PongCraft

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.45
Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.43
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.87
Theme★★★★★★★★★★4.13
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★2.93
Humor★★★★★★★★★★2.35
Mood★★★★★★★★★★2.73
PongCraft.png

About:


PongCraft is an Arcade-Strategy game where the purpose of the game is to destroy the other’s base. Pong mechanics are used to collect gold and wood. Gold is used to summon warriors and wood to repair base. It works for two players or single player vs AI.

Instructions(please read them)


Humans(Single player):

- A to move up
- Z to move down
- S to summon militia(cost 5 gold)

Orcs:

- UP to move up
- DOWN to move down
- RIGHT to summon a grunt(cost 5 gold)

Tips:


- Losing the ball will lose your gold.
- At 10 Gold a Champion will automatically be summoned(risky but more powerful than 2 small soldiers).
- At 50 Wood the base will be healed if possible(auto).
- Click left side of screen for Two players.
- Click right side of screen for Single player.
- Hitting mines on some angles will give you a bonus amount.
- Soldiers damage the opponent's base(and cannot be stopped).

I worked alone with these tools:


- Language: JavaScript
- Framework: PhaserJS
- Graphics: Piskel

screenshot
Genres: strategy
Tools: Phaser, Piskel

Comments40

Bookworm3123 Apr 2018, 07:28
Fun game! These definitely were two things I wouldn't have thought of together and it turned out great. I do have to ask though, is it actually possible to get it past the AI opponent? I don't think I was able to in any of the games I played. Overall, awesome game!
meskaline
meskalineauthor23 Apr 2018, 08:06
@bookworm31 Thank you for your feedback. :v: Yes it is possible. But yes, is difficult. :sweat_smile:
It's also fun to play in two.
TheZingThing
TheZingThing23 Apr 2018, 08:53
Great game. Pong and strategy actually go quite well together. Only criticism is that there should be more resources, because it takes to long to get anywhere against the AI. Besides that, this is a pretty cool game. Well done!
Iluvatar
Iluvatar23 Apr 2018, 08:59
This game would be as a description in the dictionary under "2 incompatible genres". It fits the theme perfectly. So much fun, original idea and really enjoyable arcade feel. Love it. One of my favourites so far. :)
wildcard
wildcard23 Apr 2018, 10:14
This pong/resource-gathering concept works beautifully! I find it hard to get the ball past the ai though, then again the best way to win is by launching soldiers towards the opponent. It could perhaps be expanded by making it so that players can block the opponents soldiers by eg. choosing to block them instead of the ball. Playing the game and collecting resources feels satisfying. Well done!
meskaline
meskalineauthor23 Apr 2018, 12:23
@wildcard Thank you for your feedback. had in plan to do exact that, to block soldiers with paddles but had no time. :D
Efmi_
Efmi_23 Apr 2018, 13:27
Really good and innovative game. Had really fun. If you had some music & sound-effects, they would have really improved the experience, and maybe the mood if done right.
Habeeb Mohammed23 Apr 2018, 14:56
Love it! I think you should be able to block enemy orcs by sending your own at them. Otherwise, beautifully done!
meskaline
meskalineauthor23 Apr 2018, 15:11
@habeeb-mohammed Thanks a lot. Had that in plan but didn't have time. Maybe I'll spend some time finishing and polishing it in near future.
blubberquark
blubberquark23 Apr 2018, 17:25
Can I play as the Orc against AI or do I have to switch to French keyboard?
blubberquark
blubberquark23 Apr 2018, 18:01
I think this counts as porting to different hardware, :wink:
i.e. different keyboards!
GameCarpenter23 Apr 2018, 19:56
It feels like the champions should deal more damage to compensate for the extra risk you're taking on by summoning them instead of spending your gold as fast as possible. The way the ball bounces off gold can feel really unpredictable, it feels like sometimes you'll pass right through it and collect a bunch of gold on the way, or you'll collect one gold and it'll bounce right back at you.

Thematically it's pretty consistent, the paddles being castle walls, and the summons being units for each side. I don't think I ever hit 50 wood while playing against the AI, so can't comment on that. Maybe requiring less wood for repairing (less?) would be a good idea? Kind of odd keyboard hotkey choices (for single player) also imho, would have thought wsd would work for up down and summon respectively.

The AI being pretty much perfect was annoying. Would have been nice if there was a delay from your paddle hit to his action, or he just temporarily forgot what was happening in the game, and maybe a delay on summoning enemy units would be nice. Little things like that to make it feel more fair.
Handle23 Apr 2018, 20:41
Great idea! I had a good time with this one, thanks for submitting it to the stream. I think sound would add a lot, and I wish the ball wouldn't completely reset speed after it goes out of bounds.
quixatocs
quixatocs23 Apr 2018, 21:29
A cool take on pong. The AI is surprisingly good. great work!
Angelbait
Angelbait23 Apr 2018, 22:53
Great use of the two themes, I liked the building mechanics and can see this being really fleshed out. Thanks for the game!
meskaline
meskalineauthor24 Apr 2018, 07:45
@GameCarpenter Thank you so much for the consistent review.
Yeah it needs more balancing, I know. The ball passing trough mines is like I stated in description "Hitting mines on some angles will give you a bonus amount.". And wood auto repairs the base when needed and you are having the resources.
If feel that the AI is challenging, but not impossible to beat. But playing against other players is so much fun, believe me. :D
Thanks again for the feedback, really appreciate it.
meskaline
meskalineauthor24 Apr 2018, 07:46
@Handle thanks and I'm glad you enjoyed it. :D Next time with sound.
Kalavecy24 Apr 2018, 10:02
I found the idea brillant. But you should had some difficulty, like the possibility of spawning 2 ennemies instead of one.
Also it could be great if we had the possibility to block the soldier with our plank !
meskaline
meskalineauthor24 Apr 2018, 10:34
@Kalavecy Thank you for the feedback. :D Looking forward to try your game.
rodancheg24 Apr 2018, 17:25
Thank you, would like to try with my developers! Interesting Combo.
Gipzo
Gipzo24 Apr 2018, 19:06
Nice game :thumbsup:

I think some bonuses like multi-ball would be awesome :smile:

Great work overall
pickens-inc
pickens-inc24 Apr 2018, 19:47
A nice amount of content, especially for the compo! Gameplay is pretty nice, and as I said on stream I think it would be right at home on mobile, so do consider extending it! The system is a tad confusing, and the AI is a GOD, but I bet it's loads of fun with friends. Good job!
La mecanique du plastique
La mecanique du plastique25 Apr 2018, 15:15
Nice job. A faster match pace would be better I think, with a lot of ressources or a better distribution on map maybe, and different ball moves/powers, but the core idea have a great couch-game potential.

Bravo !
Lerg
Lerg25 Apr 2018, 18:53
Heh, interesting take on the pong. I wish there was more depth to the gameplay. Please check my RTS game if you have time.
Olivier Millochau26 Apr 2018, 10:44
Great game but the AI was a bit too perfect in my opinion, the concept is very original and well executed ! I should have try the 2 player version tho
Gaming Night
Gaming Night26 Apr 2018, 11:21
Hey super cool interpretation of the theme, the best for me so far :) I just missed some sound !
Langotriel
Langotriel26 Apr 2018, 11:57
Despite simple visuals, lack of audio and small scope; this game could be fantastic and it triggered some sparks in my brain and inspired some ideas. Good effort and cool concept. Also, awesome achievement in terms of meeting the theme requirement.
Yahialds
Yahialds26 Apr 2018, 13:08
This game is a REALLY good idea. This works perfectly as a demo to show it and I had a blast playing it with a friend. I hope you give it more time, because it can be a really good full game.
meskaline
meskalineauthor26 Apr 2018, 14:50
@olivier-millochau Thank you. AI is challenging but not that hard to beat. 2 player version is much more fun.
@gaming-night Thanks, I'm rubbish with audio and didn't had time for it. Next time.
@langotriel Thanks for your review kind sir.
@yahialds Thank you so much. Glad you played in 2 players. I had a blast making a tournament with my friends. :D

I already started on rebuilding the game with better graphics, audio and maybe mobile implementation. :D
Weston Walker26 Apr 2018, 15:49
Nice work. On point with the them.
Toulou
Toulou28 Apr 2018, 09:57
The concept is super interesting ! There is a lot of possibilities with this gameplay, too bad there is not much to do in term of actual crafting. But it's still a nice little game that work well, just a bit repetitive because of the lack of content. Overall, good job ! I'd love to see the concept expanded.
p-r
p-r28 Apr 2018, 11:05
clever game, I love the combination
Evannex28 Apr 2018, 14:10
Great take on a classic! I absolutely love this! It's very difficult to hit what you're aiming for (perhaps because I'm bad at pong) but it makes for a good challenge. Really nice that you can play with two people, overall a great entry! Job very well done!
Honest Dan
Honest Dan28 Apr 2018, 16:21
This was good man - thanks for submitting to the stream to be played. The two mechanics involved are interesting - not sure if conflicting, but still made an interesting game :) Could be interesting if you could spend resources on creating new resources on your side of the battlefield, rather than unit to attack each time :)

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