. To be honest it was an experiment as I had an existing unreleased game engine that I finished off and made themed just to see how a Christmas themed game would do. I'll release a better "all year round" version of the game this year sometime.

Sorry Ben, seem to have hijacked a bit there, if you wanna hijack my threads at any time, you're welcome ;-)