Otaku Ball Public Beta Build.

Greetings, readers.
A while back you may remember a project of mine that has gone between being worked on and going on hiatus. It did get a release some time ago but since then- many, many more features have been added to it since then.

Of course I'm talking about my Otaku-Ball (or of you wanted to be technical, Geek-Ball or Nerd-Ball) project, a love letter and tribute to a plethora of Breakout and Arkanoid clones, worked on by Mr. Block (seriously, give him all the credit for the coding, the guy's a genius and deserves all the respect) and myself.

If you're wondering what has changed, lots of things actually. The title screen got a big overhaul, some new sound effects and sprite work were added in, new enemy varieties based on the original four Arkanoid enemies now join the Menacers, and the single-player campaign now has 96 total levels to explore across multiple pathways (it would have a NG+ with all new worlds/levels but that will be for a later release) Plus a few squashed bugs/issues.



So yeah take this as a treat from myself to show what has changed since the project's humble beginnings in 2014 (and pre-planning going to as far back as 2007 before the project had a definite name in 2011) and the first public release in 2017.

Take note that this is technically a beta, so expect there to be the occasional game-breaking bug looming about, but for the most part it should be stable and perfectly functional. Plus my social media links and e-mail are always open if you catch a bug.

Download the current build here.
You will also need LÖVE.

Otaku-Ball Update in progress.

Hey there.
If anyone is curious about the next version of Otaku-Ball, Mr. Block and I are currently working on the next public release of the project.

This version will provide a boost to the experience, better Playlist customization/creation, a fully playable Campaign, and some other touchups. There's no release date that we can announce on, so hopefully it won't be long till me and Mr. Block can provide you more block-breaking action.

Otaku-Ball: First Public Release!

It's been a while in the making, but my first major project is now ready for release!

This here is Otaku Ball, a game of mine that I jointly developed with "Mr. Block" (with him doing all the programing/coding). Designed to be a tribute to the genre, Otaku-Ball is an advanced Breakout clone made in the LÖVE engine that brings forth some of the best design concepts from different Breakout and Arkanoid clones (such as Aquanoid, Electranoid, Krypton Egg, Alpha Bounce, and Blast Thru) into one convent package. It comes with around 40 different block types, 135 powerups and power downs, and a handful of other features.

Otaku-Ball also includes a fully functional editor- with access to many handy tools for developing one's own levels and level sets. You can also adjust the powerup drop rates for each level/levelset to your liking.

Since this is only the first release, there are a number of features that are planned to be implemented in future releases, such as detailed field backgrounds, other enemies that aren't just the Electranoid Menacers, original sounds/music (the current version uses sounds ripped form other sources), and a full campaign with many different worlds, pathways, and boss battles. Twinks to existing features may also occur for better balancing.

Experience the thrill yourself:
DOWNLOAD (contains 32-bit and 64-bit Windows and Mac OS X versions)
(love2d forums link for source file and Linux version)
Feedback, improvement suggestions, and bug reports are much appreciated.

Otaku-Ball Alpha Footage

Get your OtakuBall Resources here!

I know I had said this would be a standard post, but I believe a series of image files and word documents should be able to do more justice than a post that stretches out for infinity.

Download it here.

Oh, and for all of you that are making clones, don't just play Breakout and Arkanoid; try the other clones and see what features work for you and which ones don't. However, I will say this: Don't put in some kind of block or enemy (like a Skull block or such) that will lead to death because of the ball's misbehavior (only bosses and bombs that rain down from certain destroyed blocks can kill the paddle directly, enemies can only stun/freeze the paddle and misguide the ball in another direction). Also, don't tinker with the ball's speed by speeding it up too quickly into a level, and don't have unrealistic bouncing physics, like the ball suddenly reversing as it tries to go up a channel of Gold Bricks, and get creative with level design; don't just stick to levels of only one particular theme (such as animals). And to conclude, never leave out proper ball aiming with the paddle.

M-07 WARWOMAN Preview

By now everyone should know about my recent WARMAN series, which I launched earlier last July. Since then I got a brief overview of the series and the series' protagonist M-10 WARMAN posted onto my deviantART. Not long after I began work on M-07 WARWOMAN, the only of the WARMEN to be female, and the only one aside from M-08 WARMAN that remains loyal to the good guys of her team (i.e. wasn't put under control by the Parous).

I made quite a bit of progress on her design; and I'd say by now it's completion ratio is in the late 20's. Her profile art will take advantage of burning in the multiple layers of cell-shading, which I've done previously on M-10 WARMAN.

Since I'm getting "this" close to finally revealing more stuff about Otaku-Ball (I know I've already made a blogpost on it, but this one will describe all the features that will be utilized), I created this little c*appy teaser image within a pathetic timespan of 30 to 40 minutes.

AlphaBounce vs. Otaku-Ball

Just a minor update, but I wanted to point out that for anyone wondering, I am planning on developing a new breakout clone that you can play entirely for free. It's a tribute to many, if not all existing brick-breaking games. It will be entitled "Otaku-Ball".

Since I keep coming up with different concepts for it though as time passes, I eventually decided on dropping the AlphaBounce story mode since it contains roughly the same plot and characters. Why I had chosen to do such in the first place was that AlphaBounce's staff refused to upgrade the game further (unless it was to fix bugs) and remove some of the "stupid hard" parts of the game that would rape the knowledge one would have with vitally any other brick breaker. A thread I had started on the AlphaBounce forums regarding Otaku-Ball caught the attention of some, with negative reactions from two high-ranking players (one whom replied sarcastically), and a single positive voice from a lower-ranking someone. With the others however, they bashed the game, ignoring that it was a non-profit tribute/upgrade and said Otaku-Ball was a competitor to AlphaBounce. When I still had the chance, I tried telling everyone that despite the problems AlphaBounce may contain (in the eyes of a casual, at least, especially the hard as heck limited editor to unlock) I still enjoy playing it, though it only guarantees happiness on the right days. I also instructed those very few that actually came to enjoy the project's concepts to come on over to this blog just before I ended up getting a mild cease and desist from one of the board's moderators.

Otaku-Ball like I said, will be free to play, in that it contains block graphics and special gimmick blocks based on other breakout clones (drawn in a slightly upgraded Arkanoid style), and ship designs based on those featured in the Ricochet games. Since very few breakout clones to this day contain simple-to-use editors with a lot of features, the editor for this game will be the main selling point (without the actual selling). It will allow users to create single levels or entire level sets with support for up to 300 levels each across four dimensions/paths (thus allowing 1,200 levels per set, and that's not counting the special bonus stages you can scatter on the level set), and with the many features it'll contain, one can roughly make their own Breakout game with Otaku-ball. Users can upload, download, and share user-made levels at will with no limitations (however you cannot submit levels with NSFW content). Levelsets can also have boss fights scattered around (please no boss rushes; I promise such will be a bonus mode).

Why so many brick types will be present? Well let me ask you, do you want to create levels using features from breakout games without level editors and mix and match them to your liking? How about being able to make levels each having their own set playfield width (like one with a width of 18 blocks and another with 13)?

Aside from the main editor, a single player arcade mode (Plus available as co-op up to four players, local or online) with 648 available levels across 4 dimensions (162 levels per dimension, six of the levels in each dimension being boss levels). Over 60 enemy species across many Breakout clones will appear (once again, tribute, non-profit), and one can choose power up load outs (configuring which powerups can appear) that suit them the best incase playing with the possibly of gaining one of the many 130+ powerups proves to be too much. There is also a series of versus head-to head modes based on several Breakout variants released for the arcade, and these follow a quest-based format like the one established by the Puyo Puyo games.

I certainly hope this game being 100% free'll help in my defense. If anyone wants a list of planned power ups, I can post my current listing in the form of a text document.

P.S. Expect the same thing to happen to a Pac-Man fangame I'm going to create in the future. If Soap Creative cannot create "World's Greatest Pac-Man" even with me in the director's seat, I will.