Bobbles: something to show
by Tim Doty · in Torque Game Builder · 07/30/2005 (4:46 pm) · 4 replies
I wrote a lengthy (perhaps too lengthy ;^) post and inadvertantly closed the browser window before submitting. The gist of it was that my long term projects are perhaps too ambitious and I hit on something to code just to have something. The odd thing is that, despite not being really a game, it is (according to my wife) "hypnotic and fun to watch." There is some interactive element at this point and I'm basically fishing for feedback of whatever sort people might have to give. I have a screenshot to give an idea of what it looks like. As to what it is?
Bobbles is about bobbles, which are 2D spheres having characteristics of mass, velocity, color and force (strong and weak). The forces cause attraction or replusion, actual collisions can alter color and merge or split bobbles. When player control is asserted one of the bobbles can be "steered" (it is identified by a yellow glow) and the world limit is changeable on the fly (bounce, clamp or sticky).
Tim Doty
Bobbles is about bobbles, which are 2D spheres having characteristics of mass, velocity, color and force (strong and weak). The forces cause attraction or replusion, actual collisions can alter color and merge or split bobbles. When player control is asserted one of the bobbles can be "steered" (it is identified by a yellow glow) and the world limit is changeable on the fly (bounce, clamp or sticky).
Tim Doty
About the author
#2
Thanks for the input! I had come up with a means of scoring based on the collisions and some controlled spawning of bobbles that amounted to eat as much as you can until you're overwhelmed -- which is a bit simplistic. I think by tweaking the forces a bit I could make something you suggest playable. One play weakness of what I had been doing was color meaning changes with both colors. A bit complicated (though fine for those high levels ;^) -- locking the bobble to a single color or using the some "color physics" regardless of what your bobble's color is could help with that complexity.
The other thing I've been doing is creating generic meters, both digital and analog. The digital gauge serves its purpose (in this case, score), but I really like the analog gauges. Twiddle with spring strength and damping to get the feel you want.
08/15/2005 (5:42 pm)
Hi Matt,Thanks for the input! I had come up with a means of scoring based on the collisions and some controlled spawning of bobbles that amounted to eat as much as you can until you're overwhelmed -- which is a bit simplistic. I think by tweaking the forces a bit I could make something you suggest playable. One play weakness of what I had been doing was color meaning changes with both colors. A bit complicated (though fine for those high levels ;^) -- locking the bobble to a single color or using the some "color physics" regardless of what your bobble's color is could help with that complexity.
The other thing I've been doing is creating generic meters, both digital and analog. The digital gauge serves its purpose (in this case, score), but I really like the analog gauges. Twiddle with spring strength and damping to get the feel you want.
#3
There is something I find oddly compelling about your game. I think it's the background. It's self explanatory and abstract at the same time. You know you're about to play bobbles, but you have no idea what they are. I can see that BG coming onto the screen as if it were a title screen (as if it were about to say "press start") and then all these bobbles appearing on their own and the game just starting as if it were its own universe. It's like life. It's not always up to us when we can press start and make things happen. Things are already happening, and sometimes all we can do is manage what's evolving.
Keep the community updated if you post it for download some day.
Curious, is there much confusion when a bobble of a certain color passes over a letter in "BOBBLES" of the same color?
08/15/2005 (7:23 pm)
Sounds like you're having a lot of fun! There is something I find oddly compelling about your game. I think it's the background. It's self explanatory and abstract at the same time. You know you're about to play bobbles, but you have no idea what they are. I can see that BG coming onto the screen as if it were a title screen (as if it were about to say "press start") and then all these bobbles appearing on their own and the game just starting as if it were its own universe. It's like life. It's not always up to us when we can press start and make things happen. Things are already happening, and sometimes all we can do is manage what's evolving.
Keep the community updated if you post it for download some day.
Curious, is there much confusion when a bobble of a certain color passes over a letter in "BOBBLES" of the same color?
#4
I definitely have had fun creating this. There was some pain in working out collision difficulties (hint, changing an object's size during a collision really complicates things), but taking an idea and giving it form has been a blast. I had written the digital meters for AutoArena (working name of my foolhardy project), but improved and rewrote the code to not rely on the (very excellent) OO resource.
If I do get something that is considered a playable game I will certainly post it as a download.
08/15/2005 (8:13 pm)
To date the background colors haven't been confusing. The shadow on the bobble is strong enough to give it a distinct crescent outline of the lighter color against the dark or vice versa, especially when you factor in motion. However, the smaller bobbles are next to impossible to ID their color. What I probably need to do is raise the minimum size. The existing minimum size is to prevent runaway splits from creating so many bobbles that the maximum bobble limit isn't hit just creating dust motes. The maximum bobble limit is there for performance reasons.I definitely have had fun creating this. There was some pain in working out collision difficulties (hint, changing an object's size during a collision really complicates things), but taking an idea and giving it form has been a blast. I had written the digital meters for AutoArena (working name of my foolhardy project), but improved and rewrote the code to not rely on the (very excellent) OO resource.
If I do get something that is considered a playable game I will certainly post it as a download.
Torque Owner Matt Troup
Default Studio Name
I'm looking at the screenshot and I'm thinking a cross between "Shark! Shark!" and "Asteroids".
Shark! Shark! was an intellivision game (there were many variations on this game you've probably played - it was probably an incarnation of something previous) where you played as a little fish in a side view pond. You could eat smaller fish and grow larger, but you had to avoid larger fish. There weren't any nifty physics to the game besides constant velocities, so this alone could be improved upon.
As for the Asteroids twist I was seeing these bobbles moving around and wrapping around the screen - so your player bobble may be in the top left corner but a bobble on the lower right might give you an unpleasant surprise.
So, the objective would be to "eat" smaller bobbles by coliding into them. Once you eat a certain amount (better yet, clear the field) you complete the stage and advance to a new one with a different level design. To handle bigger bobbles you must be clever in using the gravity of other bobbles to gain momentum and whip through their bodies to split them into smaller bobbles. As you grow bigger other larger bobbles will spawn and take up more of the playfield space to make your maneuvering harder. The colors of the bobbles can indicate their properties so you know how to handle any given situation and don't feel like you're trying to figure out which larger bobbles you can split through via trial and error. A yellow bobble may be small enough and perfetly healthy to eat. A purple bobble may mean it's small enough to eat, but moving so fast it'll split you to a smaller bobble! A blue bobble, for instance, may mean it's bigger than you but you have enough momentum to split it, but a green bobble may mean "stay away!". The yin/yang relationship of "staying away" is you have to "stay away close enough" to gain momentum to split the other bobbles. Too far away and it'll do you no good. Too close and you'll either be eaten or spin off faster than you are capable of controlling.
Just a thought.