scarykitties on 10/7/2014 at 12:41
Quote Posted by SubJeff
No no no - you absolutely do not need a bar like in Gyro. I think that's a lame hack actually. Just having increased sensitivity so you can rotate 360 from the base of the screen (instead of having to circle the entire interface) would be fine.
Gyro is nice but it's different to Heartbreak. It doesn't look like you ripped it off at all! Heartbreak is much more complex with all the rings and the different coloured balls interacting with the colours.
The only other thing I'd change in Heartbreak is the speed the credits roll at - too slow!
Thanks for the encouragement. :)
Those things are noted. I should have a test build available tonight for you to try out. I'll post it here in the thread--probably a .exe and an .apk, both of the demo.
Quote Posted by Briareos H
We already touched on the subject a bit in our PMs while I was translating and yeah, more sensitivity would be nice. You could also try adding some acceleration to the sensitivity parameter; something ideal to me, at least conceptually, would be to retain a roughly 1:1 tuning for slow finger movements but taking into account the acceleration of the swipe (if you can compute it) into the acceleration in rotation, if that makes sense. Don't hesitate to throw test builds our way if you end up adding changes to the rotation speed.
Other than that, lovely game.
Hmm... I think I might understand what you mean. I'll give the sensitivity slider a show for you guys, but I'll then see if I can somehow do that. Should be possible--it would just need a lot of careful fine-tuning, as the relationship of how fast/far your finger moved to how much the rings rotate is very much up for personal taste.
ZylonBane on 10/7/2014 at 14:31
"Hmmm, what shall I call my Breakout-inspired arcade game? I know! I'll name it after a term universally associated with loss, regret, and despair."
I eagerly anticipate the sequel, "Suicidal ♥ Depression".
SubJeff on 10/7/2014 at 15:29
Said the man with the 100% original name not sourced from nowhere nope.
Ignore.
ZylonBane on 10/7/2014 at 15:47
Quote Posted by SubJeff
Said the man with the 100% original name not sourced from nowhere nope.
Try again after you've had your coffee there chief.
scarykitties on 10/7/2014 at 17:16
Quote Posted by ZylonBane
"Hmmm, what shall I call my Breakout-inspired arcade game? I know! I'll name it after a term universally associated with loss, regret, and despair."
I eagerly anticipate the sequel, "Suicidal ♥ Depression".
Hehe... Well, the theme for the 2013 Game Jam was the sound of a beating heart, so it's kind of a thematic tie-in. The "heartbreak" it refers to is the lose-state where the central heart bursts. Any meaning behind that or the rainbow colors is up for interpretation. :)
henke on 10/7/2014 at 19:21
Highscore: 4465
Bleh. Once it gets into color combinations it gets too difficult for me.
Agree that increased sensitivity would be nice tho.
Other than that, good game! Pretty unique concept and nice minimalist looks! :thumb:
scarykitties on 10/7/2014 at 19:54
Quote Posted by henke
Highscore: 4465
Bleh. Once it gets into color combinations it gets too difficult for me.
Agree that increased sensitivity would be nice tho.
Other than that, good game! Pretty unique concept and nice minimalist looks! :thumb:
Thanks!
You're not the first to express that the color combinations are too difficult. That's part of why I'm jealous of Gyro's design; it keeps the focus on fast-paced gameplay, rather than the (sort of) puzzle elements that Heartbreak brings with its multiple ball colors. It makes Heartbreak more complicated to play, for better or worse, but it's at the core of Heartbreak's game design, so that's just how it is.
Al_B on 10/7/2014 at 20:11
I can only echo what others have said about sensitivity. Turning is just a bit too slow at the moment for the amount of movement involved. However it's promising enough that I've chipped in for the full version and even if there are no improvements it's the sort of game that's fun to play while on the bus / train.
scarykitties on 10/7/2014 at 21:37
Quote Posted by Al_B
I can only echo what others have said about sensitivity. Turning is just a bit too slow at the moment for the amount of movement involved. However it's promising enough that I've chipped in for the full version and even if there are no improvements it's the sort of game that's fun to play while on the bus / train.
Thank you very much!
I promise that I'll do something for the sensitivity, whether it's a slider in the pause menu to set the sensitivity you like, or some kind of increased sensitivity based on how quickly you swipe. We'll see what works best, and I'll be posting tests here, so be sure to give them a try and let me know what you think as well. I'm pretty sure you're the only person to have bought the game, so far (aside from myself). :)
scarykitties on 11/7/2014 at 04:07
Alright, I've implemented a sensitivity selection bar in the pause menu for you folks to try. The (
http://cybearg.com/hbdemo/hbdemo.apk) apk is here and the (
http://cybearg.com/hbdemo/hbdemo.exe) exe is here.
I certainly see the appeal of greater sensitivity, but I'm thinking that the basic control scheme will have to be changed a bit. At present, the ring's rotation is based on the change in angle of your finger relative to the center of the screen (the heart). This way, you can swipe your finger in a circular motion around the heart and drag it along with you.
The downside is that the angular difference changes depending on how far the player is swiping away from the center. 1 inch of movement is a greater angular distance relative to the center the closer your swipe is to the center. Also, if you're swiping back and forth across the bottom (or side) of the screen, your swipe will move the ring more the closer your finger is to either the horizontal or vertical center of the screen (because the angular difference is greater).
Now, the control scheme could be changed to simply be relative to how far the player's finger has traveled, regardless of where the swipe is relative to the center of the screen, but that creates a problem. Namely, it is not clear which direction the player is indicating to go. A swipe from top to bottom indicates a clockwise rotation when done on the right side of the screen, but it would indicate a counter-clockwise motion if done on the left side of the screen, and there is no definitive boundary separating left from right or top from bottom.
Additionally, touching the ring and dragging one's finger in a circular motion to pull the ring along--which seems like a natural and intuitive motion to me--would not be possible, at least not in the same way.
I could leave in the slider, set a higher baseline sensitivity (rather than 1:1), or do as suggested and modify the sensitivity based on the speed of one's swipes (by comparing the distance the player's finger has traveled between ticks). The downside of the latter is that precision would be sacrificed for speed, so it would possibly be harder to tell exactly how the ring would rotate in a critical, fast moment.
EDIT: Another option might be to check what direction the ring should rotate based on the player's movement, as it currently does, but actually calculate the distance based the distance of the player's dragging, rather than the relative angular difference. That might provide a nice middle ground between the two options, allowing direct control, but keeping movement distance uniform.
Based on testing out this version, which would you like to see?
P.S. I also increased the credits speed. :)
