redesigning my favorite flash game

In an effort to keep my brain from leaking out my ears any more than it already does on a daily basis I’ve decided to take some proactive… err, action towards building my game development/programming/design skills.
Enter the best flash game of all time, Curveball: http://www.curveball-game.com/
Curveball was one of those games that got me through my Senior Year (aside from WoW, which I couldn’t exactly play in class.)  The goal is simple, engage in a game of 3d pong against a computer opponent who grows faster with each round.  The twist is that if the paddle is moving when it connects with the ball, the path of the ball will warp like you’d expect a real object to.  (think four-square or pool)  Points are scored for the amount of curve applied to the ball, the accuracy of your hit, and for getting it past the computer’s paddle.
This is the first problem with the game.  It would be possible to stay on level one and get an endless amount of points for curving the ball at slow speeds.  I think there should be an exponentially increasing point cap to the level to combat this.  For example on level one you can either get it past the computer’s paddle three times or gain 1500 points to move to level two.
Problem two:  The high score board.  eet does nothing!
Problem three:  while I can certainly appreciate the “Tron” aesthetic, in an effort to showcase my uber UI design abilities, I’ll be updating the look a little bit.
First and foremost however, I need to get a working game.  Here are my steps:
1. Player paddle movement
2. Ball movement (straight lines)
3. NPC paddle movement
4. Ball physics implementation (curves, increasing velocity, friction?)
5. Scoring
6. Level gating (3 rounds or X number of points to advance)
7. increasing “intelligence” of NPC paddle movement (faster reaction time to ball position changes.)
8. Central scoreboard
9. Art/UI update
10. Evaluation
I’ll post updates with the current build of the game as I progress.

In an effort to keep my brain from leaking out my ears any more than it already does  I’ve decided to take some proactive… err, action towards building my game development/programming/design skills.

Enter the best flash game of all time, Curveball: http://www.curveball-game.com/

Curveball was one of those games that got me through my Senior Year (aside from WoW, which I couldn’t exactly play in class.)  The goal is simple, engage in a game of 3d pong against a computer opponent who grows faster with each round.  The twist is that if the paddle is moving when it connects with the ball, the path of the ball will warp like you’d expect a real object to.  (think four-square or pool)  Points are scored for the amount of curve applied to the ball, the accuracy of your hit, and for getting it past the computer’s paddle.

This is the first problem with the game. It would be possible to stay on level one and get an endless amount of points for curving the ball at slow speeds.  I think there should be an exponentially increasing point cap to the level.  For example on level one you can either get the ball past the computer’s paddle three times or gain 1500 points to move to level two.

Problem two: zee scoreboard, eet does nothing!

Problem three: while I can certainly appreciate the “Tron” aesthetic, in an effort to showcase my uber UI design abilities, I’ll be updating the look a little bit.

First and foremost however, I need to get a working game.  Here are my steps:

1. Player paddle movement

2. Ball movement (straight lines)

3. NPC paddle movement

4. Ball physics implementation (curves, increasing velocity, friction?)

5. Scoring

6. Level gating (3 rounds or X number of points to advance)

7. increasing “intelligence” of NPC paddle movement (faster reaction time to ball position changes.)

8. Central scoreboard

9. Art/UI update

10. Evaluation

I’ll post updates with a current build of the game as I progress.  I’d welcome all your comments along the way.

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This entry was posted on: December 14, 2009 under: Interaction Design, programming, User Experience

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