Breakout!

[Private Clark]

Breakout!
Current Version: alpha 4!
(title subject to change)

Updated screenshots will be added soon.

Hey guys,
I've run out of stuff to add to my minesweeper game (besides more boards but that is pretty boring) SO: Im making a new game with game maker based on breakout, the theme is generaly futuristic neon etc and itl have a nice geometry wars distortion effect. There isnt much of a game just yet, just the paddle and the ball bouncing around but why dont you guys give me some feedback.

hopefully this game will be much more technically impressive than minesweeper since i've learned a lot from my last game.

Controls:
left-right move the paddle
click with the mouse to deform grid (this is just a preview to showcase the effect, it will be implemented differently in the final game)
Hit the bricks, hitting the bricks gives 5 points, destroying a brick (3 hits) gives 20 points
space to pause the game
esc quits the game

Cheats (I use these for testing purposes only - They will be removed/edited as I see fit

Press any of these keys during gameplay to activate a cheat, some cheats do not have toggle and so you will have to restart the game to turn the cheats off.

0 - Enables <Enter> making the ball shoot up. Useful for when the ball gets stuck horizontally.
9 - Enables Infinite Lives.
8 - Toggles different paddle sizes (will be available as powerup in future
7 - Toggles mouse controls off/on. Keyboard controls are broken when this is on. Turning it off restores keyboard controls.

Changelog

Alpha 4
Feature: Added paddle size powerups (available only as cheat temporarily)(toggle with 8)
Feature: Added mouse controls. The paddle follows your mouse. (toggle with 7)
Fixed: Fixed bug where paddle was sometimes unresponsive.

Alpha 3
Feature: New cheat codes for testing purposes
Feature: Added indestructible blocks
Feature: Ability to pause the game at any moment (press space).

Alpha 2.1
-Fixed: Enter Key giving the ball extra motion thus after first ball launch
-Feature: When lives reach 0, the game ends

Alpha 2
-Feature: Added basic bricks
-Feature: Distortion now follows the ball
-Feature: Improved ball trail using particles

Alpha 1
- First release

Credits:
-TheSnidr's distortion engine

Rename the tmp file to exe, this is just because exilian does not allow me to upload exe files.

Attachments:

• Break_a1.tmp (2.47 MB)
• Break_a2.tmp (2.49 MB)
• Break_a2.1.tmp (2.49 MB)
• Break_a3.tmp (2.5 MB)
• Break_a4.tmp (2.51 MB)

[Jubal]

Ooh, that's pretty cool. Looking forward to a version with blocks to hit!  

[Cuddly Khan]

Looks awsome.

[Private Clark]

Thanks guys! Newest version is up (alpha 2) with 1 type of block, a better distortion/ball trail effect, score and lives (although there are no limits on lives yet). Soon to come: pausing, more brick types and special powers.

EDIT:If you want to restart the game i recommend closing it and reopening it. <space> does restart the game but it messes up the particles for some reason, im trying to figure out why...

[Jubal]

Might be useful to know that if you press enter mid-game the ball shoots off upwards like it does at the start. Which means that you can always stop the ball going off the bottom just by hitting enter.  

[Private Clark]

thanks, i hadnt noticed that i will fix that for the next release

EDIT: Breakout! alpha 2.1 is now up, it fixes the Enter key bug and also quits the game if there are no lives left.

[Private Clark]

Finally able to upload an update (a3). That pause screen took alot of trial and error to figure out. Link in the bottom of the thread.

[Jubal]

Will DL soon...

[Private Clark]

sorry for lack of activity, been very busy lately, hopefully will have new release soon as well.

[Private Clark]

thanks for bearing with me guys, new update up which brings mouse controls (toggle by pressing 7) and a powerup for making your paddle longer (toggle different sizes with 8), in the future this will be activated by catching an orb dropped by a destroyed block. classic stuff.

[Cuddly Khan]

Classic is sometimes good.