Laser Ball
UPDATE 1.02 - A Little More Time Given If You Play Against the Electro-Blob and Slight Nerfs given to Electro-Blob speed increases
With update 1.02 here, the only change is a little more time has been added if you choose to play against the Electro-Blob (You can turn the Electro-Blob off with a check mark option on the welcome screen)
The additional time given for accepting the Electro-Blob in your game is not much but I feel like it will help better balance the game. The formula used is a base 5 seconds at level 1 plus an additional second added for every round level number you advance to. So for example, at level 8 you'd get 5 additional seconds plus 4 seconds for the level 8 making a total of 9 additional seconds. At level 10, you'd get the initial 5 seconds plus 5 more seconds for level 10 making a total of 10 additional seconds and so on.
This may be tweaked as needed.
The speed increases of the Electro-Blob as you advance in levels was also changed to a more gradual increase once you reach level 15. Before this patch, the maximum speed of the Electro-Blob went up the same small amount every level, and with this patch, the maximum speed gradually declines after level 15. Keep in mind that the Electro-Blob will still have a higher maximum speed every time you advance a level in your game, however the increase in potential max speed gradually declines starting at level 15 now.
Please note that the balls themselves have NO maximum speed and will continue to move faster for every level you advance.
The Electro-Blob should now not be able to touch you regardless of how big it is if you are in your safe zone. Before this patch, sometimes the Electro-Blob could extend into your safe zone and electrocute you if it was very large. This has been fixed now and should feel more "fair" if you are well inside your safe zone area.
Right now, you still also take a 30% point penalty for choosing to play without the Electro-Blob on all point scores except for accuracy shot bonuses given at the end of each level.
I hope you are enjoying my game, let me know in the forums or comments below!
UPDATE 1.01 - Better Bouncing Balls, Game Code Optimization
UPDATE 1.0 - Minor change & Steam Leaderboard Scores Have Been Reset
Version 1.0 only change is a small increase in the speed of the balls if you choose to play the "No Electro Blob Mode". The 30% point reduction still applies as well and was left unchanged.
Besides that, the leaderboad scores were reset today as announced would happen today last week.
I hope you all enjoy Laser Ball, and if you do, please consider taking a few minutes to write a review for my game here and also spreading the word to your friends as well as your social media sites that you use!
Have a good weekend everyone!
UPDATE 0.89 - Option Added To Welcome Screen To Turn The Electro-Blob "Off" In Your Games!
To choose this option, simply check the check box for the "No Electro Blob Mode" at the welcome screen. The game will save your choice here so that next time you launch the game, your last option chosen for this will be saved.
The No Electro Blob mode has a 30% point penalty to all points earned in game for shooting colored balls, for depositing balls, and for collecting sparkles of light awards. The accuracy bonus remains exactly the same as the regular mode however. This will be tested this week to make sure the 30% penalty is balanced and if needed will be adjusted before the version 1.0 update.
Please continue to give me your feedback and opinions on the game as well as any bugs you might come across. Thank you and enjoy the game!
Notice of Rank Reset Coming Soon With Version 1.0
I hope that all of you who have played Laser Ball have enjoyed your experience with it to this point.
I wanted to make an official statement and let everyone know that over the next week, Laser Ball will get balance tweaks, perhaps a little polish, my installation of my own ZAC (Zax Anti Cheat), and other minor changes. The gameplay mechanics will stay pretty much right where they are now however!
If you notice any bugs or problems with the game, please make use of the sticky thread in the forums created for reporting bugs! ..I do know that sometimes balls get stuck in corners and that is one issue I will try and fix, but keep in mind that also makes an easy ball to shoot and/or snag!
I expect to put out Laser Ball version 1.0 in about a week from this time, so on or around April 20th or April 21st. Because so much has changed recently with the game, especially the scoring differences and balance of the overall game since it launched, I feel that a complete Leaderboard reset is needed.
THE STEAM LEADERBOARDS FOR LASER BALL WILL BE RESET WHEN VERSION 1.0 LAUNCHES ON OR AROUND APRIL 20th.
Until then, please continue to enjoy the game and compete against your friends and other Steam users!
Have a good day everyone!
CRITICAL PATCH - End of level Time Bonuses were 60 times higher than they should have been, OOPS! :-D
That's been fixed now. I don't know, but it doesn't look like too many people were able to take advantage of this thankfully before i was able to do this quick fix patch.
* Two more minor fixes were made since this 0.88 update..
- An error was corrected where the Electro Blob touched any white ball after the timer expired and it caused the boom-boom dramatic sound as if he was recharging it but not.
- An error was corrected where the timer bar disappeared sometimes after the first timer bar had expired and the game wasn't displaying the second much faster timer bar status.
I hope you all have a good weekend! ..Until next time... stay safe out there!
UPDATE 0.88 - Introducing the Deadly "Electro Blob" to Laser Ball! - Plus more!
The Electro Blob doesn't actually hunt you down or chase you. In fact it's just a big ball of pulsating billion volt electricity! But because it packs so much power, it can be seen moving randomly all over the screen, sometimes doubling its size and other times compressing itself into a small ball of energy and darting all over the screen at crazy speeds!
If the Electro Blob touches you, you're as good as dead! If it touches any ball you've made safe with the laser gun, then you'll hear a double deep drum sound alerting you of the danger! DO NOT touch it as it will turn back to its original color and you'll need to get back to the control panel to try and neutralize it again!
Other changes made in this update:
* The control panel is now solid and cannot be walked over. The placement now prevents you from getting touched by acid if you are on the right side of it to access it. In the safe zone, you'll be safe from the balls, but be right in the patch of acid once it starts filling up! If you are on the right side of the panel to access it, you'll be safe from acid filling up, but be in harms way of the balls and/or the new Electro Blob!
* The acid is now half transparent and works much better than before. Contacting it is pixel precise now, so no more getting an acid death from a few pixels away! Yay!
* The countdown timer is now REAL time measure real seconds, not just a 1-100 timer as before this update. This will allow much better and easier game balancing moving forward
* The Timer now starts at 1 min and 45 seconds at level 1 and goes down by two seconds for each level gained because of the faster moving balls giving you more freedom to move quicker through each level. However, starting at level 15, 7 seconds will be added back to your timer for each level afterwards due to having to zig zag so much because of the fast moving balls. The maximum time given on any level currently is 2 min, 59 seconds however. These times may and will likely be changed to balance the game as needed moving forward.
* New sound effects added for the Electro Blob, including arcing electricity, a dramatic tune when he spawns each level and a heart beat that beats whenever he is on the screen. You'll also hear a dramatic double tone sound when the Electro Blob contacts any safe ball you've shot with the laser, causing it to turn back to its original charged color.
* Several graphical tweaks were made to improve the overall look of the game as well.
Anyhow, I'm sure that this update might present a bug or two, but they will be quickly squashed once found! Please help me squash any problems or bugs you experience by reporting them here or in the forums on the Bug Report sticky thread!
Also be sure you let me know how you like the new Electro Blob and all the recent changes, balances, and overall changes to the look and feel of Laser Ball in recent days!
Thanks for reading, enjoy the game, don't rage too hard at the new ball of lightning blob thingy, and have a great weekend!
UPDATE 0.87 - "Hot Shot" Laser Accuracy Bonuses, "Quick Start" Allows You To Start At Level 5, Plus More!
HOT SHOT ACCURACY BONUS:
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The reward is easy.. Simply 1,000 points multiplied by the level you achieve the shot accuracy on. (Level 5 would be 5,000 points, level 7 would be 7,000 points, etc)
To get this accuracy bonus, you'll need to be absolutely perfect with your laser fun shots. No missed shots. No hitting a ball that is already white. No hitting the wrong colored ball.
Now you'll have to balance the desire to get perfect shots with your timer counting down as well as the random light sparkles that might spawn every level. It's all up to you how you prioritize your tasks!
If you succeed at getting a "hot shot" bonus at the end of a level, you'll see a big display float up over the screen showing you how many bonus points you earned, and also hear a random chipmunk voice celebrating your successful shots.
"QUICK START" FEATURE:
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With "Quick Start", you'll have the ability to start at level 5 with 25,000 points and 6 lives as if you made it to level 5, scored pretty well and added three more lives yourself!
This feature should help get experienced players back into the faster action immediately without needing to go through the first five slower levels time and time again!
To use "Quick Start", you'll need to first achieve scoring 25,000 points and having 6 lives on level 5 yourself first. This will also give you a new Steam achievement as well. Once you've gotten this new achievement, using "Quick Start" is as easy as checking the box on the main welcome screen.
OTHER ADDITIONS IN THIS PATCH:
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* Voice checkbox added to main welcome screen, allowing you to turn on or off all voices and the mans scream when he dies
* 6 New Steam achievements all the way up to level 50 and the new "Quick Start" achievement once you unlock that feature
* 8 Different chipmunk voices will scream or perhaps even sing and mock you for scoring perfect accuracy on a level.
* Mans scream added when he dies to running out of time, getting electrocuted, or when he suffers an acid death in the safe zone
* Borders now have dark grey behind all the text, making your score, your level, your lives remaining and every other indicator easier to read
* White neutralized ball design has been changed
* Algorithm added to ball mechanics to reduce the frequency of balls slowing down or getting stuck on the edges of the screen. It's still not perfect yet but you should see this occurrence less often now.
* Average Ball Speed is now shown just below the level indicator
I hope you enjoy the new update! ..As always, let me know either in the forums or in a comment below! :-)
UPDATE 0.86A - ALL USERS PLEASE READ, EXPLOIT/CHEAT DISCLOSURE EXPLAINED - Also Bug / Exploit within Game Code Has Been Fixed!
..This bug has been described to me and I'd like to thank Steam user Mellow_Online1 for bringing the bug to my attention. Knowing "how" a bug happens is the biggest part of finding the fix and now that I know how the bug was happening, the fix was quick and easy to implement. Thanks Mellow_Online!
The bug could have been used an an easy exploit to advance much quicker through the levels than intended as once learned, a user could advance a level having only deposited 4 or 5 balls, thus creating huge time bonuses and crazy high scores! They would have made depositing those first 4 or 5 balls much harder twice as fast in abusing this bug as an exploit however.
This update, 0.86A fixes that bug and a follow up scoring patch will award players with a new way to score bonus points that should balance out any advantage a player who might have previously abused this bug as an exploit to score higher than otherwise would have been possible scores.
ALSO, I WANT TO POINT OUT THE FOLLOWING DISCLOSURE OF USING MY GAME ON STEAM IN THIS SAME ANNOUNCEMENT. IT HAS NOT HAPPENED YET, AS NO SCORES LOOK TO HAVE BEEN MADE USING ALTERNATIVE METHODS OF CHEATING...
HOWEVER, IF ANY SCORE IS EVER POSTED THAT RAISES ANY SUSPICION ON MY PART AS THE DEVELOPER AS BEING A SCORE ONLY ACHIEVED BY USING A CHEATING OR HACKING METHOD, THAT SCORE WILL BE DELETED WITHOUT ANY QUESTIONS ASKED OF THE USER POSTING SUCH A SCORE. MULTIPLE OCCURRENCES OF SUCH SUSPECT SCORES COULD RESULT IN A BAN FROM EVER BEING ABLE TO POST A HIGH SCORE IN LASER BALL. SUCH DECISIONS ARE FINAL AND BASED ONLY ON MY GOOD JUDGEMENT AS THE DEVELOPER OF LASER BALL.
Basically, don't "cheat" to try and post a high score, pretty simple. As sales have seen an increase for Laser Ball lately, I want to make sure that I put this disclosure on record so it can be referred to later if there is a time I need to delete any suspect scores posted.
Thanks for playing (and reading) everyone!
UPDATE 0.85 - MINOR VISUAL TWEAKS - Light Green Ball Is Now Brown To Avoid Confusion
New dark texture background added to give the game something besides just a flat black background.
The color of the score indicators on ball deposits now match the color of the ball just deposited.
Also reduced the size of the deposit score indicator points slightly.
A cross or 'X" design has been drawn onto neutralized white balls now.
That's it!
Enjoy!