monkey ball - beta

[cilmaviel]

i've been working on a version of monkey ball and its at a beta stage i thought i would post it and get some feedback before i get too much further. since the graphics are limited be the device and language it's just a top down, i am paying around with isometric views and pre-rendered 3d for future levels. for now it only has 3 levels but they are designed so that more levels can be added without editing the main file so each level has its own art (not polished yet) and program file. continue and high scores are not implemented yet either. i am planing to make a few tutorials on how to make levels for it after the first official version is done, the first 3 levels should be enough for templates if anyone wants to add levels.

latest version: 1.6 BETA (still calling it beta because it only has a few levels and i have to add more sound effects)

known issues:
crashes similar to pong - (it has not crashed for me but it still might)
needs to be fine tuned ... ball speed and a few graphics
backlight turns off

fixed/added in 1.6:
now works with firmware 1.12
better performance
refined code for creating levels
now has 10 levels

[CrowdAds]

[RobertsAccount]

This is amazing! I can't wait to start making my own levels for this..

[Diddykong13]

Thats Awesome :P I can see there being a lot of levels for this one once it's open to everyone to create!

[Habhome]

Awesome game! I can see how this will be popular soon enough. A few bugs though:
1. My accelerometer suddenly stopped responding and the ball constantly went south no matter what I did.
2. The high Score and Continue doesn't seem to be working, are they activated yet? (EDIT: Reread first post, you mention it there, my apologies)
3. On the third level it is impossible to get the banana to your left, you lose before you reach it, and you're even right on it like the others but don't get it.

Looking forward to perhaps make my own levels to this. Would be nice with a few more decorative items and obstacles other than the palm tree. Perhaps a wine going over the court with tiny holes in it so you can barely see the ball at all and have to track its movement in your mind more. And maybe just decorations like rocks or straw.

[ssdw]

This is the best game of the zen x-fi 2!!!!

[RobertsAccount]

I just showed this game to some of my friends, they thought it was fantastic! They failed at level three though

[Les23]

very nice game

[bzdbbb]

Amazing, so glad someone made something like this. It might be a good (but hard) plan to have the background and level separate, with the level as a png with transparency. Then calculate the whether the ball is still on the map by checking against that..

It would be hard to do but it would make level creation really easy and fun

[Habhome]

Originally Posted by bzdbbb

Amazing, so glad someone made something like this. It might be a good (but hard) plan to have the background and level separate, with the level as a png with transparency. Then calculate the whether the ball is still on the map by checking against that..

It would be hard to do but it would make level creation really easy and fun

I have made a game in JAVA which works according to a similar method, if there is a command for getting the color of a specific pixel in an image then it shouldn't pose much of a problem I believe.

[cilmaviel]

My accelerometer suddenly stopped responding and the ball constantly went south no matter what I did.

i'll add this to the list of bugs to look into, i haven't encountered this yet.

On the third level it is impossible to get the banana to your left, you lose before you reach it, and you're even right on it like the others but don't get it.

i think what you are referring to is the score, it is in the way and looks like a collectible banana, the score can be moved around for different levels so it isn't in the way, i was also going to put some kind of graphic behind it so more don't make the same mistake.

It might be a good (but hard) plan to have the background and level separate, with the level as a png with transparency. Then calculate the whether the ball is still on the map by checking against that..

you can get the rgb numbers from a color but only if it is defined, but i don't think there is one for retrieving the color of a pixel that is on the screen. i know what you mean about making levels easier, i am trying to add as many functions to the main program as i can so that there isn't as much "real programing" as there would be, all you have to do really is define the areas. i think with a few tutorials most people would be able to make levels. all the game really does is check to see if you are in a certain region and then do something, all the level maker has to do in the programing is tell it where the those regions are (it's more tedious then hard), beyond that the game is 90% photoshop. and i'm glad you guys like so far.

[Zeniwan]

Sorry for my bad english.
If this application in the simulator I play I get this error:

Lua Run: c:\Creative\ZEN X-Fi2\Applications\MONKEY~1\main.lua
Lua Run: Open lib
c:\Creative\ZEN X-Fi2\Applications\MONKEY~1\main.lua:21: attempt to call field 'set_senddatatype' (a nil value)
Lua Run Error : attempt to call field 'set_senddatatype' (a nil value)

[cilmaviel]

if the game is ran under the simulator it will show that error because the sim does not have the same functions as the device (it also does not have an accelerometer) so the game only really works on the x-fi2. if you want to test it in the sim you can comment out the line "accelerometer.set_senddatatype("all")" in "main.lua" but the ball will be out of control (you have to uncomment the line before you install it on your zen).

also since the sim does not have the same functions (nor does the api have the same ones), they might be changing the a couple of the functions in the next firmware. if they are changed any game that uses the accelerometer will need an update so it does not crash.

[fzbm123]

I got some suggestion for this game:

1. i think tat u should try to add some modern sound effects to lighten up the game. The graphics of the game is indeed good (though theres still room for improvement) but the game is a bit dead (no offence intended ) without sound effects. Try to make the modern sound effects play as frequently as possible wen playin the game to further lighten up the game. And for those hu may get annoyed by the sound, u could make an option for us to turn it on or off

2. Another suggestion would be make the ball look like its in motion while moving around. Currently, the ball is jus stayin still while being moved around

THX!

[eternaltool]

my player simply crashes and switches off at level 2!

[cilmaviel]

sound effects are on the list of things i plan to add.

it sometimes crashes whether you are playing music or not, much like pong does (this happens on my player with just about any game). i found that if you start the player in recovery mode and choose "reboot" (be VERY careful NOT to reformat your player) then the crashing issue goes away for at least one play through the game. has anyone found a way to fix the crashing without a reboot yet?

[Habhome]

Played through the game a few times now, and I get more and more control of the ball and can move fairly quickly. Still feels like the accelerometer doesn't quite respond though and the ball goes straight even though I tilt the player slightly.

On account for the crashes, I have no clue. No apps crash for me ever unless there is an error in the coding it seems. Except for Boink which crashed after a while.

[Les23]

i don't know if it's possible... a sort of fall of the ball when you loose would be awesome, maybe a short sequence of the same image that get smaller and smaller

i can't wait for custom levels :O thanks

[Habhome]

Originally Posted by Les23

i don't know if it's possible... a sort of fall of the ball when you loose would be awesome, maybe a short sequence of the same image that get smaller and smaller

That reminded me of something I wanted to point out. The text when it is paned towards you leaves a trace behind, making the numbers hard to really see correctly. Is it intentional? And if it is, could it be made better?

[cilmaviel]

the way i evened out the jittering of the ball, i took the last 16 pieces of data from the accelerometer and average them out so the movement is smoother, this also adds some inertia so you have to counteract it a little, this may be the unresponsiveness you are talking about.

animations for falling, beginning and ending a level are already on the list of things i have to add. the number animations, i plan to fix so it only shows one number at a time. they are meant to show the ones behind them though, for a kind of 3d effect (anyone know how to make text bold? this would help to fix it).

thanks for all the feedback, if people think it's better a certain way then i'll change it so it's a better fit with the game.

[Habhome]

Originally Posted by cilmaviel

the way i evened out the jittering of the ball, i took the last 16 pieces of data from the accelerometer and average them out so the movement is smoother, this also adds some inertia so you have to counteract it a little, this may be the unresponsiveness you are talking about.

I suspected you did something like that, and that is working fine. What I am talking about is that even though I have a constant tilt of the player towards me the ball goes straight to one side for the entire screen's length.

EDIT: Did some more testing. It seems that I have to keep the player tilted a few degrees towards me to keep the ball still. If it is entirely level it goes north. Is this on purpose so you won't have to look straight down?

And one more thing, I think I saw someone make a code fragment allowing for accelerometer calibration so you could set "level" as 90 degrees from the regular "level", or anyway you liked. Might be a good thing to implement in this app so you could play it while lying down or whatever.