Trillion Ball - GameCreators Forum

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MMM

15

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Joined: 21st Jan 2009

Location: NSW, Australia

Posted: 13th Nov 2010 12:01 Edited at: 15th Nov 2010 03:53

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The Game:

Trillion Ball won the Intel AppUp Elements 24hr Coding Challenge a few months ago. It's basically financing all my personal AppUp stuff outside the company now. I've spent the past two weeks making a V2 of the game firstly because it deserves it and second because the original version didn't work too well. This new version will replace the one currently on AppUp.

WTF is a Trillion?!

A trademark I've registered. Trillions are little creatures who run around inside our computers and generally make things happen. In this game, they fight each other to the death. They will do other odd things in future games.

Current Features:

- 2 playable characters
- 3 single-player modes
- Local multiplayer (single keyboard, great fun)
- Persistent Online Score system
- All original art

Planned Features:

- Drop-In/Out gameplay
- Facebook score updates (this'll make more sense when you play it)
- Online Multiplayer (I'm loathe to put the time into this - but it is doable)
- All original soundscape
- there are no plans for player profiles or custom characters (though you could easily do the second with some basic modding)

Soon to come:

I'm making this thread to deal with motivation issues. This is a cool game - it's just really small for all the work that has gone into it. If I end up doing all the planned features, it'll take me another month. There is one last animation glitch I need to solve before I post a demo (only found it while writing this) so I'll do that in the next couple of hours.

Trillion Ball Demo | Trillion Art

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MMM

15

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Joined: 21st Jan 2009

Location: NSW, Australia

Posted: 13th Nov 2010 17:59 Edited at: 15th Nov 2010 03:53

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The animation problem is now fixed. Find the demo attached.

I'd really like to get some general feedback on this game. How do you like it? Some massive issue you hate about it? I'm at the stage where adding new features is a real possibility - so blast away!

Also, the game uses a dynamic font and 2D interface system so it will run on any resolution screen. It'd be REALLY wonderful to get some general screenshots of the main game screen from different computers - just to see if anything is messy. For example, the 'arrows' look a bit weird on my netbook.

We might also be doing a few trillion T-shirts for merchandise alongside the release if anyone is interested. T-shirts all around!

Trillion Ball Demo | Trillion Art

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Eminent

14

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Joined: 15th Jul 2010

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Posted: 13th Nov 2010 18:16 Edited at: 13th Nov 2010 18:21

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Looks cool. You trademarked Trillion? Lol. Dling the demo right now.
EDIT: Er.... Instructions?

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bergice

17

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Joined: 5th Jun 2007

Location: Oslo,Norway

Posted: 13th Nov 2010 18:22

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Nice, i was a bit confused at the beginning, but then i noticed that the other ai died after i jumped on him a few times. Pretty fun to keep jumping on him and watch the blood splatter

The volume was pretty high when i first started it. Got a bit of a surprise.

Some text info in the game would help.

51fa1db0ec7c4af52d93a6f5d0e86bc5

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MMM

15

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Joined: 21st Jan 2009

Location: NSW, Australia

Posted: 15th Nov 2010 03:44 Edited at: 15th Nov 2010 04:02

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700 plays in 3 days??!

Thanks for the feedback guys. I gave this out to a few of my local friends as well, so maybe that explains the massive numbers. Did you guys onlly use single-player modes? How hard was the game?

@bergice: I'll have to look more closely at the volume. Generally I'll run everything at around 100% for top quality... But I know that's risky. The final version should have all-original sounds too.

As for in-game text - I take it you did eventually figure out how to play? I was hoping to convey 'meaning' and 'instruction' through icons, symbols and sound. Sort of like Machinarium - it's not immediately accessible but you get it pretty quick and once you do, you're one of the informed few.

I'm working on online multiplayer and some animation stuff right now so in the mean time, here is my design document. NOT my finest hour.

Also: it's the device itself (the 5x5 character design) that is trademarked, not the word 'trillion', but hey, I do what I can.

Trillion Ball Demo | Trillion Art

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kamac

13

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Joined: 30th Nov 2010

Location: Poland

Posted: 21st Dec 2010 15:29

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Erm, maybe that's dumb question, but how did you trademark 5x5 character design? I think it cannot be trademarked, because ... 5x5 design can make anyone, i mean there were people before you who made it. I've see that design on some flash games site before.

Cheers!

~Kamac

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Dr Tank

15

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Joined: 1st Apr 2009

Location: Southampton, UK

Posted: 22nd Dec 2010 02:37

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This is really nice. The design is really clean and pleasing, and what to do was intuitive despite being so minimal. Has character too. The game mechanics were nice and solid, but the game is pretty limited. If you want to add new features, more complicated arenas with extra platforms would be cool. Also maybe powerups.

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MMM

15

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Joined: 21st Jan 2009

Location: NSW, Australia

Posted: 27th Dec 2010 11:56

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So a minor update...

I landed a rather large contract for my studio a few weeks ago so progress on Trillion Ball has been predictably slow. I'm kind of stuck with online play too - I've been experementing and am still in two minds over whether it's worth it. Still not sure. It's eating up my dev time.

@Dr Tank, thanks for the nice review - I'm currently looking into the idea of more complex fighting arenas with platforms and whatnot. So I hope I can give you what you want there. I'm also looking into ability to stick to walls - it'd be cool to see players scrambling up to the ceiling to drop down on their opponent.

@kamac: it's a vicious world out there.

Trillion Ball Demo | Trillion Art

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The Slayer

Forum Vice President

15

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Joined: 9th Nov 2009

Playing: (Hide and) Seek and Destroy on my guitar!

Posted: 3rd Jan 2011 15:07

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Cool game, MMM! It's very simplistic in terms of graphics, but that gives it character. The sounds are oldschool too, but I like it. Kinda reminds me of the earlier Commodore games. Heheheh. Some ingame music would be nice too.
And, more variation in gameplay. Like platform (also moving ones) levels, level bosses, power ups, maybe even some time challenges?
The ability to stick to walls would be great too.

What would really be cool, is to mold your own Trillion (how they look, and their abilities), but since a Trillion is only 5x5, you don't have much room for variation.

Well done!

Cheers

SLAYER RULES! YEAH, MAN!!

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MMM

15

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Joined: 21st Jan 2009

Location: NSW, Australia

Posted: 6th Jan 2011 22:05

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Thanks Slayer! I've made a few graphical updates since the demo but again, not much more progress besides sticking to walls. With Trillion customisation, I have built a system where you can model a larger 15x15 sprite on top of a 5x5 Trillion scaffold (which can also be modified to suit). This way you could, say, give your trillion an afro haircut without affecting its collision data...

It's cool, but not at all stable yet.

Was also thinking about in-game music. See the Game Creators' Quartet game for my thoughts on that. It's on the Apple App Store. Subtle but tense and 8bit.

Trillion Ball Demo | Trillion Art

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Work in Progress / Trillion Ball

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