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        riddles >> general problem-solving / chatting / whatever >> Growball
        
(Message started by: Ulkesh on Sep 3^rd, 2007, 5:59pm)

Title: Growball
Post by Ulkesh on Sep 3^rd, 2007, 5:59pm

This is an alpha-beta-ish version of a flash game recently made by my brother-in-law.

http://www.hep.ph.imperial.ac.uk/~hsy01/growball

For some reason my university homespace doesn't like the .swf extension, so please add this extension to the file name after downloading and saving -- probably best to open it in IE/Firefox and allow the flash plugin to initialise. I know this potentially looks a little dodgy, but I've been around here for a while, so hopefully you realise I'm harmless!

Anyway, he'd like criticism etc. on the game... any bugs, improvements and the like. I personally see it is as very original and a nice distraction, but I'm not convinced there isn't a trick or two to ensure infinite score.

The rules are simple and should be able to figure out within a couple of games. You only control direction and not strength (I think). The balls grow to consume maximum empty space and you score 1 point by eliminating a ball.

Let me know what you think.

Title: Re: Growball
Post by Sir Col on Sep 5^th, 2007, 1:10pm

On my computer the direct link above caused Firefox to hang-up; I needed to "end task".

To get it to work I right clicked and used "Save Link As...", adding .swf extension.

The game is quite a lot of fun! It's kinda pool meets Breakout. I'm probably not the best person to offer any valuable critique as I'm not very good at these types of games; my best score was 20.

Your brother-in-law has done a good job, but I did begin to find it frustrating losing lives without any obvious way to earn an extra life back - or would that happen if I scored more points? If that's the case, maybe it needs difficulty settings, starting with easy requiring 10 points to earn an extra life and so on.

Anyway, thanks for sharing.

Title: Re: Growball
Post by TenaliRaman on Sep 7^th, 2007, 10:59pm

Nice game!
Though i have struggled to get past my best score of 5 in the few games that i played.

-- AI

Title: Re: Growball
Post by Sameer on Sep 8^th, 2007, 1:08am

It's cool... and kind of addicting.. It was nice of it to change colors when I reached 10. I have gotten to 11 so far. The colors are not intrusive either. They are very pleasant!!

Title: Re: Growball
Post by TenaliRaman on Sep 8^th, 2007, 1:56am

If we make multiple hits with a single shot, i think it would be nice to get some sort of bonus points. :-/

Title: Re: Growball
Post by Sameer on Sep 8^th, 2007, 10:24am

In that case some way to increase "remaining life" too!! Like bonus life!! :)

Title: Re: Growball
Post by towr on Sep 13^th, 2007, 10:43am

Anyone get over 20 points yet?
I finally figured out a system, although, still.. only 20 points.

Title: Re: Growball
Post by TenaliRaman on Sep 13^th, 2007, 11:42am

I got a 22 once, but thats that. I am making 14-16 consistently. I dont have a strategy per se, but i keep using 2 simple tricks.
1. I place some large balls around me for protection and make sure there is enough gap between the balls so that i can fire.
2. Consistently fire 4-5 rounds through those gaps until the balls that surround diminish considerably.

With this idea, initially i dont get any points but with time, i get multiple shots. Infact, one shot giving me 2-3 points become pretty common at the later stages.

However, once you reach that 14-16 area, somehow i manage to hit myself with own ball and it hits me via multiple reflections (not just 2-3 but sometimes after 6-7 reflections). I tend to lose almost all my life in this phase.

-- AI
[edit]My recent attempt, unfortunately the ball positions disappear after the lives are lost :-/ .If anyone wants, i will get a better shot in my next attempt.[/edit]

Title: Re: Growball
Post by Grimbal on Sep 13^th, 2007, 2:55pm

on 09/13/07 at 10:43:35, towr wrote:

Anyone get over 20 points yet?
I finally figured out a system, although, still.. only 20 points.

I got 53.
The principle is: strike the balls from the back. Or send them with a 1st rebound to the back of a big ball or a bunch of other balls. I keep shooting in the same direction, adjusting slightly my aim, until a ball blocks the line of sight.

Title: Re: Growball
Post by Sir Col on Sep 13^th, 2007, 3:42pm

;)