Gumball Roundup
Community Forums/Showcase/Gumball Roundup
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| Hello all, I've just finished a little game called Gumball Roundup written in Blitzmax and using the GA framework.  It's a line game with the goal of filling up a gumball machine before the gumballs fill up the game board. It's only 6MB and it's freeware: Download Edit: Updated links. Enjoy! |
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| Cool game CGV. I like the clean look of the graphics. Just a few things: * The palette power doesn't seem to work * The Bomb effect, doesn't seem to fit with the style of the game * ITS VERY HARD! After playing for about 10 minutes I still hadn't completed level 1 But overall very good! [Edit: Just completed level 1 in 5 minutes something... Maybe 5 matches is too much, or/and reduce the number of appearing gumballs, when you dont get a match] |
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| Hi therevills, Thanks for the comments. Are you sure about the palette power. It works fine for me. You have to click on a gumball not on an empty square. About the bomb effect. Do you mean the style of the explosion graphics or the bomb power itself doesn't fit in. You found the game hard? I thought the first 3 or 4 levels were freebie levels that anyone could easily complete. I'll have to re-evaluate. |
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| It works fine for me. You have to click on a gumball not on an empty square. I tried it work and it didnt work, but just tried it at home and it worked fine... Do you mean the style of the explosion graphics The graphics style of the explosion (just black)... on the work PC the explosion happened very quickly, didnt really see the animation effect, but I just saw it now at home... |
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| Works nice. I had to look up the help to see what I had to do though.. consider forcing the user through the help menu when he first plays.. maybe? Apart from that it was difficult to distinguish the highlighted squares to move to. I found the glow effect is barely noticable. Good job though, reminds me how much I must finish off my grid-based puzzler too :D |
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| @therevills - So the game has timing problems. That's really a surprise. @matibee - yeah, I was concerned that maybe on some peoples monitors it wouldn't be so visible but it looked fine on every system I checked it on. Easily fixed though. Looks like I've got some more work to do. |
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| Hey CGV, Back at work and just tried it again, yep the palette powerup doesnt work here: Pentium D 3.2Ghz 2GB GeForce FX 5200 Win XP Home: i7 920 6GB GeForce 275GTX Win 7 Try playing the game with vsync off, it should run the same if everything is okay... I had problems with Gunslinger Solitaire at first because I wasnt using some things right in the Framework... |
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| Yep, with vsync off some of the timings are wrong. I thought I was done with this game. I should have tested it on some more systems before releasing it. Can you elaborate on the palette power. I take it the button turns red, the cursor gets the little glowing star but when you click on a gumball nothing happens? Does the cursor glow and the power button switch off as if it worked though? EDIT: okay, turning the vsync off shed some light on the cause of the problem. I know how to fix it now. Thanks for the suggestion. |
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| I thought I was done with this game. I should have tested it on some more systems before releasing it. Its nearly done, just a few minor bugs and tweaking... Can you elaborate on the palette power Once you can click it (when its green), it goes red after, the glowing star appears on the mouse cursor, I click on a gumball and the paint brush circles the gumball, but the gumballs around the clicked gumball does not change colour... Thanks for the suggestion. No problem, glad to help! |
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| @therevills I hope you're still following this thread. I need to impose on you again. I haven't fixed the timing problem but I changed the way the palette power works so it's no longer dependent on the timing so it should now work regardless of timing issues. The next time you're at work could you give it another try? Thanks. |
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| Will do... I take its the same download link? (Maybe increase the version number eg v1.01) I downloaded it again just now at home and it seems okay, but the real test is the work machine - LOL! |
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| Yes it's the same download link so you might want to clear your browser cache. That's what happened to me with the Munchies! :) I'm planning on releasing a 1.1 version in a few days implementing matibee's advice to make the first time player go through the help. |
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| That's what happened to me with the Munchies! :) LOL.. I know I should practice what I preach... but since The Munchies is still in development I can't be bothered change the version number all the time :) Once finished (released) its version v1.00, after if in bug fixes etc needed it then goes up 0.01 each time I release it... Any plans on making it a tad easier? You mentioned that you havent fixed the timing issue, do you need any help? |
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| Later tonight I'll upload v1.01 to my site. I don't need help, I just don't have the time to fix it right now and I figure until computers are running at 5Ghz, fixing the Palette power should suffice. Before, I was dynamically calculating the position of the brush based on the timing. I've now precalculated the positions so the timing plays no role. I hope to have some time to really fix it in the next month. |
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| I've posted the 1.01 version to my site but I've also decided to make time this week to fix the timing issue so you might as well forget about testing 1.01 and just wait for the 1.02 version. |
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| Just tried 1.01 at work (dont tell the boss! LOL!) Yep the palette power now works, good job! When 1.02 is ready Ill give it a go... |
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| Ok, I just posted the 1.02 version with the timing fix. I'm now using TAnimation types to control the animations so it should work fine. If it doesn't then I'm just clueless! Give it a go when you get a chance, I'll be waiting with my fingers crossed. :) Thanks. |
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| Thats a lot better! Good job! |
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| Whew! That's a relief. Thanks for all your help therevills. It was really gracious of you to test the game over and over like that. |
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| I just tried 1.02. Big improvement on the visibility of the available moves. I was surprised at fisrt the powerups cost me gum balls, it wasn't overly obvious.. a little animation and a sound showing each spent gum ball fly out of the jar would really help, and add a little sparkle too. Overall it's very well presented, even if the first screen makes my eyes wobble on a 21" monitor :) I had to look twice, I was sure it was animated. |
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| I guess the problem is that you don't loose that many gumballs so it's not so apparent. I'll save this for the next update. Ultimately though, I think the real answer is an in-game tutorial that the player is forced through the first time they play. (as you previously suggested) even if the first screen makes my eyes wobble on a 21" monitor Is it the overly saturated colors? I was worried about that but it seemed to fit with the gumball theme of the game. |
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| You should have sold this to Bigfish its right up their street its brilliant :) |
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| You're not serious? |
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| When I first saw this I thought of BFG too. Although the game would have needed a bit more to it: * Story * Minigames * Shop * Different shape maps Maybe in your next game/version of Gumballs... |
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| This game was just a learning exercise but it's nice to hear I have it in me to produce a portal worthy game. I'll definitely aim higher with my next game. |
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| I would add those bits to it then approach Big Fish and see where it goes from there, it would be a shame to see a game of this calibre be put out to pasture when with a few additions it could make you some money. |
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| Comment on this on the Framework forum. Congrats on the release. It is well made but yes therevills is right, it would need more to go on BFG. Just make your next game bigger now you know what you are doing :-) |
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| Yeah, that's my plan. I just can't seem to get my brain into gear to expand this game further so I'll put it all into my next game. |
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