[Game] My Blockbreaker version

[Kamal_Ezz-eldin]

First of all i would love to thank everyone helped me here ,
Specially @Rob You have been extremely supportive and helpful through this,
i finished this section of the course 1 month ago but i challenged myself to expand this project a little bit and learn more things and the result was really worth the time ,
i tried lots of things learned new tricks,enhanced my programming skill so much ,
i became much more confident in writing codes and analyze the errors and fix it
For example : The paddle script exceeded 500 lines
Here are some screen shots of the Game

<img
Link of the Game on Share My Game Share My Game (BlockBreaker)
Notice that the game consists of 12 level for now ,but there will be more work on it
Any feedbacks and bug reports are much appreciated
Feel free to criticize PLEASE

[Rob]

Hi Kamal,

You are more than welcome and wow, you have been busy! Well done for taking on the challenge of working on your game as opposed to just completing the course version. Excellent!

I have provided feedback below as requested, I hope it is of use and is of course provided in a positive and constructive manner

---

Feedback;

Music

• The music is nice and suits the game.

• The music has a slight background “fuzz”, it’s a little hissy.

• The volume ignores the setting on the main menu for volume during game play, and when you return to the main menu

Menu

• Nice layout

• The volume control only worked on this scene the first time. Once I went into the game it was ignored.

• The mute button only worked on this scene the first time. Once I went into the game it was ignored.

• Consistency could be improved upon, for example, the “Credits” scroll, the “Back” arrow from the Credits scene, the “Play” button and the wooden “Title” all look quite different. The wood suggests an older feel, this matches the choice of music, but the play button looks quite modern. The font is quite modern and the scroll looks like it would be in a role playing game. These are fairly minor changes but some which could provide greater asthetic consistency in your game.

Game

• The paddle looks really nice and is a good match, size wise, with regards to the bricks and the ball.

• I really like the trail effect on the ball as it flies across the scene.

• Simple sound effects are nice on the ricochets/collisions.

• Great variety of power-ups!

• Really like the damaged bricks effect.

• Realy like the choice of simple colours, red, green, yellow and blue - very nice.

• If you shake the mouse left and right quickly, the ball glides a bit back and forth. This can be resolved by changing the execution order of the scripts. The resulting change will give the impression that the ball is stuck steadfastly to the paddle until launched.

• The Lives / Target Bricks / Level text is a little on the small side. Whilst this helps during game play, as you don’t really notice the ball going behind the text as much, it does make it a little harder to see. I was using my laptop when I play tested your game, 17.3" screen, if this was on my mobile I think it would be very difficult to see.

  You could consider having a bar across the top of the play space which houses these items, and lowering the top of the top collider to the same point, so that the ball is below the bar. This would prevent the ball going behind the text, and you could increase the size of the text, and or any icons that you may choose to use.

• I noticed that on the first level I saw at least 3 power-ups. The paddle extender, the bullets, and the dynamite (power-down). It might be a good idea to introduce these to your player more gradually. For example, you don’t have a scene which explains to the player what the power-ups / power-downs actually do. Initially, I assumed the dynamite was going to clear some bricks, not destroy me!

  By introducing the power-ups / power-downs more gradually you give the player the ability to learn how to play your game, but without having to provide either a separate scene which explains the power-ups or a tutorial. You could consider, something like;

  • Level 1 - Just hit the ball and break the blocks
  • Level 2 - Introduce blocks which require more hits
  • Level 3 - Introduce a third type of block which requires more hits and the first type of power-up
    …and so on… you can experiment with making some more complex levels in between also, e.g. you introduce a more challenging brick type on one level, give them a power-up, but then make the next level harder by using the brick type rather than advancing them to the next power-up type too soon.

  The above will help to extend the player experience. If I get all the power-ups that are available too soon then all I am left with is a variety of different levels to complete. Keep the player engaged by offering them something new periodically whether it is a power-up or something new in the level design itself.

• I noticed that the ball could be affected by the bullets shot from the paddle. This was a little bit unusually, I am not sure if it is by design? If it is by design, the ball slows down considerably, so it could be worth experiementing with the idea of keeping the balls velocity even after it hits a bullet, so it’s only it’s direction that is changed.

• Scene changes - I think I collected a bomb at one point, which took me to the next level. It happened so quickly I couldn’t really tell. This is true of the ending of each level. For example, when I collected the dynamite and was destroyed I was simply taken to a scene which enabled me to goto the main menu or restart the level. What might be nice to offer the player is the experience of the effects of these situations, for example, with the dynamite, pause anything that is moving on the screen. Make the dynamite exploded, play an explosion sound effect, remove my paddle, let the explosion animation and sound finished, then take me to that scene with the option of restarting.

  In between levels, perhaps congratulate the player, give them a few seconds to take in what has just happened, whether its by destroying all the blocks, or using a bomb to get to the next level. The player will need a rest from time to time, and by doing these little intervals between scenes you offer that without making it too obviously or, the break too long. Let the player take on board the new things that they have just learnt, “Oh, a bomb destroys all the bricks”.

• Assuming I was correct and did see a bomb power-up which took me to the next level, consider again pausing anything that is moving, make the bricks exploded, one by one, with a small delay before the next one explodes. The effect will look fantastic, and you already have the destroyed brick mechanic in place, you just need to call it. You could get quite articist with this, depending on where the player was when they collected the bomb power-up, for example, if they were on the far right of the screen, start destroying the bricks from the right hand side and progress to the left. If they were on the far left, start on the left and progress right. If they were near the center, start in the center and work out left and right. Again, keep the player there to enjoy the scene before giving them the congratulations message and moving to the next level. Let them enjoy what they just achieved.

• The multi-ball power-up was a lot of fun! As soon as I saw the sprite for it I thought “Yes!”, the fun was a little short lived though as they were sooo fast, I lost one almost immediately, then the second shortly afterwards. I’m not sure what speed these began at but it was significantly faster than my original ball was travelling at.

• General power-up point / question - on my first few games I noticed that the dynamite appeared to come from the same brick each time, is this the case? If so, it may be an idea to randomise it a little, at least within the same type of brick, e.g. if you want it to come from a one-hit brick, then randomise which brick from the one-hit bricks. It will get a little too predictive otherwise, the player will ironically learn too much and this will make the game easier.

• The restart icon - it took me a few games to realise that I wasn’t actually starting all over again, I was continuing with the lives I had left. This scene feels more like something you would offer when all of the player’s lives were used, e.g. “Would you like to return to the main menu, or restart the game”. Whilst the player still has lives left you could consider something like the congratulations message to the user, but with different wording, keeping them in the playable scene and then allowing them to continue. Update - I’ve just realised after another game that you take the player to the main menu when all the lives are used up. I would still keep them in the scene though between lives, and I think the restart icon is a little confusing in this context, needs to be more of a “continue” icon rather than a “restart” icon perhaps?

• How long can I keep that ball on the paddle for? Indefinitely I believe. Why not consider giving the player say 5 seconds, and then start a 3 second count down, appearing in the middle of the screen, even if they haven’t clicked, launch the ball already! You are allowing a lot of time to study the level.

• Indestructible bricks - on level 3 the colour of these bricks make them quite difficult to see in the clouds.

---

I hope the above is useful and will give you some things to consider. In the mean time I will continue to play, if I think / find anything else I will let you know. Again, well done, you’ve created a really nice game here, extended the original course game much further and added a great deal of polish. Well done

[Kamal_Ezz-eldin]

@Rob Thank you
this is a great useful feedback ,I will work on all these points you have referred to ,
I already have noticed some of these bugs specially these related to the music(toggle and slidder) at the main level scene but i failed to fix these and gave up
of course i will try again and fix all these glitches which you have mentioned

But do you think that these project worth to give it more time
Or is it worth after making improvements and adding more levels to publish it on stores such as Google Play
or should i move into the rest of the course sections and work on something else ?
I am totally confused

[Rob]

Hi

Well, remember this is just feedback, it is entirely up to you what you choose to do with it.

If I were in your position, what I would probably do is maybe make a list of all of the feednack.items you receive, include other items you yourself are already aware of.

You could use tools like Trello or Hack 'n Plan, GitHub etc for this.

I would then sort the feedback into “bugs” and “new features”.

Getting your game onto Google’s play store would be a great way to go, mainpy because you complete the circle from idea, development, released product.

Again, if it were me I wpuld prioritise those bugs and new features. I would treat bugs as always a higher priority than new features. I would personally choose to resolve the bugs before releasing to the play store, I am quite driven by quality, so I wouldn’t feel comfortable, personally, releasing something I knew had some bugs.

New features are different as you can release these individually or as a batch in an update after release.

I would probably also consider the player’s learning journey and the consistency items before releasing also.

Regarding what you do next, that is entirely your choice. You could do any of the things mentioned but perhaps they are not all mutually exclusive? For example, you could say, “I will give myself two further weeks of development on my Block Breaker game to address the bugs, then I will release it to the play store. After that, I will continue with the course but schedule a new featyre every two weeks for Block Breaker and release updates to the play store once each month”.

This would cover most of your considerations and give you a plan to work to. Some deadlines etc. Be sure not to release incomplete features, better to postpone the update and deliver a quality release.

Also, as a suggestion only, whatever you do, consider keeping a journal of the activities. Should you consider approaching employers at any point you will have a fantastic timelime demonstrating your development, planning, updates, releases and continued education. All that as a side product of doing what you enjoy by keep a few notes in a diary.

Keep us all updated on your progress in any case and please do keep sharing your projects and updates. It is very inspriring foe new students to see other students getting as far as you already have, and you get a community who can provide you will feedback and new ideas.

Final thought… If you are going to sell your Block Breaker game on the play store, I would also consider more levels… perhaps at least 25 as a minimum but then on each update, add a few more. This would give customers a sense of real value as they keep getting more for free. If you are thinking of putting it on the play store for free this is perhaps less of a concern initially.

[Kamal_Ezz-eldin]

Thank you Mr Rob for your answers been useful always for me
i know that it is entirely up to me ,i am just seeking advice from someone Expert as you
Because i am totally new to this even my education back ground was totally different i studied law but i decided to follow my passion and shift my career to game developer
for this reason i always love to take expert opinions and advises in a serious way

[Rob]

That is very kind of you to say Kumal, although I wouldn’t claim to be an expert, these are just opinions/ideas based on some experience, learning and person feelings. I am glad of course if anything I offer is of use.

I do believe that with all feedback that the more you can get the better, especially when you release a product. If a multitude of people say the same things then you can perhaps rely on that feedback more so, when it is only the words of one or two people you have to also consider their own person bias towards preferences and tastes.