ColorDots Game Dev Blog - version 0.0.blue

Version 0.Red.0 is almost here! :)

Until that time, please amuse yourselves with v0.0.blue, which has several neat new additions. (warning: you may have to force-refresh to see the new version)

First of all, we made the game harder in a lot of sneaky ways.

1. The loss warning cools down now and half the speed that it heats up, so if you're in-and-out of the warning, you'll eventually lose.
2. We took the explodey effect off of all of the effects except for blue, so it's harder to get out of the loss condition.
3. We based the loss condition on time, not frames, so you have to actually move. We figure you have time for 2-3 matches plus any lucky-accident matches before your time runs out. Choose wisely! (or hit a powerup)
4. White and Black just disappear now, no effect at all. We never liked white and black - they were just getting in the way. Now we've succeeded in passing that dislike along to you. Hooray!
   

Second, we made the game easier in a few sneaky ways.

1. We took the explodey effect off of all of the effects except for blue, so a lot of people who aren't so good with the mouse can make matches easier, as things aren't moving around quite so much now.
2. We added a green effect that explodes for 3 frames, and then roots, making it excellent for crowd control. Pretty goo icon too. :)

So that's the new version in a nutshell. I don't need to tell you why we made it harder, just check out the previous blog post. It's harder now, but also more fair to people who aren't quite as adept with the mouse. Also, playing this version is the first time I played it and actually thought it was fun. It doesn't even have sound yet, so... wow. I'm really satisfied with this right now.

Some apologies should get me off of my laurels! We were hoping to get the yellow effect working, but the idea we had was too complicated for 20 minutes of coding. It's going to look and work great very soon, though. Promise! Also, we haven't balanced powerup spawning yet, or added sound or UI. Sorry. I guess that'll be next weekend.

Speaking of next weekend, this Sunday (3-9-2008), barring venomous snakes, is the day that we release 0.Red.0! Woohoo!

Here's the plan:
0.Red.0, or "Little Red" as I like to call him, will be the debut of the web-toy version of ColorDots, open to all the internets for their scorn and ridicule and maybe even a little love.

He'll have that spiffy yellow effect, some additional balancing in there, sound, UI, something besides stalling and waiting for a click between levels (as much as we all love that here at ColorDots HQ). Everything that makes a baby webgame the pride of the neighborhood.

Once Lil' Red is out the door, we'll be pretty much done with the mechanical aspects of the game, and will start focusing 80% time on a Beta version of the real game (with real art and a real story and some kind of candy-generating device). The other 20% will be spent tweaking Lil' Red to our users' satisfaction, the goal being to use web-user data to perfect the mechanics well before we show the game itself to anyone outside of the friends-and-family testing group.

That's all that I have, I think. Just a few more months, hopefully, before we can sell out to the man. God knows I've been trying long enough, but having "an amazing aptitude for sitting" hasn't exactly been in demand lately.

-s