Dusty Balls is a platformer, which should hurt your brains a bit as it progresses.
Player controls mystical spheres which try to find a way through underground temple.
Each level is randomly generated, based on how far you are in the game. Better you do in the game, the harder the levels will get.
You don't need to get all the balls to the end, but you only get score from the balls that reach the goal. When you have played through nine levels you will see your final score.
Can anyone reach the magical score of 45/45?
CONTROLS ---
Arrows: Left/Right - Move the ball(s) around. Up - Jump or climb, if next to a wall. Down - Climb down if next to a wall, or slow down the speed of ball, if on the ground.
ESC - Go back to main menu(and restart from your previous level if stuck)
KNOWN BUGS ---
* When the ball gains a momentum it might fall through the floor to the void. You can press esc to get back to main menu and restart that level if this happens. * Sometimes when playing on Mac, camera starts to shutter when the ball dies or goes to the goal.
I like the environment, reminds me 'The Ball'. Sometimes, a ball just go through the floor, because of the high speed. Then, I'm stuck in the game. It's a known issue in the physics of Unity, you should try to make your walls a little thicker, or add additional walls.
yeah, when I realized that issue I didn't have time to fix it :/. I'm gonna update it in an after compo release. You should get away from it by pressing Esc, which takes you to main menu and pressing play again. Game saves your situation after each "level", so you shouldnt lose that much progress.
Seems that when playing on Mac, there is very annoying shuttering bug with the cameras. That is NOT intenional, I just didn't have a mac to test it on during the development.
Karel, yeah my original idea had much more emphasis on the theme, but I failed to achieve it in time. :/ This one just "evolves as you play it" as in, more balls to control and longer levels.
Desi, there should be a red light near spikes, which you should be able to see with a corner of your eyes. Don't know if they are too feint then after all. :o
Thanks for the feedback, guys. Thurig: Yeah, even though I've played metroid quite a bit, didnt connect this one to it until you mentioned. :P eyehawk: thanks, do you remember the name of that indie game? Dietrich: Haha, haven't tried "dual mario kart" :P Oxyd seems like a cool concept, especially for it's age.
I really like the idea however in practice I'm not convinced it's very fun. Controlling each ball at the same time was impossible for me once I reached three or more. I ended up just focusing on one and hoping things went OK for the others. I think the mechanic of controlling multiple balls at the same time is interesting, but maybe you can find a variation that doesn't prove overwhelming.
Nice mechanic. Really liked the idea. My brain doesn't seem to be able to manage more than 4 views at the same time tough :D Some ambience/music would have made this really complete.
aschearer: Thanks for the feedback. I've realized, that after three or more balls, good tactic is to try get one ball at a time to the goal while only concentrating on other balls if they are near spikes. If you, or someone come up with variations to the gameplay, please let me know. :)
madpew: Thanks, mate. I would've wanted some kick ass ambient there, but wasn't able to produce it in time :/
Great idea, I like the graphics. But it's really really hard.
Z
Zed27 Aug 2012, 14:36
I was doing quite well, and then I got to like, 9 at once, or something, and THEN my ball fell through the floor. It's REALLY cool, and I'd like to see you take it further after the competition.
ncannasse: Definitely. I've noticed that I like to play the game myself more and more as I'm forced to play it when testing it. :) That happens rarely for me with my own games.
Zed: Thanks :). Oh that ball falling through the floor bug is really nerve wrecking if have a good score :/ Sorry about that.
I liked it, but I didn't quite get this: I only need to finish the stage with one of the balls? I thought at first that I needed to make all of them go in, but once they died and I could finish with only one I was confused!
LuizHGMonclar: Thanks. :) The goal is to play through all nine levels and try to get as many balls to the goal as possible. You don't need to get any of the balls to the goal to proceed to the next level. Maximum score possible is 45/45, which means you don't hit ANY spikes. :P
Thanks for all the feedback guys. If you can think of anything how I could improve the game in future, please let me know.
M
matthias_zarzecki28 Aug 2012, 08:54
Interesting idea! I like the going-up-walls gag, it gives this another dimension :)
(remember to upload your source, otherwise we can't score this)
Nice concept. When you have loads of screens it gets quite frustrating because it's nearly impossible to spot the spikes on all the screens at once. Was fun to play.
I think a game like this requires much stronger level design. As it stands, I found myself just controlling each ball one by one to get them to the end, rather than trying to control them all harmoniously. One easy way to ensure people can't do that would be to actually have walls blocking one ball also block the others (so if one ball is stuck, they are all stuck). But again, that requires good level design to ensure the challenge can actually be completed. Nice texture work.
nice game! i think you might want to stretch the intervalls between new balls. e.g. three levels with one ball, four with two etc. so our brains can adapt to the new situation. i really like the graphics!
Wlad, thanks for the feedback. That is a great idea, I'm currently developing this idea further and will do that. For this competition entry, I thought that people might want to see the game develop faster and not get bored out too quickly :P
Sometimes, a ball just go through the floor, because of the high speed. Then, I'm stuck in the game. It's a known issue in the physics of Unity, you should try to make your walls a little thicker, or add additional walls.