Balls of Doom

Bouncy balls of Doom

Also known as minicrush (working title)

I've been fiddling with this for some time. I still want to turn it into something playable but stuff keeps getting broken so if I go back to it I'll need to rewrite it for GM Studio.

Some of the "enhancements" are messed up, for example I wanted to replace the flat map with raised paths with water in between but the changes to the map broke things in ways I can't begin to figure out. Unfortunately I really want the new maze style now.

Giant balls are chasing you, run away!!

Minicrush version

This version gets rid of the walls and roof, thus avoiding the wall-bounce bug that plagues the first version. I like the more "open" look it gives the game

The camera code takes the size of a ball into account so it works better with varied ball sizes

Gameplay is much more maze-based. I was only experimenting with mazes in crush but I think they make for more playable levels instead of "just keep running" as a game strategy. The scenery helps give a feeling of movement that's missing with an empty playfield

Later levels bring larger "enemy" balls and some different layouts.

There's also an invisible wall round the room to keep play objects (player, balls) inside the room area.

The bonus levels are gone as I found I couldn't make the "control the ball" game mechanic work with the new open levels. I really want to remake those levels but I need to create a freestanding block wall object to bounce off of.

The chase code has been distilled down to about three scripts with flags to determine how they behave. The AI code can be tricky as it will attempt to surround you. Its also deliberately clumsy at times so the balls are meant to roll up onto the maze walls at times

minicrush game exe GM81 source

Minicrush2 (one level demo)

This is an experiment to replace the maze walls with water. I like the look it gives, but I think it will need a "invisible safety fence" to stop you falling in the water, otherwise the game will feel "unfair".

Incidentally currently water is harmless, when you get bored of swimming push against a wall and if you go under it a glitch will put you back on land.

If you do clear the level you'll see an experimental bonus level. The idea is to guide the ball and hit the purple target, though right now nothing special happens.

minicrush2 game exe

Crush version (older)

This version is a mess of somewhat repetitive levels. I kept playing with the ball size with no real plan

The game feels slow, this is probably a fault of the large wide open levels and making some bad choices for the player movement speed early on

The bonus level concept still needs work, the idea is to make getting stuck to the ball part of gameplay rather than just a game-over sequence. Other than that I was playing with different chase behaviors.

Version 3 game exe

Version 3.d revision (newer) game exe

Version 3 GM80 source

Source code provided for information purposes.