UPDATE (11/5): A working exe of StickBall is available here: StickBallClone-master.zip

Just download, unzip, go into the StickBallClone-master folder, and double-click on main.exe.

Hey I didn't realize about the time zone being a couple of hours ahead of me -- I won't push my latest changes to github as it sounds like we are now past the deadline. My entry is posted above, with the link to the Github page, where you can check and see that no changes have been pushed since the deadline. Well, here's the link again, for easy reference, but it is included above, prior to the deadline: StickBall on Github.

If you are on a PC, it requires Ruby to play. Installing Ruby on Windows is really easy, and install instructions are in the Readme (on github). UPDATE: It appears that Ruby Dev-tools must be installed for StickBall to work properly. I pasted instructions for installing Ruby Dev-tools in a response to Aspirer lower on this page (the instructions come from wintertime's readme).

We were able to compile for Mac to a .app, but I did not post the .app prior to the deadline. The .app is the exact same as the github version - it just makes it possible to try it out on a Mac without installing Ruby. Ruby Install instructions for Mac are also included in the Readme, but it's a little harder to install Ruby on a Mac than on a PC. So..... I'm not sure if the .app would be disqualified for deadline reasons, but here is the link in case it is of interest: StickBall Compiled for Mac.

Wow, it's been a whirlwind of activity coming down to the deadline. Glad I posted a few days ago to be on the safe side!! Well, I think the game turned out pretty decent. We added in lots of sounds and a fair amount of graphics effects and I think it looks pretty nice. Following is a screenshot of what it looked like a few days ago, prior to finishing touches. Best wishes to all. I'll be checking out everybody else's games in the next few days.

Oh and a big heads up about the power-up controls: Ctrl is used for the Bump Power-Up, and Shift is used to cast spells. No button is needed for the Kick power-up. The Kick Upgrade automatically increases the player's kick speed. There is a small mistake in the readme about the kick feature.

Packaged .exe of StickBall: StickBallClone-master.zip

My link, as posted above: http://www.filedropper.com/putt

Known bugs:

--The ball-speed tends to grow exponentially (to the maximum) after about 10 -15 bounces...

--Given the basic method I used to time power-up instancing, if the ball is reset after a score at the same time a power up is instancing, the collision detection momentarily glitches and power-ups are rapidly deployed for the remaining second.

--Computer AI is as basic as it gets. Not so much of a bug as just primitive coding. He will never attempt to bounce it away from you or at any angle, he always aims to hit with the middle of the paddle.

Another note: If the ball hits the vertical boundaries on the playing field 10 times without hitting a paddle, the ball resets itself in order to prevent an infinite loop, lol.

MOST IMPORTANTLY: Thank you to GameDev.net for devising the competition, all of the contestants for sharing the experience with me and the community for giving us the opportunity to have a worthy learning experience. Tomorrow, I'll go over all the submissions and offer my suggestions/comments/constructive criticisms. And, if anyone in this competition feels like coming together for a realistic project to continue learning, please feel free to contact me!

My link, as posted above: http://www.filedropper.com/putt

Hmmmm. none of the power ups are working. I just see 2 pucks a ball and a box that rotates but never does anything when you hit the box with the ball. looks good though. smooth graphics although the puck moves a little slow and makes it hard to catch up to the ball after 10 hits or so; like you said, "a known bug". I hope you continue to work on it.

-CROW

The instructions screen clarifies the power ups. The rapidly spinning box speeds your paddle movement, the slowly spinning box slows the ai paddle movement, and the counterclockwise spinning box reverses the movement of the ball ("rewinding time"). There's no visual cue that the effects take place, just the power up sound effect.

Thanks for trying it out!

Heres my submission: http://andrew.pregent.ca/putt3.html

Chrome only, please! Didn't have time to make it cross browser so thats all I tested.

Notes for the judges:

• I'm presuming the "moarpwr" option will count as a hard mode... its definitely more chaotic anyway...
• Press Esc in the main menu to see the exit screen.
• Press Esc during gameplay to see the pause screen.
• Save functionality is implemented using cookies. Refresh the page, and note it will keep the current level.
• The power-ups are the ascii characters that appear on the screen. There are 6 kinds in total, 4 of which deal with time.
• The animated background changes at the bonus round (level 3).

I played yours first. I like it, especially it's lack of advanced graphics--goes to show you don't have to show detailed brain matter and snot shooting out of noses from a 1000 yard head shot in order to have a good game.

I have two key complaints, and they're easily fixed.

--It didn't have any introduction or instructions. For instance, any indication on the start screen of what the game would be. No way without reading your post of the power-ups or what they do, and stuff. There's no indication that when the game starts, press up/down for difficulty/points-to-win, etc. I'm sure most people would figure it out as easily as I did, but I would recommend making it totally idiot-proof, where even a dyslexic w/ Down Syndrome could figure it out.

--This is more of a personal peeve than anything, but I think I should be controlling the LEFT paddle! lmao

OH, and about compatibility, the only thing I noticed on my IE browser was that sound didn't play. (Worked fine in Chrome).

Unfortunately I have been very busy at work lately and I have run out of time to work on my game.

My (half finished) entry is here: http://www.donaldsmay.com/projects/DestroyerOfGalaxies.zip

It does not meet the requirements, but at least there is something to show for it .

I had fun though and I look forward to playing everyone's games!

Like you said, it's half-finished, but it has the basic "pong" functionality. I liked the graphics, the BG music and the overall theme and visual appeal. Wish you would've gotten it finished; I think it'd be a good game. Especially if you haven't made a full game before--keep it up!

Too bad i didn't had the time to finish the game, i only got the basic to work, here it is.

Instructions are in the Readme.txt file.

I've played yours now, and overall it looks like a good, basic version of pong like you said. Graphics are pretty basic, but it has a clear interface, etc.

My two suggestions for you (besides just go ahead and finish the game)

--Perhaps make the ball start in a random direction. As of now, the initial bounce is always in the same direction (about 10 o'clock)

--Maybe slow the ball down to about 75% of it's current speed, maybe gradually work up to the speed it is now.

Good job!

Here is what I have so far. Needs lots of work. Only 4 hours left "o NO!"

Should work on windows with .net 3.5 and managed dirextx 1.0.2902.0.

http://crow007.com/PongOut.zip

Lol, I played this one a few times. Fun and frustrating (at higher levels)

I liked it was more than just basic pong but still kept the pong-esque feel to it. Very nice. Multiple ball option was pretty intense.

I've got a few more suggestions for you than the ones I've played so far, but your game was more advanced and more finished than most:

--Power ups, lol! (I know you didn't have it completely finished, but I would suggest finishing it with a couple power ups)

--A win/lose screen. The game does keep a running tally of your and the opponents score, but after adding the total score, returns to the main menu with no win/lose info. I even skipped to Round 10 to make sure I didn't have to win the toughest round. It tallied the score, then sent me back to the menu. I noticed one bug here. Whenever you win a level, it automatically moves your "Start Round ->" option to the next highest round. At the max level, 10, it does this and sets it to 11, even though if I adjust this option, it only lets me select lvl 1 through 10 again.

--Two bugs at Round 10. And this is just due to the speed effecting collision detection. I had one of my balls (hee hee) bounce through the wall, off the screen, and just near the end, the AI paddle did as well, leaving me with one ball (another hee hee) and no enemy, just some "break out" blocks to get rid of and win.

All in all, you just need to add some polish to the game and fine tune.

It looks like Noctumus and his little team are off to ...

*shades on*

PONG Kong! YYYYEEEEAAAAAAHHHHHH!

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/11147293/putt/putt.zip [10.9 MB, Win7 (and XP I think)]

Lol, this was a damn good, fully finished game. Much impressed. Kudos on the "worm-hole" powerup idea! My biggest (really only) suggestion is possibly slowing down that damn ball so I don't lose every time. O_o

Hey, Nocturnus pointed out that mine (the windows version?) may not be working. Again, it's incomplete anyhow, but I think this may fix it...

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7949526/lucentbeam.putt.windows.2fix.zip

I'm completely new to C++ and SFML, and also haven't really packaged anything before. Hopefully it works

I liked your idea, the theme and visual appeal of your game, but the controls are a too glitchy for me to play it very long. The same buttons move you in opposite directions depending on where your minute hand is on the clock, meaning if I'm going one direction, then I suddenly need to go back the other direction, the controls have reversed, so when I switch to the other arrow key, I continue going in the original direction.... It's hard for me to explain better than that, but basically the same directional arrows push you clockwise, start to move you counter clockwise when you move your paddle past some invisible barrier...

Fix this, and I think you'd have a good game, but I can't play it with those controls. Sorry.