I'm making a ping-pong game.

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20 Feb 2006, 03:22 PM
Cheebs

I'm making a ping-pong game.

Right now the game is about 50% done. A band I work for wants it for their web page. It is currently Shockwave (since I don't know Flash) so you need the free Shockwave download to play it. The hope is that once I am done the game, I will learn Flash and move it over to that. The game window is forced to be very tiny to fit on their web page.

Anyway, the basic deal is you play against the band members in ping-pong. Josh is a basic game with no fancy rules or moves, Jamie is easy then it goes in increasing difficulty order: Shawn, Derek, Tyler.

For the user controls:
to simply bounce the ball back you just line the racket up with the ball using the mouse. Hit the racket center to bounce straight forward, left for left right for right.

To slam the ball have the mouse button held down when the ball hits the racket. This takes away from the opponent's energy bar

To spin the ball jerk the mouse hard right or left a split second after the ball hits the racket. This also takes away from the opponent's energy bar.

The lower the opponent's energy bar the greater chance they will hit the ball off the table.

The graphics are all totally random right now and will be compleatly replaced with band-related graphics.

So... what I'm looking for: Does the controll work well enough? Does it run smoothly enough (or at all) on older computers? What needs to be more forgiving, What needs to be harsher? Do the ball physics need tweeking? Is the "Josh" game simple enough? Is the "Jamie" game easy enough? Is the "Tyler" game hard enough? etc.

Soooo... Go here to play:
http://www.fluffypotato.com/omnipong.htm
and thanks for any feedback.
20 Feb 2006, 03:46 PM
Sqoon

Controls fine, but the game's difficult even at the Josh level.
20 Feb 2006, 03:49 PM
Yoshi

Agreed. I was up 3-0 and lost 21-5. I blame Grimlock for intimidating me.
20 Feb 2006, 03:59 PM
Cheebs

Hmmm... Josh too hard....
What about Jamie? He should be easier than Josh since you have your power shot and spin shot available against him.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yoshi

Agreed. I was up 3-0 and lost 21-5. I blame Grimlock for intimidating me.

Grimlock and company are actually huge ping pong fans. You always see them in the bleachers durring matches on ESPN3.
20 Feb 2006, 04:08 PM
Sqoon

The thing is that this is too much like ping-pong (so realy, kudos on getting the feel and physics down). It's hard to predict where the ball's going and it's going all over the place - to the side, high and low - and I'm definitely not fast enough or prepared to be whipping the paddle all over the screen.
20 Feb 2006, 04:12 PM
Frogacuda

It's too hard to follow, and too hard to judge how close the ball is. Bigger paddle, please.
20 Feb 2006, 04:16 PM
elfneedsfood

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sqoon

It's hard to predict where the ball's going and it's going all over the place - to the side, high and low - and I'm definitely not fast enough or prepared to be whipping the paddle all over the screen.

Yeah, the game is hard as hell. Jamie beat me 21-10.

edit: I just lost to that bastard Jamie 21-20. The game is still hard as hell.
20 Feb 2006, 04:26 PM
Cheebs

Cool. This is what I need to hear. I've been play-testing so damn much (I can beat Tyler half the time) I've lost all perspective of what's entry-level easy.
20 Feb 2006, 04:31 PM
Finch

I don't think Jamie's that hard. It took me a while, but i beat him. Once you get the power shot down, it's easy. My biggest problem is the ball keeps flying out to nowhere. Maybe make the table bigger or make it so the ball goes towards the table more? I don't know how else to say it.
20 Feb 2006, 04:35 PM
voltz

I think I'm an expert at missing the table. :(
20 Feb 2006, 05:40 PM
Giga Power

Same here.
20 Feb 2006, 05:48 PM
Cheebs

Quote:

Originally Posted by Finch

I don't think Jamie's that hard. It took me a while, but i beat him. Once you get the power shot down, it's easy. My biggest problem is the ball keeps flying out to nowhere. Maybe make the table bigger or make it so the ball goes towards the table more? I don't know how else to say it.

I programmed it so that when you're attempting a power shot, you need to hit dead center (more or less) on the racket or the ball will go flying off. It's the "penalty" for the power shot so the user just can't powershoot all day without thinking about it.

One more thing: How many of you are playing with a mouse and how many of you are playing with a laptop touchpad/nub?

If enough people play the game without a mouse, I may have to program a "laptop friendly" version. As it stands it's a bitch to get any accuracy out of the game using a touchpad/nub.
20 Feb 2006, 05:49 PM
Yoshi

Mouse here
20 Feb 2006, 05:52 PM
Cowutopia

For entry level easy you should probably reference Tennis on the NES.

Assume the user is shitarded.

Anyway I think a teensy bit of the problem in predicting ball path is of course that you can't see how the opponent is moving the paddle really. You don't know if it'll have spin or power or even a lob coming off the paddle. But I understand the limitations here...let me play it much much more to see how much that matters later.

HOW do you execute a lob?
22 Feb 2006, 03:25 AM
Cheebs

I just added animation to show what shot is on the way. Yes, that's me.

But I've been sick as hell and can't think right now, so no actual gameplay changes are in...aside from an opponent spin shot I added.
22 Feb 2006, 03:31 AM
Eirikur

I don't like how if the computer ends up hitting the ball off the table, it counts as a miss against me :( Otherwise, it's fine. It's tough, but you just gotta play it a few times.
22 Feb 2006, 03:44 AM
Cheebs

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eirikur

I don't like how if the computer ends up hitting the ball off the table, it counts as a miss against me :( Otherwise, it's fine. It's tough, but you just gotta play it a few times.

Hmmm... I didn't realize that was happening. Right now nomatter who scores the MISS! sign comes up. Is that what you mean? Or do you mean it's awarding points to the CPU that you should get?

Let me correct it right now so it says something different when you get points....
22 Feb 2006, 07:28 AM
Cheebs

A few things have become apparent to me. Let me know if you agree.

I like the current "Tyler" as the hardest level. I might even bump it up a bit harder. With this in mind, there's no way I can smoothly ramp up the difficulty with only 5 different levels. Maybe make it 15 levels with the 5 players repeating through local, national, and world leagues? Kinda' like how you fight a few guys more than once in Tyson's Punchout.

I need ways to make this game easier. Right now I have control over the frequency of lobs, slams, and spins the opponent throws at you. I also have control over the opponent's accuracy to hit the table. Toning the frequency of lobs, slams, and spins way down (Jamie) doesn't seem to get the job done for making it easy enough. Giving the CPU horrible accuracy makes the game boring if it keeps missing the table. I need new ways to make it easier.

Other ways to make it easier: Slow the ball down, find a way to control opponent shot placement to force the shots more towards the center, greater dammage to stamina bar, greater effect of stamina draining, bigger player racket....anything else?

Should I change the way the ball bounces off of the player's racket? Is it just plain too hard to hit the table? Oh! or..... taking a page from Sega's Ferrari game I could have a "behind the scenes" assist going on as far as player aim goes. At least on the easy levels. The assist could then be removed at the harder levels...
22 Feb 2006, 03:41 PM
Cheebs

A bit of a big change... I added the "Local" (easy) league to the game. Could y'all give it a go (ignore Josh for now) and let me know if it needs to be easier still. It's pretty easy right now...

http://www.fluffypotato.com/omnipong.htm
22 Feb 2006, 03:55 PM
Diff-chan

I tried this, and it reminded me of that 3D Pong that was all the rage a few years back... except really bad. Its really hard to hit the table and you cant see where the guy is aiming the ball based on the graphics. Keep plugging away, Ill try it later.
22 Feb 2006, 04:23 PM
Frogacuda

MAJOR improvement on the new version. Much more enjoyable now. Diffx is right that it would be nice if you could see your opponent lining up his shot, though.