Popping Bubbles

by fififox
Overall★★★★★★★★★★2.67
Fun★★★★★★★★★★2.57
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★2.88
Theme★★★★★★★★★★2.98
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★2.56
Audio★★★★★★★★★★2.28
Humor★★★★★★★★★★1.63
Mood★★★★★★★★★★2.28
Coolness★★★★★★★★★★71%
This is an action game where you have to stop bubbles from popping! :)
Have fun!

Context #

I made this in a few hours before the dealine because other things (you know, life and stuff) prevented me from fully participating, but I'm quite happy with what I made!

Instructions #

Tap the bubbles to slow down their growth, you get points every 10 seconds depending on how many bubbles you managed to keep! (the more, the better)

Notes #

Multi-touch support has been implemented post-compo, so take that into account when rating. Thanks a lot to Udrian (http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-27/?action=preview&uid=18950) for testing multi-touch!

Comments28

31eee384
31eee38426 Aug 2013, 03:39
Cool game, although from what I could tell there doesn't seem to be much depth. (This makes sense, given the amount of time you had.) My strategy was to find the two bubbles that would pop last and click on one of them. It would be cool on multitouch devices, I think, especially if there was more to it. Anyway, very creative use of the theme!
Steve
Steve26 Aug 2013, 03:56
Not sure what to do exactly? Sometimes I get points (rarely), but I don't really know how it's happening.
=/
matthias_zarzecki26 Aug 2013, 07:59
Neat. Simple, efficient. I like it :)
cardboard27 Aug 2013, 02:48
Pretty nice, given how long it took you to make it. This would be better on a multitouch-capable device, but it was still enjoyable with a mouse. The graphics are sleek and the sound effects are perfect. My best score was 176 seconds and 42 points.
pbdiode
pbdiode27 Aug 2013, 15:57
Good concept -- would have been nice to have a big visible count-down timer maybe. It might also be good to explain the mechanic a little clearer, with some experimentation, I think I figured it out pretty good, but it would be nice to have a confirmation!

Fun game play though, definitely some potential there!
PTSnoop
PTSnoop27 Aug 2013, 21:58
Nice simple concept. I agree with 31eee314 - multitouch support would be very neat. Although I disagree with pbdiode - to me, the countdown timer looked big enough, and the instructions in the description are clear enough already.

Just one thing - the game difficulty seemed dependent on the aspect ratio. I started out in a vaguely-square window and found the game very difficult, but then switched fullscreen 1920x1080 seemed much easier. I did a bit more research and found that I can drag my window into a long thin horizontal rectangle, and make the circles spawn so far apart that they'll never touch each other. But if I drag the window into a tall thin vertical rectangle, I don't have a hope. Just something to think about!
Typedeaf
Typedeaf29 Aug 2013, 08:20
Cool concept, how ever, it lacks a little bit of depth and it would do great on multitouch! Now the best choice is basically just take one and hold it down as long as possible.
Fififox
Fififoxauthor29 Aug 2013, 11:26
Thanks everyone for the nice comments and suggestions!
The game has been updated post-compo with multi-touch support! :)
Have fun!
Spotline
Spotline29 Aug 2013, 13:48
Very nice and polished :)
LegacyCrono29 Aug 2013, 14:01
Nice simple game, it's great for playing on breaks. Pretty hard to play with a mouse, but sounds like it could be very fun on a tablet!
Mironix
Mironix29 Aug 2013, 14:40
oh i would love having my leap motion already :) good idea dear sir. very hard.
domrein29 Aug 2013, 14:51
I need multiple mice to simulate multiple fingers. Also, could you post a QR code in the screenshots to make it easier to load it up on mobile?
Ciaran5429 Aug 2013, 15:24
Interesting concept, but it did get kind of repetitive... For only a few hours though, not a bad attempt ;)
Fififox
Fififoxauthor29 Aug 2013, 18:06
You can play the game on desktop, but it's a different experience from the tablet version, since the desktop version is more about finding the last bubble and slowing it down rather than the action-packed "slow down all the bubbles" game it is on tablet.
The funny thing is that I don't own a tablet myself! :D

Regarding the repetitiveness, it comes from my lack of time to implement any kind of difficulty change between rounds, as Ciaran54 guessed, so it's pretty much only based on the randomness of the bubble distribution.

I am pondering over making a full-blown post-compo version, so if you have more suggestions, please tell me! :)

Thanks for playing everyone!
Andrew Shouldice29 Aug 2013, 21:59
This is a great idea. Excellent candidate for a post-compo expansion. iOS app store!
skywing
skywing29 Aug 2013, 22:47
Pretty tough, but interesting too.
someone
someone29 Aug 2013, 22:50
Kept freezing for me (firefox 20.0, linux 64bit) which made it unplayable unfortunately.
Cool idea though. I don't have a tablet.
Fififox
Fififoxauthor29 Aug 2013, 23:51
Thanks for the feedback Andrew, I might do that for the upcoming October Challenge!

Thanks for the kind words everyone.

Regarding the freezes, I work with Chromium on Linux 64bit, but since I only use standard APIs, the game should work in Firefox too. It's probably just a matter of hardware-acceleration (which is lacking a bit on Firefox for Linux, from what I've experienced).
Arrow-x30 Aug 2013, 15:11
polished game need to be a bit clearer (Instructions)
ashdnazg30 Aug 2013, 17:44
Very original and very hard!
iterative deepening
iterative deepening30 Aug 2013, 19:03
In the long run the game is a bit repetitive, but that's a nice entry for just a few hours, and the tablet is a great idea.
Morusque31 Aug 2013, 17:59
Wo ! I love the concept. I'm playing the windows version so the timings seem a bit unbalanced to me (it's supposed to allow multitouch, right ?) but I can imagine how it feels to play on a tablet.
voidstar6931 Aug 2013, 20:46
The original version did not seem to work on iPad, but the post-compo version works a charm. The multitouch support is great.
Vile Smile
Vile Smile1 Sep 2013, 01:08
I really like the idea. Very unique.
panurge2 Sep 2013, 09:50
Plays perfectly on my ipad. I loved the idea and the dexterity-testing gameplay. Really nice clean look too. Great fun!
Fififox
Fififoxauthor8 Sep 2013, 21:02
Those comments make me sooo happy! :)
commanderstitch
commanderstitch14 Sep 2013, 15:42
had a hard time stopping more thna one bubble from popping at a time.

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