Hey all! I'm proud to present my latest project...GL Pong! Yes, it is another Pong clone and one of the simplest games to develop, BUT...I tried to spice this version up with horizontal movement of paddles as well as lots of explosions! Features o 1P vs. CPU o 2P Hotseat o 2P via TCP LAN/Internet o Things blow up o horizonal paddle movement (for power shots!) o Lots more! Screenies Download Version .771 beta is available here. Website In development...check it out here. Hope you enjoy..feedback appreciated!!!

So it's been nearly a week since this was posted...with over 60 views did anybody give it a try?

Nice game.

One reason you may not have gotten many response is that, well, its pong. [smile]

I think the console or whatever at the top takes up too much screen space, with no obvious function in single player. If it is more useful in multiplayer you might consider removing it for single player, or making the screen longer, or make it hideable.

Nice effects too. Its a bit hard to judge the power shot thing, maybe you could make it more forgiving in what gets counted as a power shot?

But these are minor things, good work, keep it up.

Quote:Original post by rip-off
One reason you may not have gotten many response is that, well, its pong. [smile]

Yeah I know. ;) Hey at least I got one response other than me. =)

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I think the console or whatever at the top takes up too much screen space, with no obvious function in single player. If it is more useful in multiplayer you might consider removing it for single player, or making the screen longer, or make it hideable.

I have thought about this and I agree, it is a bit of a screen hog in single player, but it's primary function is for chat in multiplayer and to report game info. I thought about a separate look for SP and MP but decided against it as none of the testers said anything about it.

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Nice effects too. Its a bit hard to judge the power shot thing, maybe you could make it more forgiving in what gets counted as a power shot?

There is a pretty small bandwidth in the middle of the paddle that if hit results in a power shot. I may extend the range (perhaps based on difficulty) to make power shots easier. Don't forget if I make it easier for the player to get a power shot, the CPU gets the same advantage! ;)

Thank you for your kind comments.

Quote:Original post by LeChuckIsBack
I like it especialy cause it's multiplayer, but there's something wrong... Maybe it's to fast or maybe the paddles and the ball are too fuzzy - I get fouled all the time...

Hmm...not quite sure what you mean by fouled. I admit the game is fast and several people have said the same thing about the speed, and the original plan was to have a game speed option. The thing is, it's meant to be a twitch-like game...something the player has to get used to. Think of a racing game...you wouldn't want to slow it down, instead you just have to practice until you get the reaction time. To tell you the truth, early versions were MUCH slower but the testers started complaining about the game beeng TOO slow as they got used to it.

I'm glad you like the multiplayer...the game is still beta b/c internet MP isn't perfect yet. It works...yes...but there's still a lot of kinks with latency to work out. Hotseat should work fine tho if you and your friends are both at the same computer. My brother and I have tournaments all the time. :)

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1 - you should make the speed like in other pong games (or at least add a speed option), matching the kick acceleration ofcourse; I like that you can send the ball like a missile when you hit it right [smile]; here's a very good example of pong - I can play this for hours: BATTLE PONG

I'll have to check out Battle Pong when I get home (work proxy blocks the site =\). Glad you like the fireball powershot...nothing more satisfying than winning off of a well placed meteor! =D

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2 - the ball trail and explosions are perfect, but keep the ball and the paddles clear - I sometimes think I hit the ball, but actualy just touched those "shields"

Not sure what you mean by "shields", but one thing I can do is draw the explosions under the paddles if that would make it easier to see. The purpose of the short delay (1.5s) between a score and the next serve was to address this problem. Whenever a score occurs the player's attention should be drawn to the explosion briefly and then back to getting set for the next serve.

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Let me know when you fix this, cause I can't realy play it as it is. I can't wait to play this with my friends.

I really want to improve the game to make it more playable...but understand I don't want to 'nerf' the aspects of the game that are meant to take practice. I will make the paddles more visible during an explosion and tone down the ball explosions after a score a little bit for the next release. Hopefully that will improve gameplay for you. If you do play with your friends, let me know what kind of issues you run into if any (whether hotseat or TCP).

Thanks for the great comments!

Steeze: You're right about the controls...I'll make some adjustments (see below).

Quote:Original post by LeChuckIsBack

Quote:Not sure what you mean by "shields"

I was refering to that aura of light around the paddles and the ball - at high speed I get the impression that the ball is bigger and I can touch it, but in fact I only touch the light around it (I think the collision radius of the ball is smaller than the image of the ball)

Ah the glow around the ball and paddles, I see what you mean now. The collision detection is measured from the outter edge of the ball itself and not the glow around it, so you are correct about the collision radius being smaller than the overall image.

Quote:At that speed the controls should be perfect. I don't know exactly how, maybe by adding a very small acceleration/deceleration to the paddles, or at least increase their size a bit [smile]... In fact you should increase everything, why don't you make it fullscreen?

A couple people have suggested accel/decel of the paddles...I can see how it may improve small adjustments when trying to hit. The thing I was worried about was having too sluggish of a paddle, as many times you have to be quick on the reaction. Good suggestion though...I'll experiment with it and see how it effects gameplay.

As far as making it fullscreen...the game is meant to be played in a window so you can easily switch to other things if you need too. The problem with fullscreen is you have to alt-tab out of it to do anything else...with windowed mode you can minimize or just pause the game and send the window to the background. The other reason is I play/develop this game at work and having it in a window is much more convenient. ;)