A Song of Red and Blue (and Green)

squarefox 2022-10-02 21:52

A score > 7 is very good in this game!

Have fun!!!

denvil 2022-10-03 16:39

Score 11. Maybe allow player more speed depending on the score (enemy seems to get some boost) and add some effect when you collect mana. Elemental got trapped in corner for a while, so easy to collect some extra mana.

mossieur-patate 2022-10-17 12:41

(I am now in a rush to test as many games as possible to help, so please do not mind the cursory reviewing style.)

0. I like how there is some backstory by matching each ball/colour to an ‘element’ 1. controls are QWERTY-only instead of layout-independent (I have an AZERTY keyboard) 2. funny sounds when hit! I was not expecting this (more of a fire-extinguished-by-water sound), but this one is somewhat cute 3. not obvious to know what the front direction is before moving! I think some indicator (say, a transparent arrow when standing still) would help 4. there does not seem to be other sounds than the losing one, but adding some could add more life (bounces, collecting a mana ball…) 5. I wonder what the behaviour for the water ball is! Just random bounces? 6. (stupidly!) lost after several mana balls; oh, but no written indication of the score? :o I think it would be nice to have the score written, and possibly a high score feature as an incentive to do better 7. the concept as an objective reminds me of what happens in *Snakes*, where apples spawn regularly 8. by the way, the balls look really nice (thanks to the homemade ‘raytracing shaders’); the subtle lighting (and shadows) of the scene are also nice 9. downloading the source just to check how the game was made: ah, apparently, C++ without any engine or even framework? If so, well done for making it from scratch, I always like seeing people taking things to low-level :) Oh wait, Irrlicht is used; I am not familiar at all with it, but I still believe it is mainly used for lighting and that everything else stays at a low level, so game logic must still be so 10. playing again to check whether the enemy accelerates and how much (thanks to denvil’s comment), since I did not notice the first time around: yes, it does! Aaarg, lost at 10 points (kept the score in my head, this time)

**Takeaway:** as stated on the page, a simple game, but which already feels like a finished coherent base for more! A lot of care for the graphics, apparently. I think criticisms/suggestions would go along two axes: 1) some more user-friendly lively cues could be added (ball orientation + score + sounds); 2) longer-term game interest could be enchanced by adding more variety (denvil’s suggestions could be a route; another idea I have is that every 10 seconds, the collectible balls are reset and you have several types of them, including some that act as penalties and others as bonuses). Maybe you could also develop the backstory some more (magic/wizardry seems to be suitable to the whole ‘elemental’ take!). As for the theme, I think the interpretation is classic, but fair (having ‘wilder’ happen would have made the regularity more apparent, see suggestion above).

Thanks for the simple game… and for the shaders! :) I think I will take a look at their code. ;)

[Do not forget to review and rate other games, if you have enough time; it will also help yours get noticed and have testers and feedback. :)]

oliver-richmeier 2022-10-20 20:57

Nice work, could definitely be a good base for more ideas or some form of meta, and the ray tracing looks pretty great

hacktier 2022-10-20 21:09

Nice Work!

blaster391 2022-10-20 21:24

Raytracing is looking really cool! Looking at the source it looks like you made everything from scratch for this jam which is seriously impressive.

stephen-kyranakis 2022-10-21 01:45

Nice work with the raytracer! That's super impressive. It took a while to get a hang of the movement, but I eventually found it fun to try to steer the little ball around.

tod-semple 2022-10-21 03:45

Nice! Cool effects. It might have been better to give the ball a little momentum so it was a little harder to control.

epeachyband 2022-10-21 08:51

Cool materials. Thank you for participating in Ludum Dare 51!

senso 2022-10-21 20:54

I like your effects you put on the bubble. Hope you make it in the rankings !

gangrue 2022-10-21 20:56

Liked it! I hope you get the last couple ratings in time!!!

mascoll 2022-10-21 21:01

Cool effects! Nice game!

zimny11 2022-10-21 21:24

I love the shaders! It was fun to try it out. Maybe adding some obstacles (or more smaller balls) or different shapes of room would add a lot to the game. The controls were quite confusing at the start (I guess it is that way since player cannot see where the front of the ball is, since you know... it is a ball), but I got use to it quite quickly. Good job with the game!

aplite 2022-10-21 21:31

The visual look of the marbles and the reflections were great. It was slightly frustrating to have such an unpredictable bounce for the blue marble. It would have been more engaging to have a more limited angle it could reflect at. Having it bounce directly back from the direction it was traveling was hard to anticipate. I know this would make the game easier so over time increasing the speed of the blue ball could have provided a difficulty ramp.

exofrenon 2022-10-21 22:35

I guess this was a test case for your custom raytracing shader. It run quite well on my PC, but it is quite beefy. I liked the materials, and I think the game had some potential if you knocked things up to eleven. By that I mean having multiple green and blue balls at the same time(it would highlight the visuals more), faster movement, more hazards in the stage, etc.