Gimme Friction Baby

Thank a lot Jay and I don't have anything against sponsors I just think it takes a long to see all of them.

P.S
You replied in 7 mins! that must be a record.

I never thought that a bunch of circles could be so frustrating.
I really enjoy the game. I get really anxious after i see a ball heading right for wide open space. Of course it practically covers the entire screen, and of course i miss time trying to get around it.
Great Contribution!

This would have been my favorite entry, even if the name hadn't been a reference to one of my favorite albums of all time. But it WAS a reference to one of my favorite albums of all time. So it's REALLY my favorite entry.

Oh, and if you don't know it? The album is "Gimme Fiction" by Spoon.

Jay and bioLarzen, I took a screenie of the "E" error after I died.

http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/5966/igoteuj5.png

Huh. I guess I'm the only person here who doesn't like this game at all. It's agonizingly slow to have to wait for the turret to get to what is hopefully the right angle to fire at, and the gameplay concept can't hold my attention for more than three minutes at the max. This is one of two or three entries in this contest that I only tried once. I don't have a deficient attention span and I love minimalist games, but this just doesn't capture any of the qualities I look for in a game, casual or not.

It has a nice presentation and is pretty solid, but it's just not for me. I'm glad that so many people are enjoying it, though. :-) Of course one game won't appeal to everyone.

@ Slade:
No, you're not alone in this. I don't find it appealing either.
It just seems that we're a very small minority.

I started this morning at around 9 AM it is now 2:33PM and I can't stop...won't stop...I have to beat 28 ..man is this game addicting because you know that you can do better next time. Don't add color as previously suggested. Keep it pure and simple.

Beat this!

http://www.seansh.com/bigball.JPG

Wow, breach, it's unbeatable :DDD

EMDF,

thanx for the E-ball illustration!

you're welcome bioLazren

Jay,

it's quite interesting... I tried the "direct link" you offered to tala at 10:29 today. It works fine, but doesn't know about my personal record. When i use the original competition link my personal record is there fine.

No big deal, just thought I'd let you know - if you don't know, what i seriously doubt :DDD

Flash stores cookies in different folders for each different url. With a little poking around you could probably transfer your high score over to the other folder.

Sean

It seems it was updated some time during the competition and no longer works on linux :( Please fix this. Pressing the mouse does nothing anymore.

*kicks TypeKey*

I've played this game a few times and I really like it, but what makes me stop playing it (besides outside interruptions) is the sudden death factor of it. It makes it nice when you're doing a sort of "endurance run" in the game and trying to get a high score that way, but do you think adding a feature that lets you take back the last shot and continue playing would be cool?

bioLarzen - what breach said. It's because the 'direct link' I provided points to a different domain than your saved settings are on.

JS - nothing has changed, therefore I'm unsure what to "fix".

LSN - that would effectively allow you to play the game forever, since you would always be able to 'undo' any shot that ends the game. I doubt this would anything good to the game.

Breach and jay,

thx for the info.

I agree it has it's charm, but I don't know, I just don't see any reason to keep on playing. Not a bad game, far from it, people certainly seem to like it, just not my cup of tea.

GIMME FRUSTRATION BABY!!! YEAH!

I love the game! I've really only been playing around with it so far, I might actually try to beat my pathetic highscore of 8 later.

About the E ball bug; I think it's caused by how the balls resize according to the closest line. Since E balls aren't in the playing area, they have to resize a negative amount to fit the line, thus causing them to appear upside down and back to front, in this case resembling the letter E. Fortunately, this bug doesn't affect gameplay.

61!

Those of you calling the behavior when balls stay below the dashed line a "bug" are probably not using the right word. Without having talked to the developer I can nearly 100% guarantee that it's intended behavior, and not a bug.

Unless I'm missing something and you are talking about something else.

Frank,

Could it not also be a reference to Better Than Ezra's "Friction, Baby" CD (preceding Spoon by almost a decade)?

(I have both CDs!)

Actually, what comes up first when you google "Gimme Friction Baby" (besides the game now) is a song by Turbonegro, a Norwegian deathpunk band. So I guess neither is correct!

Here's a screenshot of my HiScore, 61.

http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/921/gimmefrictionhiue1.jpg

O_O

Wow, Harlequin, very, very nice. :D

Congratulations, I think that's the highest score I've heard of yet.

First off regarding the physics of the game - or friction to be more precise: Imagine flicking a block across the table. The weight of the block is "pushing" the block forward. That's called momentum. As the object slows more and more of the weight is "pushing" downward - the momentum is being lost and gravity is taking over. As more weight force is transferred downward the friction increases. So the rate of slowing increases.

Does that make sense? Or did I just muddy the waters?

As Wouter already mentioned this would be incredibly difficult to program into a game. There are simply TOOOOO many variables to consider.

Secondly an attempt to explain why some of us just don't appreciate this game. It's too SLOW. I click the mouse button (a millisecond) then wait (more than ten seconds) for the little puck to find a resting place. Then I click again and wait some more. After doing this maybe a dozen times - or perhaps only three or four times - I lose. It's FAR to easy to lose. Of course all games have to increase in difficulty however this game gets to the extreme level almost immediately. Not everyone is going to love a fast-paced shoot-em-up. I prefer brain teasing puzzle games myself. I want brain-power and creative thinking to win the prize, not hope and sheer luck. I find very little strategy involved and no problem-solving in this game, just tedious waiting followed by sudden death.

What fun is that?

The only suggestion I'd make is increase both the force and the friction. Then the dang puck would get where it's going much faster thereby decreasing some of the PAINFUL Slowness of this game.

I have a 21, so I've spent a bit of time playing.

Things move too slow and end too fast in this game.

A simple mod would be letting the user mute the music and the sfx independently.

But mainly, just speed things up! It should be trivial to just make things happen faster while maintaining the exact same results.

Also, I'd like to see a version of the game where, instead of a moving turret, you get to simply aim where the ball is going, and how fast to make it go, using the mouse pointer, with a dotted line emanating from the gun showing the shot you are setting up, as in many pool games. Make it more of a puzzle game. We'd see much higher scores, less frustration, and there'd be no excuses when you do finally blow it and go below the line!

Holy shoot, Harlequin, that rocks!

You're the new unofficial record holder, dude!

Congrats!

l0ser,

you might be right about not calling something a bug right off the start, but here something is definitley fishy with the "E-ball" - namely that it stretches and stays visible beyond the side border although it shouldn't - at least none of the "normal" balls can do either. Here's a screenshot:

http://supremacy.hu/groundzero/pix/E-ball.jpg

Aaronzdad,

I see that some of you find this game too slow - and I understand. We're different. I'd probably find the games you like too fast :)

But here's something: you say the action last forlike a millisecond. Yes, that's right - if it's only the click of the mouse button that you consider an "action". Phisically, of course, you're right. But, for me, for instance, pressing the button is not at all the main thing. With more difficult layouts, as the game advances, deciding which tunnel or hole to aim is much more tense a part. Will it squeeze through? Will the ball really bounce back in the direction my eye-measure predicted? Will that ball deter the shot one really?

And, after the shot, the same questions come again. For me, the click is a rather unimportant moment, but what comes before and after - boy, is that tense...

For example, take the layout in that screenshot in my previous comment. As you can see, it seems rather hopeless a situation. I have two possible ways out: to the left, trying to hit that 1-ball so it's not going to bounce downwards, but up, or to the big 3-ball and bounc up from there - or to the right, trying to hit the smaller 1-ball, so that it recochets back to the tiny 3-ball and then back to where the 1-ball was and maybe hit the other small 1-ball above the previous one, but I'd definitely stay in the game. Both would be close to a miracle, and most probably I'll fail. But - and here goes what I was talking about: I've been analyzing the layout for like 20 minutes now (I'm 6 balls away from breaking my own personal high and a promising layout if i can solve it...), and will probably go on contemplaining for another 20, trying to use a ruler, maybe even analyzing the screenshot whether the ball can squeeze thru the 1-ball and the 3-ball on the left escape-hole. You may say I'm crazy spending half an hour with a shot (that will probably fail anyway), but for me - and i think for many of us loving this game - that "engineering" part before the shot and the "hoping" part afterwards are the real juice of the game. Of course you're not going to like it just because I explained all this but maybe you'll understand us a little more.

What a beautifully elegant concept! But, on the bad side, I can't stop playing the %@$#^! game since I tried it and it's ruined all my plans for a productive week!

Very nice and addictive game;
would love to have a mobile (java) version.

@bioLarzen: what´s your highscore at the moment ?

Peter,

still that 39 :(

Why do you ask?

Peter, I myself also mentioned that it would be a hillarious cellphone game. A true 1-button-game, no special graphic and audio capabilities required, can be left and later picked up any time - I've seen no games so far that would be so much made for cellphones :)

Might be a record: scored 7 points with 1 shot - plus two more hits...

I doubt I'll ever use one ball more effectively...

bioLarzen: was just interested to learn about the progress of what seemed to be a frequent player :-)

My current record is 49 (after playing it 3 or 4 times... ehhr, i mean 3 or 4 hudred times :-)

BioLarzen I understand your argument but I guess it's just a matter of taste. I've tried playing this game six or eight times and every time I shut the thing off within three or five minutes.

I'm currently addicted to the game "Phit" so you certainly can't say the games I like are fast-moving. That thing is essentially a jigsaw puzzle.

It's just that this game makes me WAIT so much and dying is way too easy.

I have to say though - seven points with one shot? That IS impressive!

AaronzDad,

see, I don't like phit at all :)) Tried it but found it too boring after some levels. I can imagine with ease that others love it, or get even addicted to it, it's just not my cup of tea, that's all - just like you and this game :)

(By the way, wouters, if you have hopes of this one's becoming a classic I guess it's high time to come up with a better name... You know, "I've been playing tetris all night" sounds OK, but "I've been playing gimme friction baby all night" kinda doesn't :))) I think about it as "Friction" but even that's too technical for agame name...)

Peter,

the main reason I'm still at 39 is that I tend to start testing my abilities after like 20 minutes... Can I shoot so the ball is gonna hit 6 or 7 balls in a row? Can i time my shot soit's gonna take the route I planned - which often proves to be an impossible opute... Will it squeeze it thru that gap, barely wider than a ball? 9 times out of 10 I can (I'm rather good at shot timing I can say), but the tenth try kills my record break attempt right away... Why do you think I'm such a big activist for 3 "lives" in this game? :)))

And, after like 3 hours of playing I always realize I'm niot taking it seriously and start a "sharp" game, but I'm too tired by then :)

No problemo, I decided to be th first to reach 100 :DDD

Sorry for those typos, my keyboard is a piece of junk... Go and get a new one tomorrow...

bioLarzen,

Ok, thanks for the clarifications.

I´m still looking for a way to consistently get high scores. I´ll let you know when i reach 100 :-)

Found a small bug yesterday.
When you have a very big 3 ball (in the center, obviously), and you throw a ball that juuuust touches it, the big ball goes to 0 directly...
(and, i don´t mean the situation where a ball canons very quickly between a ball and a wall)

Peter,

I've been mentioning this bug a couple of times myself - and it's not only for big balls, I've had this with small ones, medium ones and big ones just as well. the bug usually makes a 3 ball a 1 ball with 1 touch (touching, frontal alike), but I've had what you mentioned: a 3 ball disappearing after a single impact.

The game is like building a house of cards. Slow, painstaking work, and totally unforgiving if you make a mistake. As you place the balls just so and your score mounts, so does the pressure. Just like craps, you can place everything on the board for a win and that seven comes up and wipes you out. One life is how many God gave you, get used to protecting it!

Scored a 42!

No other score higher than 20.

I'd agree that this may be the best Flash game I've ever seen. I'm curious as to where the idea came from - while simple, it's brilliant.

Excellent game and so addictive. Thanks.
My best score is 56 although most of the time I get between 1 and 5.

Does anyone else wish that the turret continued to rotate during each shot, and you were able fire off more pucks while earlier ones were still in motion? Such a game might have less planning, but would definitely be faster to enjoy.

Well...as mentioned numerous times, a very addictive and frustrating game. (Aren't addictions frustrating by definition?) My suggestion for improving the game would allow the player to aim the cannon at will. Then if I crash and burn, I would feel responsible. The moving cannon just makes it too hard to make an accurate shot. Other than that, very cool game.

sethum,

since - for me at least - planning is the key element of the game, one-shot-a-time is fine with me :)

I realized I can't help playing the game with different goals... I spent most of the weekend trying to place as many balls on the field without losing as I can.

My best so far is 21 - typical of me that I forgot to take a screenshot... :)

I've been lurking on this site for well over a year, and I've been playing this game, every day, since it came out. I didn't break 22, let alone 60 until right now. Definitely a fluke, but I just kept shooting them into the corner! Anyways, thanks for the site, and the game! This game kicks butt. Later guys

My high score of 64:

http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/4400/untitledyz4.png

Wowza! That looks like the reigning high score, Andrew! \o/

Congratulations, and I'm pleased you came out of 'lurking' to share your score with us. :D

It'll get broken soon I'm sure. All I do all day at work (9 hours a day M-F) is have YouTube or XM radio on, with this game in a tab. I might do 15 minutes of work a day, and I play this for a few hours. Addictive as hell! You made the right choice with this as your comp. winner.

Fantastic game, frustrating, brilliant, simple. My high score is 24, and only once besides have I topped 10.

One suggestion: A ball counter. There are many different ways to a score, and I think something tracking the number of clicks (and perhaps most balls) would be interesting data.

Doesn't load.
Server down ?

The server is running a little slow today, my apologies. Seems to be getting an awful lot of traffic. But it's not down.

Alternative link: http://casualgameplay.com/cgdc3/?gameID=2

Thanks ! :)

About the friction game:
The concept is simple and good.
But after a while of playing, I got bored.
In my opinion the gameplay is much to slow. The balls should fall in place much quicker, speeding up the pace of the game. And the fact that you cannot hand control the gun, but have to wait for it to reach the right position is just extra frustration. The game is hard enough without that.

I'm definitely not bored with this game!

But, a couple of suggestions. 1) Yes, it would be nice if the balls fell into place a little faster. 2) The real joy of this game is the "board" / "problem space" / whatever that you create. So, maybe, three lives?

I find this game incredibly addictive. I have been playing for a couple of weeks now and my highest score so far is 74. Don't change anything about it! I think the slow pace is actually slow only at the beginning of the game, when there are few unexploded bubbles. Once things get going, it's pretty hard to aim accurately. Brilliantly simple game.... Luca

Hmm . . . someone tell me if I'm crazy, but GFB seems to be moving a lot faster today than before. My poor turret is whipping from side to side. I loaded it twice and got the same result both times. Anyone getting this? I somehow doubt that Wouter gave in to the comments requesting a faster paced game, so what's up?

Darn it. Anytime someone posts a problem like this, I have to boot up the game and play to see if I can reproduce the issue, which subsequently turns into me playing several games before I can stop. xD

Seems fine to me. No changes. :)

I got 64.
I printed the screen for proof.
What's the all time high?

tommybgood,

74 - just 3 comments above you :)

Love the game. I'm actually a little surprised that the "missile" ball doesn't count down too when hit?

I just got a 79, smashing my previous highest. For a while I thought I was going to break 100. Ah well...

85

A 2 player version would be brilliant!!!

Got this idea from playing this "CO-Op" with my GF (taking shots in turns)...

Just make the players take turns and each accumulates a separate score according to who bursts the bubbles.
I think it would benefit from a little speed up of the simulation to make the play_vs_play faster

Game modes:

"Elimination":
-1st to cause "game-over" looses the round

"Point limit":
-1st to 5 points wins the round, or...
-1st to cause "game-over" looses the round

Just imagine the sneaky tactics possible (take advantage of that 1 ball to score...try to block the last available shooting space causing the other to shoot the ball into "gameover line"...avoid touching that 2 ball because turning it into 1 would make an easy point for the opposition)...what do you think?!

i dunno why. but i really love this game :)

I'll keep playing until I manage to get to 100. So far, 94 is the closest I have come to it. So close and yet so far... Luca

Wonderfully addictive! I have a 50 which means I play way too much.
I would really like to see a version where you can drag a line out and shoot the cannon exactly there. With all else the same it would add a whole new element and take out some "luck".
Roscoe

Let me add to the praise for this simple, addicting game. The only change I'd like to see is the ability to mute the music, but not the sound effects -- the clip from We vs. Death is very good & moody, but wearing after any length of time... and as this game is so addicting, I've heard it for plenty of lengths of time.

I agree with the above commenter about the muting. I like the music, but if you're trying to play while, say, listening to a podcast, you have to mute it. But it would be nice to keep the other sound effects.

I don't know how many hours I've played this game, but I still can't get over 42. I'm in awe of the people who've doubled that and more.

I have noticed that on certain computers the game moves faster than on others. I first I thought this was great because the game is normally so slow. But, it is much harder to play when it is moving this fast. What could be causing this? I'm not imagining it. I have it open on two computers side by side and you can definitely see the difference.

p.s. Is there anywhere we can list high scores. I have gotten 41, but my damn co-worker destroyed that record with 71.

Amazingly, I'm still playing this almost daily.

Yeah baby!! Just beat my highscore, it was 7 now it's 39 ;D

Brilliant game.

Great game! It needs a laser pointer and mouse aimer like this:
http://www.surfsplash.com/DAS/game.swf

Any chance I could get the source code?

Squishy:
I'm sorry I'm not gonna do that.

I know there are some open source clones though,
e.g. here:
http://ng.game-host.org/FrictionPage.cls
and here:
http://www.users.waitrose.com/~thunor/friq/screenshots.html

Good luck!

Ok! Thank you for the links, though! I'll just finish up the rinky-dink clone I'm working on... The main reason I'm working on this is because I just need to learn Actionscript 3.0. It's easier to learn when you're trying to make something fun. Thanks again-

i feel dirty for having played those clones.
the original is by far the best - nothing like a bit of nail biting tension as your shot inches closer to a 1:D

I love this game so much. My high score's currently 54.

I play while I play internet poker. Because one can leave this game at any time, it great for filling in the time while waiting for one's turn at poker. The game's perhaps a little too slow to really be engaging on it's own (for someone with a short attention span like me, anyway), but the fact that one can play a few shots, then leave for a minute, and then return, is like no other game I can think of. This is the epitome of casual play, and it's a genuine piece of genius. What an achievement!

I have a high score of 11 points.

What's the top score?

how do you get anything above 2

I just scored a 43. I am never playing this game again, lol. My previous high score was 19... after MANY play-throughs. No way I'm going to try and top that.

Such a wonderfully replayable game.

Bah. I got a new high score of 31 after trying and trying to beat my previous one of 30. So addicting! I really love the simplicity of the game.

But I do think such a simple game needs a more simple title--I never remember exactly what it is. Like Tetris, or Minesweeper, or some one-word, catchy thing that relates to the game. My brother suggested "Frixen", which I don't know if I like but which I have actually began calling the game when I refer to it in conversation. My friend calls it "the curling game" because it reminds her of the sport. I think this game has a lot of potential for becoming very popular, but please, please find a simple name!

I would like ot contact the author if this game to discuss reskinning for a brand promo. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

This is a brain tickling wrist cramping befuddlement of a game. Quite addictive. I started playing it a few weeks ago, my friend who told me about it got 9, which was his best score, and so I tried to beat that which I did, then steadily a got a few more. Then I doubled my old record with 35, and beat that with 44 and I thought, I'll quit when I get 50, that was quite a while ago. I got one more 42, and I've had a bunch of 30-somethings. But I don't know if I'll ever get the 50, so I think I may have to quit. It eats a lot of spare hours.

For a while I thought it was an advantage to shoot a lot of little minimally expanding balls, ones whose flight would end close to the side walls or the ceiling, and then build a trap for them, an smallish opening through which you can shoot the ball and let it bounce around a lot of times popping as many as possible, but that strategy is not foolproof, if you clog the opening or miss getting it in. Patience and good timing are key, and a lot of repetition. Argh!

I play this game like it's my job.

Normally a good game will have you starting the next game within seconds of losing. Here the effect is taken to the extreme as my opening volleys launch before the vestiges of the last game even hit the ground. Design over graphics - love it! 35 personal best.

I took no pleasure in this game. Beyond the simple strategy, there's just nothing to it.

Wow, what a great game! I'm nearly addicted to it, which has resulted in a highscore of 40 points. Kudos to Wouter Visser :)

I'd really like a standalone version of this game, without all the intros, but I couldn't find anything on the internet. Is there any way I can contact Wouter, or anyone who can help me?

Regards,
Jelle

Jelle - here's a version of the game without the sponsor intro:

http://gimme.friction.baby.fizzlebot.com/

In case anyone's interested: I just made myself a little Gimme Friction Baby bookmarklet to make accessing the game that much easier: http://www.the-deblog.com/2007/12/gimme-friction.html

pfm, I think two player would be a great implementation. Sometimes I play with my friends, passing the computer back and forth, and whoever loses is the loser. It is really fun trying to set traps, then the other person just squeezes through, and then you are screwed.

Also, I have to agree with jasonharper's suggestion for combo points. I think eliminating multiple balls in one shot should give you increased points. For example in one shot, the first ball you destroy would be one point, the second would be worth two points, the third worth 3 points, and so on. Giving you 6 points for destroying 3 balls with one shot.

I think this would add another level of strategy in trying to set up combos. I always feel a great sense of accomplishment in destroying two or three balls with one shot, and I think rewarding the player for that skill would be a good idea.

Great game Wooter, thank you.

Ben

Anyone know an explaination for the "3210" in the turret? I can't imagine that being a high score.

Tofudisan - the "3210" represents the sequence that each of the spheres go through from initial launching (3) through destruction (0) after being hit 3 times.

D'OH! That makes such perfect sense that I can't believe I didn't realize it. Now I feel dumb. :-P

Simple, elegant, and utterly addictive. Love it.

God I love this game. It's perfect. What a sublime combo of simplicity with strategy.

Haven't read all entries, so don't know if anyone else has discovered this: if you fire a ball so it skims as close as possible to an existing ball without hitting it, there is a kind of gravity effect that curves the path of the ball!

Is that the origin of the name of the game...?

I love this game and play it all the time. I've had a high score of 58 for a while. Tonight, everything clicked: 85. No joke. Is there anywhere that lists the all-time bests?

I have been playing this game for months... and I've finally hit a score above 100.

102.

It is a very triumphant day good friends. A very triumphant day indeed.

http://www.mikedidonato.com/images/2008/05/gimmefriction102.PNG