Update 1.20 Coming with Generator Repairs & Overhauled Look! ..READ!
Look at this new screen showing your player repairing the damaged generator in the upper right corner in order to power the laser gun!
New Improved Look with completely re-drawn sprites and more!
Other planned changes to Laser Ball will be a changing "Electro-Blob" to be even more deadly than it currently is with a new ability to focus on your position, form a small tight ball and charge at you at crazy speeds to try and zap you! This is an element I think will be fun. Dangerous, but fun!
..With these changes, the game is likely to be much more difficult and balance changes might need to be added giving the player more ability to somehow reflect balls and the Electro-Blob. We'll see as development of these changes is implemented.
This.. and more will all be coming with Update 1.20 to Laser Ball!
With that, please be aware the the price of Laser Ball will go up from the current $1.99 USD to $4.99 USD. Laser Ball has been my best selling indie game on Steam since it launched a year ago and this update should be a great "One Year Anniversary" celebration.
More action.
More Intrigue.
More challenge.
Laser Ball 1.20 is coming...
UPDATE 1.10 - Global Steam High Scores Available In Game Plus HUGE SCORING CHANGES!
Okay everyone.. Laser Ball launched just under a year ago today on Steam and with this one year anniversary, I felt a couple of changes were really needed in this game. The first was adding global high scores directly to the game for easy access to see where you rank and the second was an over-hauled scoring system to better reward players for choosing to take on the Electro-Blob but not penalizing players for choosing to play without it in their games.
---------- New Global High Scores Added: ----------
No more needing to go to the Steam leaderboards here on the Steam page for Laser Ball just to see where your score ranks!
All the high scores are available right from the welcome screen in Laser Ball anytime you play! WooHoo!
---------- New More Fair and Balanced Scoring System ----------
Also a big change in this update is more points for facing the Electro-Blob and more specifically.. you'll now be rewarded points for depositing balls when the Electro-Blob is zapping around the game room.
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IMPORTANT NOTE: WITH THIS UPDATE AND ADDITION OF BONUS ELECTRO-BLOB DEPOSIT BONUS POINTS, THE 30% PENALTY FOR ELECTING TO NOT PLAY AGAINST THE ELECTRO-BLOB HAS BEEN REMOVED. ALL SCORING IS THE SAME FOR EVERY EVENT WHETHER OR NOT YOU CHOOSE TO PLAY AGAINST THE ELECTRO BLOB. THE DIFFERENCE NOW IS YOU'LL GET THE ELECTRO_BLOB BONUS POINTS EXPLAINED BELOW IF YOU FACE THE ELECTRO-BLOB.
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Here's how the new Electro-Blob scoring works:
- You MUST have the Electro-Blob on the screen when you deposit a ball to score these bonus points. If you haven't yet shot the multi-colored ball that spawns the Electro-Blob when you deposit a ball, you'll get no extra points.
- The more balls you deposit on any level while the Electro-Blob exists, the more "Electro-Blob Deposit Points" you'll be rewarded. This helps balance the game and levels giving you more points the earlier in a level that the multi-colored border comes up and the creates the need to spawn this unpredictable enemy.
The scoring works as follows:
The level you are currently on is multiplied by:
The number of balls you've deposited on any given level while the Electro-Blob exists Multiplied by (a random score between 25 to 40)
So let's give you a few example scores:
On Level 2 facing the Electro-Blob, the multi-colored ball is the 3rd ball requested by the border of the game. Balls 1 and 2 that you deposit give you no additional points because the Electro-Blob hadn't yet spawned.
Now you deposit the mutli-colored ball you've neutralized white with the laser gun and the Electro-Blob is in play. You'll score [2] for being on level 2 MULTIPLIED BY [a random number between 25 and 40] meaning you'll score somewhere between 50 and 80 extra points for this deposited ball.
The very next ball you shoot is the purple ball as requested by the border color. You neutralize it with the laser gun and collect it escaping the fast moving Electro-Blob by a narrow margin! Whew! Because this is the 2nd ball you deposited on level 2 while the Electro-Blob has existed, you'll score [2] for level 2 MULTIPLIED BY [2 for 2nd ball deposited this level] times 25 to 40 points. So this deposited ball will reward you with somewhere between 100 to 160 extra points
Now let's move to level 12. You have advanced to level 12 and the very first ball you had to neutralize was the multi-colored ball on this level which spawned the Electro-Blob. Because you've had to neutralize every ball and deposit every ball on this level while the Electro-Blob has been bouncing around the screen, you'll score a LOT more bonus points for succeeding this level. Let's imagine this is the 8th ball on this level you've just deposited, so this bonus just for this ball will be [12] (for being on level 12) MULTIPLIED BY [8] (8th ball deposited this level) times the 25 to 40 point random score. This means this deposited ball will score you somewhere between 2,400 and 3,840 points! And if you deposit that last 9th ball to clear out level 12, you'll get another 2,700 to 4,320 bonus points!
This could really add up fast as you advance through the levels especially if you have a lot of levels where the multicolored ball is an early target and you end up facing the Electro-Blob much of your levels.
To help you see the difference, let's show you the
TOTAL POSSIBLE ELECTRO-BLOB DEPOSIT POINTS AT LEVEL 10 when the Electro Blob is released early because the multicolored ball is chose by the border first VERSUS when the Electro-Blob comes into play late because the multicolored ball is selected by the border last:
:: LEVEL 10 ::
Electro Blob is only in play 1 ball as border chooses multicolor ball last:
1st Deposited Ball: Maximum Bonus: 0 - (Electro-Blob isn't in play)
2nd Deposited Ball: Maximum Bonus: 0 - (Electro-Blob isn't in play)
3rd Deposited Ball: Maximum Bonus: 0 - (Electro-Blob isn't in play)
4th Deposited Ball: Maximum Bonus: 0 - (Electro-Blob isn't in play)
5th Deposited Ball: Maximum Bonus: 0 - (Electro-Blob isn't in play)
6th Deposited Ball: Maximum Bonus: 0 - (Electro-Blob isn't in play)
7th Deposited Ball: Maximum Bonus: 0 - (Electro-Blob isn't in play)
8th Deposited Ball: Maximum Bonus: 0 - (Electro-Blob isn't in play)
9th Deposited Ball: Minimum Bonus: 250 :: Maximum Bonus: 400
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TOTAL on level 10 (If multicolored ball is last): Min: 250 :: Max: 400
* VERSUS *
:: LEVEL: 10 ::
Electro Blob in play all 9 Balls (Border chooses multicolor ball first):
1st Deposited Ball: Minimum Bonus: 250 :: Maximum Bonus: 400
2nd Deposited Ball: Minimum Bonus: 500 :: Maximum Bonus: 800
3rd Deposited Ball: Minimum Bonus: 750 :: Maximum Bonus: 1,200
4th Deposited Ball: Minimum Bonus: 1,000 :: Maximum Bonus: 1,600
5th Deposited Ball: Minimum Bonus: 1,250 :: Maximum Bonus: 2,000
6th Deposited Ball: Minimum Bonus: 1,500 :: Maximum Bonus: 2,400
7th Deposited Ball: Minimum Bonus: 1,750 :: Maximum Bonus: 2,800
8th Deposited Ball: Minimum Bonus: 2,000 :: Maximum Bonus: 3,200
9th Deposited Ball: Minimum Bonus: 2,250 :: Maximum Bonus: 3,600
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TOTAL on level 10 (If multicolored ball is first): Min: 11,250 :: Max: 18,000
* As you can see from the two outcomes above, the longer the Electro-Blob is in play on any given level, the higher your total bonus will be. This should help reward players who not only choose to face the Electro-Blob, but who actually do well while it is in play
Please keep in mind that choosing the "Level 10 Quick Start" option while facing the Electro-Blob will NOT give you any of the extra points you might score if you actually play the first ten levels and face the Electro-Blob (because you aren't actually facing the Electro-Blob the first ten levels by skipping those levels with the Quick Start option)
I hope you enjoy the changes made to Laser Ball in this update! Feel free and let me know with a thumbs up or even better with a comment below!
UPDATE 1.08 - Minor Change in Ball Code for Better, More Predictable Bounce Angles
This update is nothing new for the player except a complete overhaul in the way the balls bounce against the outside walls to provide for more efficient and more realistic bounce angles.
It's funny how this stuff works.. I fought for hours on getting the bounce angles correct around the launch of Laser Ball last spring, almost a year ago now and never was completely happy. When I started work on a new game I call PrisonBall which is a game I expect to launch in the coming months, the ball bouncing code just kinda game to me without much effort or thought and using that same, much simpler code in Laser Ball for this update seems to provide better results here as well.
Anyhow, that is all for this update and I hope you have or are enjoying this retro game inspired by an old type in game I loved on my Commodore 64 back in the 80s today! ..I wouldn't have remade it today if I didn't firmly believe it was worth a newer fancier version for our computers today! =)
UPDATE 1.07 - Quick Start Changed From Level 5 .. To Level 10!
Previously, the Quick Start Option was a way to start your games at level 5 with 6 lives and 25,000 points and was unlocked once you achieved level 5 with at least 6 lives and 25,000 points one time on your account.
The Quick Start has been changed in this update 1.07 to an option to start at level 10 with 8 lives and 100,000 points.
The old quick start has been removed and changed now, so you'll need to achieve level 10 with at least 8 lives and 100,000 points to unlock the Quick Start option. .It won't be real easy to unlock this as you'll to make it to level 10 without losing a single life and you'll need to either score a lot of accuracy bonuses if you choose to play without the Electro-Blob in play or still do well even against the Electro-Blob! ..It IS very possible to unlock this new Quick Start however, it just won't be as easy as it was to unlock the previous level 5 Quick Start option.
If you had previously unlocked the level 5 Quick Start, it will not help you with this new Quick Start in this update. Every player will need to unlock this new Quick Start to be able to use it starting with this update.
This was the only change made for update 1.07 but I feel will help experienced players get to the faster and more challenging levels quicker while giving new players a little tougher challenge to unlock this new Quick Start option.
Good luck and have fun! =)
UPDATE 1.06 - Critical Game Sabotaging Bug Fix + More!
I would like to give a HUGE shout out to Steam user Kinzoku for posting a critical bug that would cause you to sometimes no longer be able to finish a game. Kinzoku posted this screenshot in the bug reports forum thread that showed how in one game where a ton of points were scored, the border color suddenly demanded a color that didn't have a matching ball to shoot!
https://puu.sh/BnhKW/4489eb2215.png
I believe I've tracked this bug down, and as usual, it was a super simple mistake made when I was coding my game where I put a 1 instead of the letter l in a variable name. Ugh, silly me!
*-* Update 1.06 also includes all new more efficient ball bouncing code to handle the way the balls bounce against the walls. It was only 13 lines of code removed, but when you realize that your computer reads those lines of code 60 times a second as the game runs at 60 fps and it read those extra lines for all nine balls (if nine balls were bouncing around).. that means this code clean up saved the game needing to read and process 7,020 lines of code every second! (13 lines of code TIMES 9 potential balls TIMES 60 times a second = 7,020)
*-* The update also adds a new line of my voice directing players who start the tutorial on how to use the control panel to use the laser gun to shoot the ball that matches the border color. In watching a recent video of the game played, it was obvious that my tutorial with just text telling the player what to do (and arrows) wasn't quite enough as the video showed the player extremely confused on what to do, even using the tutorial. Hopefully this added voice instruction will help new players understand the basic objective of this game!
*-* One additional voice was added to the game, and that is my sons voice recording which has been added to help warn you when you are standing in harms way of acid filling up in the safe zone. If lives can be saved from being eaten by acid with this new voice recording being added, then it was worth this extra effort! ;-)
Please let me know if this update creates any problems or things you don't like, or if any bugs are found while playing!
I hope you enjoy! =) Thanks again to Kinzoku! This bug report was MUCH appreciated and help makes this game a better experience for all players! <3
Price Lowered To $1.99 USD!
A couple of days ago, I reduced the price on Rock 'N Roll from $7.99 USD to $6.99 USD.
Today, I am also reducing the price of Laser Ball by one dollar down to just $1.99 to increase the value for this game as well.
In this update which comes right at the same time as the previously announced price increase to Laser Ball, I've fixed a couple of issues that had my head spinning when I noticed them. Neither issue happened much, at least on my computers, but I seemed to notice it more when I watched other people play my game...
BALLS MOMENTARILY SLIDING ALONG BORDERS RESOLVED:
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The balls have now been completely re-coded to make sure that the issues that sometimes occurred where a ball would slide along the edge of the border has been fixed.
SPRITE TEARING HAS BEEN FIXED:
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Also previously, at higher levels and faster ball speeds, you'd sometimes notice sprite tears as you moved across the screen, and it seemed to happen more often as you carried a ball. That issue has been completely fixed now.
DOUBLE BONUS POINTS FOR COMPLETING A LEVEL EARLY:
_______________________________________________________
If you deposit all nine balls to the deposit basket and have time remaining, you'll now score double the bonus points seen previously. This has been changed to make it more balanced versus the accuracy points scored for not missing a laser shot. Keep in mind that you must deposit all nine balls before the balls turn safe automatically and the timer starts to score this time bonus.
I think that is it for this update! Please let me know if you experience any new oddities while playing this game, and my BUGS forum thread is the best place to give me that feedback!
Thanks for reading (and playing)!!
UPDATE 1.04 - Laser Gun "Auto Aim" has been removed, pixel perfect shots now
Early in development of Laser Ball, way before I had the idea to add such thing as an "accuracy bonus", I added a laser shot "auto-aim" in the same manner I added auto aim to the smaller rocks in Rock N Roll to help you land shots easier.
But when my 12 year old son was playing my game recently, he noticed an issue of balls he didn't want to hit getting hit as well as his target ball because of the auto aim I had added. This, as you know causes your accuracy bonus to fail at the end of each level, even if you miss a single shot or miss a single shot.
The problem happened specifically when two balls were really close together and you were trying to be really precise and perfect with your shots to hit the correct ball and not waiting until the balls might separate more.
To fix this, the balls hit box and the laser collision are now PIXEL PERFECT. No more auto aim or added pixels to make landing shots easier. This change will likely take some getting used to if you have spent much time playing Laser Ball.
I believe the game IS better without any auto-aim assistance as it will prevent you from hitting unintended balls and only hit balls actually touched precisely with your laser shots. When the accuracy bonus in this game rewards you for not missing a single shot, pixel perfect shots are pretty much required.
That's the only change made in version 1.04 but it is a pretty significant one and might take some players a little getting used to. Please let me know in the comments below what you think.
ALSO PLEASE REMEMBER THAT LASER BALL WILL BE INCREASING IN PRICE FROM 99 CENTS to $2.99 USD THIS FRIDAY MAY 11th.. As it was advised last week. This price increase is expected to be approved with a targeted date of approval on Friday, May 11 and will be submitted to Steam late in the day on Thursday, May 10th. Depending on how long it takes for Steam to approve the price increase, it could be effective as early as late Thursday, May 10 or as late as Monday, May 14.
Thanks for reading and have a good rest of your week!
UPDATE 1.03 - More Balancing Tweaks.. Playing Against the Electro-Blob Now Spawns More Bonus Stars
In this small update, I've made a small tweak to the ways balls bounce off of walls in hopes it it lower the amount they seem to "slide" against the outer walls. My ball bounces have gotten much better than before in recent updates, and I think I'm finally close to getting them right where I want.
Also, to help better balance the game on your decision to play against the Electro-Blob or turn the Electro-Blob off, I added about a double chance of the bonus point star sparkles of light spawning should you take on the more difficult challenge.
So to understand the full difference in the modes I've made these lists...
TURNING OFF THE ELECTRO-BLOB AT THE MAIN SCREEN (Checked):
- You'll score 30% less points on all scoring events except for accuracy bonuses awarded a the end of each level
- You'll have a lower spawn rate on the collectible sparkle of lights (immediate bonus points)
- Your Timer will be normal based on your level and speed of the balls.
PLAYING AGAINST THE ELECTRO-BLOB ON MAIN SCREEN (UnChecked):
- You'll score normal points of all scoring events (shooting the correct ball, depositing neutralized balls, collecting sparkles of light)
- You'll have a double spawn rate of collectible sparkles of light which could mean massive differences in score totals later in the game at high levels
- You'll get a minimum of 5 additional seconds on the timer to complete each level. (It moves to 6 additional seconds at level 2, and 1 additional second for every two levels beyond level 2.. so 7 extra seconds at level 4, 8 extra seconds at level 6, etc)
I hope you all are enjoying Laser Ball! If you are enjoying Laser Ball, please be sure to let all your friends on Steam know before May 11 so they can jump in and purchase the game before the scheduled price increase from 99 cents to $2.99 USD!
** NOTICE OF PRICE INCREASE TO $2.99 USD FRIDAY MAY 11, 2018 **
Hello everyone!
I am giving everyone a full weeks warning to make your purchase of Laser Ball at the early price tag of just 99 cents (USD) before I plan on increasing the cost to $2.99 USD.
After putting more than triple the hours of work and extra content into Laser Ball that I never planned to this game before it launched, I strongly feel that Laser Ball has become a much better looking and more fun to play retro action game. The new price also better matches other unique games such as Laser Ball with similar graphics and game styles.
Since the launch of Laser Ball, Laser Ball has had the graphics and look overhauled to a much cleaner and better overall appearance. Laser Ball has had a whole new scoring system added to it to make advancing rewarding and interesting and this has taken a lot of time to both code and balance properly. A new challenging and unpredictable enemy has also been added to the game with the addition of the Electro-Blob. - And Laser Ball has also had controller support and options for volume, quick-start, and the No Electro Ball mode added as well.
For anyone waiting on purchasing perhaps hoping to see Laser Ball on another website which offers bundle deals on indie games, please know that I have NO plans to ever offer my games on such websites again. After doing such a deal with my first game Rock 'N Roll on IndieGala last summer, I quickly learned my lesson as it proved to be way more trouble in the end (and also cost more money) than it was worth in the end. Any "bundle deals" with my games in the future will likely only be seen right here on Steam where I might offer bundle deals on my own games. I have current plans of offering two new games currently in development and early in design stages before the end of 2018. My new games planned are still very early in development but once I have three, four, or more games available here on Steam, you'll likely see the only "bundle offers" I ever plan on offering again on my games right here.
In the end, I very strongly believe that my games are well worth their price. Laser Ball, like Rock 'N Roll is a game crafted with love, a strong passion to offer a fun-to-play game, and a high replay value. My games will always be 100% self crafted from start to finish without using asset kits or stolen code or frameworks from some tutorial available online somewhere. As an indie gamer and content creator who has evaluated over 500 Steam games myself on my YouTube channel in recent years, I am proud to say I'll never sell cheap asset flips or half completed games.
This price increase is expected to be approved with a targeted date of approval on Friday, May 11 and will be submitted to Steam late in the day on Thursday, May 10th. Depending on how long it takes for Steam to approve the price increase, it could be effective as early as late Thursday, May 10 or as late as Monday, May 14.
Thanks for reading this, be sure to pass the word to your friends before the price increases on May 11, and have a great weekend everyone!
