Challenges of not being quite sure what the game is


I'm starting to notice the number of days left for this game jam while the game isn't getting finished at quite the same rate. It is playable and most of the game features are done, some are progressing so it is not a disaster. I just need to start setting up levels and not spend a lot of time testing and tuning each one.

I think this is just a natural consequence of starting something without  having a clear idea about what the goal is. I am not disappointed, just feels a bit odd to rate it against projects that have a clear plan. It is almost the opposite from Nono Pixie which is based on a game I really like and was easy to make fun (for myself).

My point is that a game that introduces something new, which I'm hoping to do, is usually not good because of the new thing, it is just for variety. The new idea only really becomes good when someone else looks at it and turns it into something great, and maybe when July 1st rolls around and I've finished this experiment I'll have a really great way to re-imagine it. Or maybe I'll inspire someone else, or I'll end up making Space Orbs Remix based on what someone else tells me the game could be. My target of success with this game is to just get it done, it doesn't need to be fun by itself! I had half of an idea I wanted to try out and that's what I'm aiming to finish.

Anyway, I'm already working on tools for the next game which has one background and sprites ready to go so whenever Space Orbs is ready to ship I don't need to worry about not having anything to do :)

Get Space Orbs (C64)

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The good reviews (9.4 out of 10) on the Scene Database shows, that this here really is a  good puzzler. Knew it from beginning on.

Thanks for the update! Maybe it is worth developing the game idea further in the future, but voters may also just be approving the title screen and music that was added in that version :)

I am sure, the voters meant the game overall, also the comments here

https://csdb.dk/release/?id=179708

https://csdb.dk/release/?id=179707

https://csdb.dk/release/?id=183581

goes in that direction and shows, that they like the gameplay. Indeed, it could be worth developing the game-idea further. Maybe a four-player simultan-mode, playable with 4-player-adapter.

I saw now that the game finally has a music now and this music fits very well. Little bit sad, that no Sound-FX comes, when for example a player make a color-match and the tiles disappears or when the player shoot a tile and it reaches the other tiles. Maybe a little click-sound would have been not bad here. But anyway, the game is good overall and the music too. So, good work from you, anyhow a fun puzzler.   :)

I decided against sound effects for this game because with two players doing things at the same time and chains being a big part it would need more than 3 channels to sound right, but even if I limited it to one channel I wasn't happy with the repetition of sounds I was able to create. I think the lack of sound effects emphasizes the sense of being in space as well. 

But point well taken, I'll make sound effects a priority for future games!

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A okay, make sense what you explained about the number of necessary soundchannels. I didn't had this in mind with the 2-player-simultan sound, which could cause a problem here then. All in all a good puzzle game that you wrote here and i am especially happy that we have a new good puzzle-game here now, cause this genre is one of my favourites.

A "Dr. Mario" version would also be great for the C64, maybe you can think about something like that, for one of your future projects?  Best would be, WITH CPU-opponents like the SNES or Nintendo64 "Dr. Mario" versions have it.

Good puzzlers are always welcome and the C64 misses some of the big puzzle-classics. Also a "Puyo Puyo" version don't exist on the C64 until now.  Fortunately "Bust a Move (Puzzle Bobble)" is in the pipeline and will come soon, but sadly without CPU-opponents as it seems, this is a little downgrade, because i often have no second human player available and only playing the puzzles in 1-player-mode could be a little bit boring in the long term. In the console-versions of "Bust a Move" i nearly only play the "VS Computer" modes and set the cpu-level to "hard". Then it makes the most fun.

Also in your "Space Orbs" choosable CPU-opponents would have been superb. The game is great, but then it would have been still better. Maybe in your next puzzler someting like this comes, it's definately a big plus to any puzzle-game when you can play against somebody even when no other human player is available.     :)

When the full sound-effects and ingame music will be finished that the final-version could be released?

I will give the composer a gentle nudge :) Summer messes a bit with plans.  Not quite done with the intro myself.

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Hy. Okay, i understand.   :)  Sadly these missing sounds will be a minus in the cartridge competition for your otherwise great game, i fear. But most important, that it will be finished and users can play it with everything included (sounds) then. I like these kinds of puzzlers, they make fun.

I don't expect an update to be counted in the competition anyway, I don't really mind though, this was about creating something new and getting more people to try it. It was really fun to explore the issues with designing a match 3 game with co-op and music / load screen will just be something to make the product feel finished :)

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Don't worry. It is always possible, to make a "Deluxe", "Reimagined", "Redux", "V2.0" or whatever it can be called, version later. Main thing is, that one (bugfree) version is ready, when timeline ends. Later it can still be improved. Regarding setting up different levels, maybe a look at the objects in "Money Puzzle Exchanger" or "Magical Drop" can bring new ideas. The game-princible is similar, only turned around sideways. Maybe the arrangement of the coloured bubbles, or parts of it, can be adopted for some of the levels? Just suggestions, i am not sure if possible.     :)