power-ups – Gameplay Coder

Added Paddle Buff Items

Hey.

Got the last two items added today!

Paddle Buff: Represented by the blue gem, this item will extend the length of your paddle. This makes it easier for you to hit the ball. However, this effect is only temporary, because it only lasts for so many ball hits.

Paddle Nerf: This “item” you might wanna watch out and avoid. Masquerading as the magenta gem, it reduces the size of your paddle, making it harder to hit balls! But don’t worry; it’s effect is also only temporary. Hopefully, you can last long enough for it to wear off!

But I was thinking, maybe there can be some sort of other benefit while this effect is in active. Since it does create an extra challenge, you will gain bonus points for breaking bricks when your paddle is nerfed. What do you think? Let me know in the comments below!

So that should be it for the items. I don’t plan on adding any more, but if have anything good, let me know, and I’ll consider it.

So next are the oh so important sound effects. Time to give this game some personality!

– C. out.

Six New Effects Added

Hey.

I’ve been busy working on a bunch more effects to add to Brickout, and got the functionality for six more of them in the engine. Without further ado…

Saver

This item is represented by the blue crystal. When you collect it, a bridge of blocks will form underneath you. These bricks can save you by keeping you from losing a ball. But! (there’s always a “but”)… each brick can only be used once, and the bridge only lasts a short time.

Blitz Ball

Powered by the red crystal, this increases the size of your ball, allowing it to pummel straight through blocks! It only lasts a short time though, but you can do some serious damage with this. I can’t wait to polish up this son of a gun later on!

Bonus Points

What would an action game be without having a way to gain some bonus points? The cyan-colored crystal allows you to do just that. When you collect the first one, you earn an additional 500 points. With each successive crystal you earn, you’ll get an additional 500 added onto it. So 500, 1000, 1500, etc. It caps at 5000, and if you lose a life, it starts over at 500. I plan on allowing you to be able gain an extra life when you earn so many points on your score, so there’s an extra incentive to get lots of points!

Color Match

Similar to the Color Blast item, this one, powered by the light-blue crystal, allows yo to clear may bricks at once. However, this gem works a little differently. When collected, it affects the next ball that you hit. When that ball hits a brick, it clears all the bricks on the board of the same color. The effect can only be used once per gem.

Extra Ball (Life)

Another classic feature of most action games is the ability to gain extra lives. I already hinted there will be a way to do so by scoring points, but with this orange crystal, you gain an extra life immediately when you collect it.

New Ball

Last but definitely not least, is this purple gem. When you collect this, it introduces a new ball into play. Now you’ve got zany task of juggling two (or more) balls! If you miss one of them, you won’t lose any lives until you’ve lost all of them. If you’re good at this (as you can see, I suck at this shit), you can clear boards quickly. I might also add extra points functions here too, where the more balls you can juggle, the more points you get.

So that’s it for now. I’m almost done with the items; I have two or three more to add. Once they’re all in, I’ll start working on additional levels, adding sound effects, UI and polish. Takes a lot to make a fully-functional, polished game.

Thanks, and stay tuned!

– C. out.

Bomb Item

Hey.

I finished the items that speed up and slow down the ball speed. Now, I’m working on a “Bomb”.

When the gem is collected, it will place a bomb somewhere on the bricks. It will explode a short while later, clearing blocks within its blast area.

Hmm, while I’m not going to get into too much design details with these games for the blog, but I was thinking of three ways of how to place the bomb:

Placing it randomly in the bricks (least challenging to implement, but this would add a random [and intentionally polarizing] factor into the game; sometimes the bomb would appear where you want it, other times, it may appear where no bricks are, and be totally useless, pissing you off in the process – which would make the bomb that much more satisfying when it’s helpful, I think);
Temporarily suspending the game, and letting the player place the bomb wherever they want (moderate challenge); or
Writing an algorithm that will automatically place the bomb where the most bricks are, so it has the best chance of clearing out the most bricks when it blows up (most challenging to implement, but if I did this, I’d make the bomb gem more rare)

What do you think? Or maybe you have a different idea altogether. I’d love to hear your thoughts. Leave a comment below!

– C. out.

Adding Items to Brickout

Brickout will have some power-up items to make it a little more engaging.

I’ve come up with a way in which the items are created during play. You have to break so many bricks of a certain color to create an item. For example, for to create one item, say you need to break 30 of the green bricks. For another one, you need to break 20 of the blue ones. Something like that. Combine this with the function of bricks descending during play (when they descend, they change color), and it can make some items, especially those which are created by breaking “higher up”-colored bricks, like red or orange, more rare.

When an item is created, it is is shown as a colored orb with an icon inside. For example, one item will look like this:

To collect an item, you would simply move your paddle over it as it falls. All items will fall from the top of the screen, and off the bottom if not collected.

I’m probably got to have about 10 items or so. Stay tuned as I build out basic functionality for each of them.

– C. out.