11 replies to this topic

[Desert Dog]

By Desert Dog

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Description:
Marble Racing is a 3d arcade, 1-2 player racer which has unique, pinball style gameplay.

It contains:
-6 races
-online highscore
- 2 player hotseat mode
- 7 great cpu players
- lots of different marbles to choose from
- online highscore for the 'world race'
- and more!

Download:
From Yoyogames

Screenshots:



Hope you enjoy the game as much as I did making it!
Please rate 5 stars!! :D :D
Cheers,
~DD


-Comments, suggestions, ideas... WELCOME! Please, this game is very much a proof of concept, so all ideas are welcome. :D -

Edited by Desert Dog, 20 September 2011 - 10:12 PM.

[Awesomeness]

Nice. I like the 3D-ness and use of slopes in the course, and the music fits your game well. The speed boost is really handy, and it's fun to just run into everybody. Nice job with making the marble spin in the direction you're going too, and at the right speed. The AI's pretty good too, and I like how there's a little poem in the help file.

I found some issues though. The camera angle is set way too high and I couldn't see where I was going, even with the map. Also, the biggest problem is that sometimes you don't bounce realistically. If I hit a wall parallel to my direction of movement, sometimes I'll go backward, and the bouncing is way too fast compared to the acceleration, even of the fastest marble. If you just lightly brush a wall or graze it, you go flying off in another direction and it takes a LONG time to recover, especially since you tend to hit more walls along the way. I can understand using it to strategically bounce off corners to turn faster, but it gets in the way if you're not trying to do that. Maybe you could only make the walls extra-bouncy when you use the boost?

I got under two minutes in the world race and I couldn't submit anything. I did it a second time and it asked me if I wanted to submit, but I didn't do nearly as well as before, (the bouncing did me in) so I didn't.

Overall it's really fun and I tried every race. Great job!

- Awesomeness

Edited by Awesomeness, 10 June 2011 - 05:55 AM.

[Desert Dog]

Hi Awesomeness, thanks for trying the game! Just a few quick queries:

I found some issues though. The camera angle is set way too high and I couldn't see where I was going, even with the map.

Thanks! I did, in fact, have it a lot lower.. but my quite powerful computer blew up, and now I'm using a much slower computer.. I simply had to make some cuts somewhere, and by changing the view angle so that you 'saw less' the fps upped a very much needed 5-10 fps.

I should add the option to have it lower though, so that's something to think about!

Also, the biggest problem is that sometimes you don't bounce realistically. If I hit a wall parallel to my direction of movement, sometimes I'll go backward,

Oh, oh, backwards? That sounds like a bug D: Interesting enough, I've noticed a bug where the computers sometimes bounce backwards (in certain spots in the level..) but it never did for the player D:

If I hit a wall parallel to my direction of movement, sometimes I'll go backward, and the bouncing is way too fast compared to the acceleration, even of the fastest marble. If you just lightly brush a wall or graze it, you go flying off in another direction and it takes a LONG time to recover, especially since you tend to hit more walls along the way. I can understand using it to strategically bounce off corners to turn faster, but it gets in the way if you're not trying to do that. Maybe you could only make the walls extra-bouncy when you use the boost?

Yeah, here we have a kinda issue which I think makes an interesting gameplay match up. Boosting 'is' dangerous, and if your a fast marble, with good turning (but low acceleration) you may want to just 'race' around the track, where as one with good acceleration, or turning, or weight would want to boost as much as he can.

For instance, if you pick the cyan marble, chances are you won't really need to use your boost very much at all(to be the cpu anyway).. it's a very fast, powerful marble. But if you picked the black marble...

I know the bouncing can be frustrating if your not careful, but it's definitely part of the gameplay. It's a 'ahh, silly me!' frustration, I think. Well it's different anyway.

I got under two minutes in the world race and I couldn't submit anything.

Did it not ask you if you wanted to submit, or did the browser just not open? Oh, oh, this sounds like a bug report...

Overall it's really fun and I tried every race. Great job!

Thanks! I had an idea for a pinball theme (bouncy pads, etc) but with such a slow computer, making it wouldn't have been able to work very well at all... I'm just happy to finish it.

Do try the game's 2-player mode if you can, some of the marbles are unbalanced, so even if your a lot better than your friend.. the game can be equal!

[Awesomeness]

Thanks! I did, in fact, have it a lot lower...
I should add the option to have it lower though, so that's something to think about!

Really? It goes up by that much?
And making it adjustable would be nice too.

Oh, oh, backwards? That sounds like a bug D:

It didn't really happen to me that much, so it's not that bad. Just a little surprising when it does.

here we have a kinda issue which I think makes an interesting gameplay match up.

Yeah, bouncing off the walls when boosting is annoyingly fun, but when you're just going normally, it's a tad bothersome.

Did it not ask you if you wanted to submit, or did the browser just not open?

I got the "You're in the top 4 players!" dialog box, then nothing. You mentioned online scores in your description, so I figured, "Hey, why not see if this works?" and the second time it worked. I didn't submit it though.

Thanks! I had an idea for a pinball theme (bouncy pads, etc)

Do it. That sounds awesome!

Do try the game's 2-player mode if you can

Sure thing.


- Awesomeness

[Desert Dog]

I'll have to look into those bouncing errors, and especially that highscore bug! It should ask if you want to submit every time. :/ Thanks for the report, though!

Do it. That sounds awesome!

I wouldn't mind, but to 'work' the view would be much higher up, and we'd have lots of polys on screen with the new models, and, well, on this computer it really won't be very practical to make, because of lag. I'll stick with a safe little 2d one for now.

Edited by Desert Dog, 10 June 2011 - 10:01 PM.

[Supertoad25]

This...game...is.......AMAZING!! And while we're making Sonic Colors references, that cyan ball is...laser fast.

A few problems with the game.
first off, the second level's design is ridiculous, I couldn't navigate it without running into a bunch of walls, and I did take it without the boost...me thinks.
secondly, the timer for finishing gives a 4 second delay, making it hard to tell whether you're going to make a new record or not.
And this last one was very strange, I was mashing the space button and accidentally press a button or two above it and then I was returned to the main menu and it was upside down with black text and no background.

Luckily it was fixed when I reopened the game.

[Desert Dog]

And this last one was very strange, I was mashing the space button and accidentally press a button or two above it and then I was returned to the main menu and it was upside down with black text and no background.

*cough cough* sometimes when your making the game, it's handy to have a go to room hot-key. And sometimes, you forget all about it as you continue to make the game.

B will take you to the menu, yeah. And the reason it's black is because d3d_lighting is on (and not turned off when you press B!) and it's upside down because d3d_start is on, and I didn't call d3d_end.

Haha, well just remember.. don't press B.

first off, the second level's design is ridiculous, I couldn't navigate it without running into a bunch of walls, and I did take it without the boost...me thinks.

Well.. it is different. I personally think level 1 is too big, and level 2 is a liiitle bit too small. The other 4 have a decent size. I left those 2 in because variety is good. And plus.. heavy marbles have an advantage in that level, where as in other levels, they tend to be left behind because they are also slower.

secondly, the timer for finishing gives a 4 second delay, making it hard to tell whether you're going to make a new record or not.

Yeah, I guess I should have made it stop. It stops in 2 player mode, as it's counting each player (you may/maynot have tried 2 player?)

This...game...is.......AMAZING!! And while we're making Sonic Colors references, that cyan ball is...laser fast.

Thanks!

Looks like I've got a few things to think about for an update!

[Yal]

*cough cough* sometimes when your making the game, it's handy to have a go to room hot-key. And sometimes, you forget all about it as you continue to make the game

Guess what I always do?

if(file_exists("cheat.txt")){
  room_goto()
}

For instance, if you pick the cyan marble, chances are you won't really need to use your boost very much at all(to be the cpu anyway).. it's a very fast, powerful marble. But if you picked the black marble...

You should give the marbles more personality... How about, e.g. making them ball-animals (e.g. give them cat faces and stuff) or something to differentiate them more? Or give them different textures, so that for instance the heaviest marble could be made of iron, the lightest one of glass, other ones could be made out of wood or stone.

[TerraFriedSheep]

This is good man, in fact I think it is worth saying it is better than it looks. The AI seemed well balanced, I always find myself racing against at least a couple of them who are all battling for 1st!

I have the highscore submitting problem too. Sometimes it doesn't do anything, sometimes it submits to the local score (are the in-game ones online highscores aswell as the pointed games ones?), and sometimes to PG.

I have also just noticed another problem, I passed the finish line at 1:03 but the time kept increasing while it was showing that I placed 1st, and then the submitted highscore is 1:08! I have just realised this is mentioned above, but yeah it should stop because, well, I did it in 1:03

It's very addicting to try and take those highscores! You think you are about to do it and then you smack into the back of another marbe and your hopes are ruined! Gaahh!!

[Desert Dog]

Oh, oh, I'll have to have another look at that highscore thing.. it sounds an awful lot like a case of some broken logic somewhere.

I dropped this project like a rock, as soon as I released it. Also, the timer. It doesn't actually do that in 2-player, but for some reason I left it like that in 1 player. Hmm...

This is good man, in fact I think it is worth saying it is better than it looks.

But.. but.. it looks fantastic! D:

Thanks for trying playing! ;D

Guess what I always do?

Hah, that's nifty.

You should give the marbles more personality... How about, e.g. making them ball-animals (e.g. give them cat faces and stuff) or something to differentiate them more? Or give them different textures, so that for instance the heaviest marble could be made of iron, the lightest one of glass, other ones could be made out of wood or stone.

I was toying with ideas of ufo type vehicles, with cute little fuzzy animals, or whatever, but then the computer blew up, and stuck on a slow computer which the project lagged a bit on, I lost a bit of interest.

I never thought of texturing the animal onto the ball (I'd have to stop the rolling, though) Hmm. And the different texture idea is good, a rubber one would maybe have 'extra' bounce, and a mud one would barely bounce at all!


Anyway, for all you nonexistent DD fans out there, I'm pumping out another game.. soon! Keep an eye out, for when Dungeons, Puzzles, and Sliding all combine into one fantasy-action-packed-adventure-puzzle game with a level editor!

[Yal]

(I'd have to stop the rolling, though)

No, why would you need to do that? Video characters can be immune to getting dizzy.

Keep an eye out, for when Dungeons, Puzzles, and Sliding all combine into one fantasy-action-packed-adventure-puzzle game with a level editor!

Can't wait to see it!

[storkEXEC]

tilt the camera so i can see where im going. improve the graphics, add some logos to the wall and add some scenery. add some powerups. add controller support.

then it will be a great game.