Journeyballs WIP

@bjohnson8704: can't see the image, but I believe you. Well, at least I was king for a while

@Train: thanks I just finished the boring parts of the polished Android version. As soon as I add some more levels, I will post an online demo.

 

Ok, sounds good. I have an Android Handy . Say when it is done

 

Working hard on finishing Journeyballs, and I thought I might update this thread a little

As of now, I finished all the "complicated" stuff, like menu/save systems, managers, cutscenes system, etc., and I only have to do all the levels (while polishing more stuff and adding more paraphernalia in the process). Here are some screenshots of the current state (main menu background will vary depending on the last level played, while "The Story So Far" will simply show a sequence of all the cutscenes you've gone through until now):


Journeyballs main menu (background will vary depending on the last level played)


Journey selection screen


Level from the first tutorial journey


Sample level

 

wow. inspiring
I already liked the old style but the new one is even better !
consider jaw dropped

 

Thanks Fabian, I'm really really glad you're liking it, since I like your style a lot Seeing your comment I suppose Blake still didn't share some super-secret build with you

 

awesome game is awesome

 

Nah, Blake doesn't share anything, too soon. He's supersecretspyagent. World could collapse from sharing stuff too early, before being perfect

 

Wow, the new screenshots look great - I love the new art style! Nice job Izitmee

 

Thank you, encouragement is such a nice thing
I have to admit I had no idea that polishing Journeyballs would require so much time. At least, apart the engine, now I also have a kind of level editor with which I should go on more quickly (as soon as I finish this week's jobs ), and I implemented things like activators, teleports, direction changers, and more than one ball at the same time (thanks to Blake/bjohnson8704's suggestion).

 

Amazing, but android has no money in it .
I think you need to port it to IOS too if able( i'm too poor to afford a mac too!)

 

Thanks keithsoulasa, and it's actually being done I can't afford a Mac either, but luckily Blake from Engaging Games offered his help, and he's taking care of the iOS port while I develop the game.

 

Awesome, your game is one of the only WIP games that I played and was like .
"Must BUY NOW ".

 

@keithsoulasa: wow, that's great to hear, thanks!

@stramit: I really hope so, since my payed-job clients have become extremely unreliable for what concerns payments, and I'm hoping to get some income from Journeyballs. I got iOS basic free, but a Mac is lacking. Thankfully there's Blake from Engaging Games, who's doing a great job of helping me port to iOS, and as of now everything works both on Android than iPhone. I'm working on high resolution, and scaling the textures depending on the device that runs it, so it should go well both with iPads than older/new iPhones/Androidphones

 

Pretty neat game,cute concept and I really like the sound effects.One suggestion,it could use a nice sound track in background. and also you could add a timer,that might increase the excitement in the gameplay !

 

Thanks a lot for the advice RandOmCoder I agree about the timer, and have already put it in the polished version. About the music, I'm trying to convince my pal Paul to do it, but I'm not sure it will be ready for the first release

P.S. the sound effects are made with this awesome little application: sfxr

 

Hey,

I'm starting with the last development part of Journeyballs, and in the meantime wanted to mentioned that I started a development blog about it. If you're interested, it's here

 

Finally!
Awesome insight so far.
Just don't let it slide if you dont get 100 comments a day
Its totally worth it in the long run!

Why dont you get into the idevblogaday- rooster?
People could learn a lot from it amd you would get a lot more exposure !
*bookmarked*

I gotta say though, I prefer the burgunde colors over the green scheme on the polished version. Guess I need to see more of it and in action and in betabuild *cough*

 

Ehe, thanks for the input Fabian

The iDevBlogADay concept is really cool, but I don't think I could apply, since I know nothing about iOS (nor own any iOS stuff). Now I'll eat a tasty pizza and then investigate more though

About the colors, don't worry, there is also pink Each Journey/World has a different color scheme. I'll send within the end of next week a new beta to Blake, with tons of levels, and orders (;-)) to send you a beta, so you can check it out (which is a thing for which I'd be immensely grateful - Blake's feedback is great, but having yours too would be doubly great).

 

Hey, don't know if any of you might find it interesting, but I blogged about the design patterns I used for Journeyballs (since gl33mer asked me) http://www.holoville.com/blog/?p=166

 

Just played the online version; couldn't stop until I'd gotten all the balls on all six levels. I'd definitely buy this on my iPad. Keep up the good work!

 

Hey Drakken, glad you liked it, and thanks for the encouragement I hope to get it released within a couple of months

 

The first Journeyballs gameplay video! Yey! Journeyballs alpha v0.1.138.
You can read more about the current features here

 

looks great!

 

Thanks ar0nax And here's another video, showing some "branched" balls.

 

Whew, life sometimes is sooo messy! But I finished 21 new levels of Journeyballs, and here is a preview of some of them The UI still sucks, and I still have to remove the omnipresent title appearing each time you start a level, but I'll do that later. First, I want to finish all the levels (I'm aiming at 90 initial levels, that will probably become 130 with later updates). I managed to take the rhythm now (after scrapping a lot of stuff), and I hope to get some 25 levels done per week.

Blake (Johnson) from Engaging Games is giving me a big hand with the iOS port (not to mention a moral boost), and our builds are behaving greatly both on Android and on iPhone/iPad (also thanks to Fabian - Acumen, also known as the spoon guy - who is always up for advice and feedback).

Trailer music by Paul Harden (stolen from our Cosmic Bungle prototype).

P.S. sorry if the video is not fluid: I can't seem to capture my screen decently

 

Looking good!

One thing I want to mention - and for all I know the sound effects are totally placeholder - is that the sound of the ball being received gets annoying after awhile. The player is going to be hearing that a lot, so I think you want it to be shorter and less high-pitched. But again, that could be totally placeholder.

Can't wait to play this!

 

Thanks a lot Drakken

Actually that is the real sound, so your advice is very welcome. I see what you mean, and will definitely make it shorter and less high-pitched

 

The new levels look very funky indeed

 

Aha, I love that funky music I stole from Paul. Probably not suitable to the actual game, but has a nasty beat

 

It does fit quite well, but it's always tricky deciding on music for this sort of abstract project! What did you think of the Sword Sworcery style stuff?

 

It's beautiful! Though I find it rather intrusive, which is perfect for S&S but not for Journeyballs. But I'm actually trying to listen to it fully since you mentioned it, but coding distracts me and then I find myself at the end of the album without exactly knowing what happened - and thinking that maybe I noticed only the intrusive sections I'm starting again just now

 

I think the solution to your music problem is clear: stick some Dubstep in and call it done!

 

Aha oh no! Actually, Blake has big plans for the music side of Journeyballs. We just have to find some initial inspiration

 

Not a true gameplay level, but a teaser with the new demolishable bouncers I just implemented. Also contains the new music by Sami Viitsalo (not sure if it'll be the final soundtrack, but Blake found it a few days ago and for now I love it )

BTW, yesterday I finished the third Journey/World, so finally I'll introduce the teleports

 

Pretty fun! Man, your art is awesome!

 

Thanks I'm putting a lot of effort into finishing this one, and I'm almost there, finally