Popping Bubbles by Fififox

[raw]
made by Fififox for LD27 (COMPO)
This is an action game where you have to stop bubbles from popping! :)
Have fun!

# Context #
I made this in a few hours before the dealine because other things (you know, life and stuff) prevented me from fully participating, but I'm quite happy with what I made!

# Instructions #
Tap the bubbles to slow down their growth, you get points every 10 seconds depending on how many bubbles you managed to keep! (the more, the better)

# Notes #
Multi-touch support has been implemented post-compo, so take that into account when rating. Thanks a lot to Udrian (http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-27/?action=preview&uid=18950) for testing multi-touch!

Ratings

Coolness 71% 3
Overall 2.67 915
Audio 2.28 698
Fun 2.57 842
Graphics 2.56 763
Humor 1.63 896
Innovation 2.88 612
Mood 2.28 885
Theme 2.98 726

Feedback

31eee384
26. Aug 2013 · 03:34 UTC
Cool game, although from what I could tell there doesn't seem to be much depth. (This makes sense, given the amount of time you had.) My strategy was to find the two bubbles that would pop last and click on one of them. It would be cool on multitouch devices, I think, especially if there was more to it. Anyway, very creative use of the theme!
Steve
26. Aug 2013 · 03:51 UTC
Not sure what to do exactly? Sometimes I get points (rarely), but I don't really know how it's happening.
=/
matthias_zarzecki
26. Aug 2013 · 07:54 UTC
Neat. Simple, efficient. I like it :)
cardboard
27. Aug 2013 · 02:43 UTC
Pretty nice, given how long it took you to make it. This would be better on a multitouch-capable device, but it was still enjoyable with a mouse. The graphics are sleek and the sound effects are perfect. My best score was 176 seconds and 42 points.
pbdiode
27. Aug 2013 · 15:52 UTC
Good concept -- would have been nice to have a big visible count-down timer maybe. It might also be good to explain the mechanic a little clearer, with some experimentation, I think I figured it out pretty good, but it would be nice to have a confirmation!

Fun game play though, definitely some potential there!
PTSnoop
27. Aug 2013 · 21:53 UTC
Nice simple concept. I agree with 31eee314 - multitouch support would be very neat. Although I disagree with pbdiode - to me, the countdown timer looked big enough, and the instructions in the description are clear enough already.

Just one thing - the game difficulty seemed dependent on the aspect ratio. I started out in a vaguely-square window and found the game very difficult, but then switched fullscreen 1920x1080 seemed much easier. I did a bit more research and found that I can drag my window into a long thin horizontal rectangle, and make the circles spawn so far apart that they'll never touch each other. But if I drag the window into a tall thin vertical rectangle, I don't have a hope. Just something to think about!
Typedeaf
29. Aug 2013 · 08:15 UTC
Cool concept, how ever, it lacks a little bit of depth and it would do great on multitouch! Now the best choice is basically just take one and hold it down as long as possible.
🎤 Fififox
29. Aug 2013 · 11:21 UTC
Thanks everyone for the nice comments and suggestions!
The game has been updated post-compo with multi-touch support! :)
Have fun!
Spotline
29. Aug 2013 · 13:43 UTC
Very nice and polished :)
LegacyCrono
29. Aug 2013 · 13:56 UTC
Nice simple game, it's great for playing on breaks. Pretty hard to play with a mouse, but sounds like it could be very fun on a tablet!
Mironix
29. Aug 2013 · 14:35 UTC
oh i would love having my leap motion already :) good idea dear sir. very hard.
domrein
29. Aug 2013 · 14:46 UTC
I need multiple mice to simulate multiple fingers. Also, could you post a QR code in the screenshots to make it easier to load it up on mobile?
Ciaran54
29. Aug 2013 · 15:19 UTC
Interesting concept, but it did get kind of repetitive... For only a few hours though, not a bad attempt ;)
🎤 Fififox
29. Aug 2013 · 18:01 UTC
You can play the game on desktop, but it's a different experience from the tablet version, since the desktop version is more about finding the last bubble and slowing it down rather than the action-packed "slow down all the bubbles" game it is on tablet.
The funny thing is that I don't own a tablet myself! :D

Regarding the repetitiveness, it comes from my lack of time to implement any kind of difficulty change between rounds, as Ciaran54 guessed, so it's pretty much only based on the randomness of the bubble distribution.

I am pondering over making a full-blown post-compo version, so if you have more suggestions, please tell me! :)

Thanks for playing everyone!
Andrew Shouldice
29. Aug 2013 · 21:54 UTC
This is a great idea. Excellent candidate for a post-compo expansion. iOS app store!
ellipticaldoor
29. Aug 2013 · 22:41 UTC
Really good and fun concept!
skywing
29. Aug 2013 · 22:42 UTC
Pretty tough, but interesting too.
someone
29. Aug 2013 · 22:45 UTC
Kept freezing for me (firefox 20.0, linux 64bit) which made it unplayable unfortunately.
Cool idea though. I don't have a tablet.
🎤 Fififox
29. Aug 2013 · 23:46 UTC
Thanks for the feedback Andrew, I might do that for the upcoming October Challenge!

Thanks for the kind words everyone.

Regarding the freezes, I work with Chromium on Linux 64bit, but since I only use standard APIs, the game should work in Firefox too. It's probably just a matter of hardware-acceleration (which is lacking a bit on Firefox for Linux, from what I've experienced).
Arrow-x
30. Aug 2013 · 15:06 UTC
polished game need to be a bit clearer (Instructions)
ashdnazg
30. Aug 2013 · 17:39 UTC
Very original and very hard!
iterative deepening
30. Aug 2013 · 18:58 UTC
In the long run the game is a bit repetitive, but that's a nice entry for just a few hours, and the tablet is a great idea.
Morusque
31. Aug 2013 · 17:54 UTC
Wo ! I love the concept. I'm playing the windows version so the timings seem a bit unbalanced to me (it's supposed to allow multitouch, right ?) but I can imagine how it feels to play on a tablet.
voidstar69
31. Aug 2013 · 20:41 UTC
The original version did not seem to work on iPad, but the post-compo version works a charm. The multitouch support is great.
Vile Smile
01. Sep 2013 · 01:03 UTC
I really like the idea. Very unique.
panurge
02. Sep 2013 · 09:45 UTC
Plays perfectly on my ipad. I loved the idea and the dexterity-testing gameplay. Really nice clean look too. Great fun!
🎤 Fififox
08. Sep 2013 · 20:57 UTC
Those comments make me sooo happy! :)
commanderstitch
14. Sep 2013 · 15:37 UTC
had a hard time stopping more thna one bubble from popping at a time.