This is a FREE game prototype.
Does not include JRE and therefore requires Java to run. (download java)
Controls:
- Game is played with Left Mouse Button / Touch only.
- Extra controls are:
- Left/Right Arrow to switch between Levels.
- R to restart the current Level.
The original thought-exercise was to create a gameplay that is:
- "as primitive as possible"
- relaxing (screensaver-based)
- involving circles as main/only actors
- puzzle-like (where player manipulates the environment/level instead of an avatar).
This led to version 0.1 (weekend#1):
- In default, only circles floating around. ("relaxing screensaver", no "avatar")
- Goal is to merge all circles of the same color.
- The puzzle part comes from intrinsic values and relations between colors.
- The player may affect the size and speed of the circles, however direct interaction must remain minimal. (1. to keep the looks and feeling of a relaxing screensaver; 2. to keep the "puzzle-like" feel)
In other words, the game was meant to be a relaxing experience, playable by people of all ages, where the basic description would be "there are floating circles, and you can easily touch them to make them smaller/bigger and faster/slower".
After some testing, the game was upgraded to the current version (0.2) (weekend#2):
- Speeds and sizes were changed drastically, as it became very clear that the game easily becomes a "billiard" instead of a puzzle.
- To raise interactivity, the player is allowed to place his own "player-circle" to affect the environment directly. However this ability is (and must remain) limited (not to become an "avatar").
- Trajectory-projection was added because no matter the speeds and sizes (= difficulty), the game will always be about if, where, and when will two specific circles meet (and what will be the result).
- Basic obstacles were added to illustrate the main gameplay-concept in a combination with classic puzzle-game features (walls, doors and movable walls). The combination ensures that there will always be "new possible original levels" to create (= allows publishing levels continuously).
Certain collisions in Box2D engine are performance-heavy. These collisions become heavier because of the way the 'constant' circle speed is being kept in the game (which they keep despite the collisions being resolved by a physics engine that is trying to make them act accordingly to newtonian physics).
This may become very noticable (the game staggers) when many of these collisions are being simulated to draw trajectories.
Most of these specific collisions are already being detected (and disabled for simulation), however some are still not (eg. collisions in right-angle corners).
Possible solutions (except for "simulate trajectories imperfectly"):
a) Detect and disable simulation of the remaining "performance heavy" collisions.
b) Find or write a different physics engine.
Follow-up edit: The gameplay requires non-newtonian physics, therefore any used engine may be used only for detecting collisions etc. without letting the physics engine to resolve them at all (the resolutions must be custom-made). See the next version for more.
