Flicky Marble is a fiendishly challenging 3d platformer coming soon for iOS and AppleTV. Interested to help beta test? Reply to this thread and PM me your email address with title "Marble."
Flicky Marble has been submitted as an entry to the 2017 Indie Plus contest w/ tons of new content. One feature I've been meaning to add for a while is optional support for anaglyph 3d graphics. If anyone has a pair of red/cyan glasses, feel free to break 'em out and take a look at the preview image below.
Testers Needed! Flicky Marble is progressing nicely - here's an updated trailer showcasing some of the newer content, including a boss battle. Subscribe to the TouchArcade YouTube channel YouTube: video Given the huge number of changes, I'm looking to solicit a fresh round of testers. To be added to test flight, please post to this thread and PM me an email for test flight. I request that any testers please use game center while playing, so that I can view progress and completion times to help balance the gameplay difficulty rampup. Thanks in advance,
I love a good marble game, going way back to Marble Madness. Are you sticking with that music? If so, have you acquired the rights to it? I'd be careful of that if you haven't.
The nostalgictastic backing music in more recent trailer is a remix from Hamster Alliance. The actual game has 5 completely original backing tracks in similar style.
Progress update - video from a new test level showcasing shader improvements and new content. Enjoy! YouTube: video
Been working through some changes to help further differentiate this game by ramping up the focus on boss battles/combat, and lightening the difficulty of the platforming sections. One of my personal gripes with some Marble Madness-inspired games is how delicate and slow the player is. In Flicky Marble, you can move fast - really fast - and turn on a dime. The player is sturdy and will never shatter simply from taking a hard fall or slamming into a wall. That being said, the player isn't completely indestructible - I'm in the process of adding more monsters to battle, including critters like "Mr. Drill" which can shatter the hapless hero into shards if he gets hold of you.
Flicky.. Fish? Been spending a lot of quality time on Flicky Marble, in between having a blast testing Suzy Cube and waiting for the next round of Slam Mania assets to be delivered. Big changes include: - zeroing in on a more distinct (and hopefully more charming) theme. Rather than controlling a marble, the player now controls a fat fish trapped in glass. I don't yet have her helpless post-death flopping animation fully hooked up, but am pleased with how it's shaping up and opening more story possibilities. - have begun adding ornamentation to the levels, including arrows and shiny guard rails. - new dynamic camera, giving broader view of levels - more bosses and hazards! One of the things I love about Mario is that every level always introduces completely new enemies/concepts. I want every level to introduce a fresh and surprising challenge. The game really needs a new/better title - anyone got a fish pun that rolls off the tongue? Game runs best (rock solid 60fps) on iPhone6 or better, but I'm going to be doing a fresh round of profiling/optimizations to improve performance on 5th gen devices. I'm desperately in need of a testers (preferably folk with Game Center accounts), so if there are any TA folk willing to help a brother out, please reply here and/or shoot me a PM - thanks!
Just refreshed beta, with fresh invite resent to coolpepper43. Note that among other things, the game mechanic is no longer limited to flicking - you can also drag from anywhere onscreen (slow or fast) for more precise control in tricky sections. New build has a full roster of boss fights, one every four levels.
I've only had 2 minutes to spend on it (stupid job!) but I like it. Firstly, you've absolutely nailed the feel of the movement and that is of course fundamental to this sort of game. I like that it's quite easy to get carried away and over power your movement. I think that graphically it does a good job; I always feel that ball rollers should be simple to look at (perhaps in homage to their granddaddy!). I shall not comment on level design yet as I've only played a couple of (understandably) simple ones. Please add a mute for music. Nothing particularly against the soundtrack provided (although I don't love it); I just feel that all games should provide the option as a matter of course and it really bugs me when they don't. I look forward to having a proper go tomorrow but if first impressions are maintained then you have a winner on your hands.
Thanks much for the feedback MetaGonzo, and hope you didn't get in trouble at work Regarding music on/off switch, your wish is my command; I'll refresh the beta later this weekend with that added. Some notes: - Not obvious, but the game can be player in either portrait or landscape mode - The set of levels in place are representative, but I consider most of them "draft" levels that still need a few rounds of iterating. Any particularly hard level will probably end up being removed/tweaked to remove pain points, or moved to an optional challenge set. For example "FIN" is probably too hard/unfair to be introduced as early as it is (as first level of world 2). - Have begun adding collectable gems in most levels to compliment the star coins, but there's no in-game store to spend them yet. Among other things I've been planning to include the equivalent of Peach Castle from Mario Wii, with a collection of unlockable movies revealing secrets and "Super Skill" speed runs. - I want to make sure that every level introduces as least one major unique enemy/hazard; there are a handful of levels where this isn't the case, yet. - I recently rearranged the bosses to ensure that World-1 ends with an easier/more accessible boss. But all the bosses need proper cinematic introduction and hints for what you're supposed to do. - There are still some shadow artifacts (mostly minor) resulting from recent change in camera angle that I've fixed in my local build.
Refreshed beta with following changes: - added new level: FIN-1 - reintroduced "Music" enable/disable/volume in settings - reintroduced 3d mode (for red/cyan glasses) - the two minions in SKIPPY-3 can now be destroyed if they collide with boss while he's berserk
I got a testflight notification on Flicky Marble earlier which prompted me to test the game again; some really nice aesthetic improvements since I last played! It's really shaping up. The controls are so important to a game like this, and they are really great! It is very sensitive to your thumbs movement without being too jerky. The differentiation in gameplay from level to level is really good; takes away repetitiveness as a factor and forces you to develop your skill in a well-rounded way quickly.
