RSKGames returns with his thoughts on recent games.

You can Play Shoebox of Games here, which are all Mouse/Touch controlled games, which run 100% in the browser.
Or you can Play Browsercade here, which are all Keyboard/Gamepad controlled games, for a more Arcade-like experience, but which also run in your browser.

@RSKGames

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Yeah, I'm having to really work hard on the logos for the games. They need to be readable when a tiny banner of the arcade cabinet, but also nice and crisp, and not "too" pixelly, when scaled up to form the logo of each titlescreen.
It seems that having an outline on the fonts helps quite a bit.





Oh yeah, Pogo the Fridge! Man, I'd forgotten about that one.
I'll add it to my "redux" list!
I'm really hoping to make some brand-new classics in the Browsercade, too.
... But I can't help but feel there's a lot of AGameAWeek classics that REALLY deserve to be remade, first!



Indeed. And as you replay the levels over and over, you should find yourself getting a feel for the layout, and when you do or don't need to throw a ball.
I know it's really basic and linear, but it's still fun, right?!






Wow, really!?
Blimey!
I feel you deserve some kind of award for avoiding them for so long!



I think I might've ramped up the difficulty more than I intended!
A few weeks ago I made a version on Petit Switch, and the feel of this one replicates that edition more than it does the original.

Perhaps it does deserve a slower mode, though?
*shrugs*

The game does lack the "Falling Clusters", though.
I wasn't sure how they should react within the "world".. Should they fall onto the "floor", would they need reflected, would they bounce, or should they fall off the screen entirely?!
That teensy little thought had me back&forth'ing for quite a while, until I inevitably decided to just make them disappear!



You should also find that it's much easier to land a really awkward piece, in this version. The landing mechanic is MUCH more forgiving, here, with it always landing if the colours match, and only randomly landing if they don't.
This does occasionally end up with you flailing through the air with the hex not landing at all, but for the most part it's (hopefully) a much fairer balance than it was before.



Yeah, this is definitely something I'll have to try to stick to in future.
The "Player icon spins when it's their turn" is also something I need to go back and add to some of the previous games.
It made the player's turn really blindingly obvious, once I added it, so it's definitely going to become a staple.





Yet again, less the AI struggling to play, and more me struggling with making a decent AI!
One week I'm going to have to take some time off from making new games, and instead take some time to rejig a whole lot of these dodgy AI players!



It does?!!! Hmmm...



Yes, it's a completely different vibe.
Everything is putted, and it should hopefully be giving a "tiny little board game" vibe, more than a proper golf game.
When creating it, I wasn't thinking "Thwackity", and was instead imagining a set of little square board-game pieces, a marble as the ball, and a tiny snooker-cue like stick to play with.

It fits in with the whole "Shoebox" aesthetic, and I could imagine a semi-working physical game existing in the real world with the little spring bumpers and a hole, laid out in little square playing pieces that you could shuffle around to make each course.

Hopefully that comes across.
I'm not sure about the water doing that big splash, though! That's totally unrealistic!!




The little sloping grass caused one rather odd quirk.
Originally, the ball was going to "always" roll on the slopes, but quite often the course generator would end up making places the ball wouldn't ever stop rolling, resulting in the game becoming completely unplayable.

In the end, I opted to allow the ball to roll to a stop on a slope.
It doesn't make a lot of sense, but it does make the engine work better!!

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Thanks for all the feedback, RSKGames!
And if YOU would like to send some feedback, and maybe get a mention in the blog, then... simply send some feedback!

Feedback is King!

You can Play Shoebox of Games here, which are all Mouse/Touch controlled games, which run 100% in the browser.
Or you can Play Browsercade here, which are all Keyboard/Gamepad controlled games, for a more Arcade-like experience, but which also run in your browser.