Frantic Ball - Upcoming Marble Run Game

Hi everybody! I'm thrilled to start sharing about my new game currently in development - Frantic Ball.

Have you ever seen any of those kinetic sculptures where the balls roll along a track, branching here and there, until they reach the bottom only to be brought back to the top and start all over again? If you have, then you get the basic premise of Frantic Ball. I love them. I find them mesmerizing. In the game, the player has to grab a ball when it reaches the danger zone and drop it back at the start of the track. Easy, right? Here's the catch - every ten seconds a new ball is added to the track. Let three balls drop and it's game over.

There are other mechanics, like power ups, unlockable balls, untouchaballs (which, as the name implies, you can't grab but must let fall to their death), missions and more. All of this takes place across 6 different themed worlds. I've got a science lab, a dino island, and (as you can see below) a dragon castle.

Here is an early gameplay video. I'm building out a lot more, cleaning up some of the lighting to make things pop more and adding in some other goodies.

I've written a couple of articles about the game that are on Unity's site. Is this something you think you'd enjoy? I'm having a blast making it.

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I'd love to hear what you think.

Thanks for reading! I"ll post more development stuff as I progress.

 

Here's a little more about Frantic Ball. One of the things that I am trying to accomplish in the game is to not only have interesting and fun tracks for the balls to roll about on but also to have those tracks live in fun worlds that feel alive.

Each of the worlds has its own theme and little population that lives there. Some of the characters react directly to what is happening in the game while others just go about their business, oblivious to the player (just like in real life!).

The prototype level that I built (which is making it into the final version of the game as the first world) is Bunny Mountain. Two of the inhabitants of this world are - you guessed it - bunnies. There are also little birds that fly about whenever a ball gets near them.

The animations for these guys were a lot of fun and, I think, help bring the game to life.

More to come...

 

Here's a shot of one of the worlds. It's the "Dino Island". It's a lot of fun when everything starts moving around.

 

Here is a view of the track from the first world. It is a bottom up, dramatic angle (not as it will be viewed by the player in the game). It helps me to look at the track from different angles to avoid any confusion or potential collision issues.

 

Thanks, @TheGreatEscaper! I'm glad you like it so far.

Here is some more art, a detail from the "Dragon Castle" world. The dragon reacts warmly whenever a ball rolls past him.

 

Here's another character from the Winter Land. As you go about your business, he just does his thing. SLIDE!

 

Kong sits atop Dino Island, watching, waiting, judging. Yeah, they never talked about that much but he really was a very judgmental ape.

Here's a animation test I did for him. Now you can judge him!

 

Here are some development shots. I start out with a quick sketch to get some ideas of paths and the underlying structures down. It's hard to tell how everything will layout exactly, but it gives me a good idea of what the level might look like from the player's perspective.



After that, I start blocking in the paths. During this entire phase, I'm keeping in mind a rough idea of what the supporting structure will look like.



Now, it's white boxing time! Again, this really rough and quick and helps me get a feel for placement of the buildings. I can also easily adjust any paths if I see that I'm running into structural impossibilities or any camera angle issues.



More to come...

 

I'm glad you like the details! I enjoy telling the story of how I've gone about building it. There's a lot that I've had to work out in the process that isn't that fascinating, but I think that the broad strokes are.

I don't currently have a builder mode planned. I think if you see how some of the levels in the game work you'll understand why. But I do think that is an interesting idea.

 

Here's some more development story.

After I've got the white boxing done, it's time to start adding in some more detailed models. I'm going for a low poly look in the game, using vertex colors for the textures of environment models and characters. Other elements, like the paths and the balls, are getting textured with images. It really helps those elements stand apart from the rest of the world without being jarring.

Anyhow, my goal here is build the world and adjust any placement issues I might run into with the track.



I just keep building, shifting, building, shifting until I have something that feels good.



During this process, a lot of ideas start to spring up. Some bad. Like REALLY just dumb. But some are really good. I like those. I know that I am going to have characters moving in and around the castle. But I want a dragon. I have since I was little and that hasn't changed. So, since I am building this out, I decided to add a dragon. I figured the best placement for him would be on a mountain, leaning into the castle. I am putting a princess on the centermost turret, so I figure it would be nice to have the dragon leaning from the mountain to that turret, kind of being like, "Hey, girl! Who's your dragon?" So, I need a mountain.



And, there it is. I figure there will be more tweaks once I start adding the characters in, but I'm really happy with this at this point. I'll also want to do one more detail pass to add a little more texture to the buildings, but that can come in once everything else is nailed down.

Also, I'll be building the marble paths in unity, so the ones seen here are still just placeholders. More on that later.

Next up, people. And a dragon.

 

So, it's people time! First up, the princess. This isn't one of those games where the princess is in another castle. She stands on her balcony, surveying her lands and celebrating each time your score a point.



I give her a small selection of movements in addition to her big "hoorah" celebration animation.

Next up, her soldiers. Some of these guys patrol. Some just stand there, looking around, doing soldier stuff. The patrol the grounds and stand guard throughout the castle.



Last but not least... the dragon. He was a lot of fun. He lets out a little puff of flame whenever a ball rolls past him.



Now it's time to bring them into the level and make this thing work.

 

Next up is pulling it all together in Unity. First up is recreating the paths by creating some nice smooth splines for them to follow. It'll make for a much smoother roll of the balls on the track.

I also decided to add a little more detail to the castle walls so that they don't look quite so boxy. I programmed up some flocking logic and added some fish to the water. I also decided it would be nice to have some big, wooden doors on one of the main arches.

Here are some shots of the final results.

 

Here's the start of another world. This is the Dino Island world. Where the Dragon Castle had its path split into two branches, this one quickly splits into three. The big challenge is fitting them into the play area, keeping them interesting and distinct, and not have the whole thing turn into a big jumbled mess. This is where the 3D sketching/white boxing process really comes in handy.

I knew that I wanted to have a high platform, like a cliff, that my big ape would stand on. I was pretty sure I also wanted a giant stone skull up there. I'm making video games. It's one of the few times in my life where I can say that I want a giant stone skull and actually get one. I had other ideas so far as the environment objects I wanted, but this was enough for the start.

With that, I blocked in the first path.

 

Moving right along, I block in the next two paths. With them in place, I can also white box in the placeholders for the support structures. FUN!





Next, it's time to take all of this and make it look like a Dino Island.

 

Finally, with the paths laid out and the underlying structures laid in, it's time to polish this baby up and turn it into the Dino Island. Here is the final result.

 

Ive got a teaser trailer for the Dragon Castle world. I'd love to hear what you think.

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Thanks!