Absolute Awesome Ball Game

This one is so much fun--it's the most stylish of all of the games so far, for sure, and it looks like it'll give me hours of gameplay, so I'm happy. <3

This is awesome!! I'm loving all the small mini-mini games.

Especially:

The mini-Asteroids game. "Oh, no. We're hit!"

I'm up to 24606 in score, but have to half my score to continue. :)

I like the polished look of the board, the ball physics seem to be implemented nicely and the gameplay is quite original. But its... How should I put it...

Very confusing.

I thought we cleared the issue concering the color usage in games? The green and yellow here arre AWFULLY similar. I'm having trouble discerning them.

Also, the music is quite annoying. May I suggest a MIDI file next time?

As much as I respect your songwriting abilities (I'm a producer myself) this music just doesnt fit in, it loops too much, and is annoying.

Thanks for listening Felix. Hope you keep some of these things in mind when designing your next game.

Thanks everyone for the comments!

@Flash: Thanks for putting that up. I planned on doing more extensive instructions, but I just ran out of time.

@nCn: I just whipped something up in the last minute, just to give the game a more 'finished' feeling. I'm no songwriter and my abilities are... well, almost non-existent. But that's why there is a mute button for the music :)

There was just another update where I fixed the menu-glitch,so please clear your caches before playing...

Oh, and btw, the game is only called 'alpha' for additional cheesiness of the game title.

There is no need to clear caches anymore with updates.

I've implemented a versioning system with the latest competition, so a simple reload should get the new version automatically. =)

Does it ever end????? I'm on 84,457 and there's no end in sight.

I still don't know what I'm doing!!

oh yea, thats probably why I'm still getting that, thanks :)

Anyways, looks like maybe this one is going to be one of the top winners, even though the competition is huge.

There is probably still time to put more extensive instructions if it's ok with Jay.

Also, could you explain somewhat about the golf minigame? it's not clear on what colors you need to use.

So far I've lit up each of the 4 corners of the table, plus a few minigames: aliens abducting sheep, shooting asteroids with green balls, and bullseye.

The physics are perfect of course.

This is a challenging game, partly because you only have a vague idea of what to do most of the time.

I'm totally digging this game, it's the one I've replayed the most so far.

One idea which might help with the confusion people are having is in addition to the 200/400 points marker showing up near the ball when you score a combo, it could pop up with a "combo!" marker. Really drive home what just happenened. There's so many other color combinations going on on the screen, that was a tough puzzle to figure out (or cheat and read the boards to solve.) I don't think that would take away from the sense of exploration to give that one to the player, especially since it's so core to the game.

Just a thought. Thanks for the game! Back to playing it!

I couldn't agree more with the third comment:

"At no point during this game did I feel I had any idea of or control over what was going on on the board.

It was FUN, mind you, I just... what the heck was that?"

244,423 points and still no end in sight! Has anyone got to the end??

At one point I won the golf minigame - no idea how!
Thought poking the Unicorn was a bit nasty and lost the whack-a-mole without knowing why.

Best bit is when (somehow) you've got the zen thing powered up top left and you've hit something that makes all the balls on the 'field' able to be played at once. Mayhem!!

Old school or not, there should be some more explaining on what you have to do. For starters tell the player about how to make combos, how those colors work, what you are supposed to do. This lack of explanation is really frustrating, wich isnt necessary, and a shame, because for the rest it seems to be great. (If only I havent seen much yet)

Wow. Just, just wow. This game is made quite well, despite a few glitches. As soon as you see one of the segments like Cat's Paw light up, you immediately want to see the rest. I'm gonna start trying to figure out the golf game.

Sorry for the double post...
I discovered something about the rocket when it's powered up...

When you send a ball through the front part of the rocket while it is not fueled, "Reverse Engineering" appears on the screen and you get bonus points. This can be done an infinite number of times. Not sure whether or not it affects your Tech level though.

AAAHHH!! I accidentally refreshed my game.

Some stuff I've figured out:

Glowing blue ball:

I made it during the Asteroid mini-game by hitting the triangular ship with a ball. There's probably more to it than that, though. It seems that this ball can't change color. The aliens in the "Aliens abducting sheep" mini-game are also immune to this ball, I think.

I think this part of the board triggers most of the mini-games depending on what combo of symbols you end up with by hitting the bumpers in that corner of the table.

The Zen Power part of the table stays lit until you hit the bumpers too many times and make too many ZenSplosions. But if you keep upgrading the bumpers (I think with the pink switches at the top left) you are allowed more ZenSplosions. Keeping the pink part of the table lit helps with the next thing.

If you have the pink area of the board lit (Zen Power) and launch the rocket, your next turn is in "hyperspace" which means you get to move ALL of the balls on the field. This can be useful to do things like easily make purple balls and time combos. Launching the rocket (even without Zen Power lit up) enough times will upgrade your tech level. I don't know what that does though. I've only gotten it up to the 2nd level.

The goal is probably to get as high a score as possible. But if there is an end, it would probably take hours to get there. I'd love a save feature so you can go back to the same game after closing the window.

I disagree with the comments asking for more instructions — the thrill of discovery, as meaning slowly emerged from randomness, was the best part!

My only complaint: after a certain point, it becomes almost impossible to lose. I had seven balls at once, and every shot I took sank at least one of them, so I never ran out. I eventually had to quit around 60,000 points.

I figured out a couple of things. The glowing green ball:

It appears when you destroy the "mother ship" at Tech Level 3. I'm not sure, but I think it might be a "wild card" ball, matching every color? If not, it's just green. :)

If you get three balls of the same color into the three "paw pads", the bonus area of that color activates.

I actually enjoy not knowing what the objectives are in this game. It's a complete mystery yet it's still very fun. Kind of reminds me of a Grow game.

There ya go....Grow Pinball. What a concept. :)

Okay Felix,

It's your fault I didn't get my project completed today!

I'm at 100,000 points and counting.

This little game is so much fun, I am spending way too much time playing, just to see what other neat surprises are in store.

My fave so far is the platinum ball you get in one of the minigames.

There's an incredible quantity of treats and easter eggs here. And they're a joy to find because the game is so open-ended. I'm not frustrated by trying to attain a goal that I'm not achieving. Heck, if all else fails, just try new shot angles and see what crops up.

What fun!

75,166 and I'm out; I finally just killed myself in hopes of submitting a score

BUT THERE'S NO SCOREBOARD? So I essentially just gave up half of my points for NO reason. Darrrrrrn.

Also, I could never get any successful Cat's Paw minigame combos, so I have only three minigame blocks lit. Oh well. "Poking the Unicorn" may have been nasty, but it sounds fun, so I wish I could've gotten to that.

Though it may not win the contest, it's CERTAINLY got the greatest replay value of everything I've played so far.

Ohh, man, that was awesome. I decided to stop at 100K and remind myself there was a world outside of the game. It took me ten more balls after 100K to actually do it. Sooo addictive!

Glowing blue ball:

You have to hit the ship several times, whereupon they eject their warp core: the ball. Not sure why it shows up as a blank space in my queue though...

I ran into a bug: The hyperspace rocket stopped registering new runs. Best guess is that was one of those times where I managed to hit two runs in one ball, and it overflowed the run counter.

Found the bug at 30K points. Since I got to 100K, I think it's safe to say that I didn't care about it: The rest of the game was too fun!

Awesome job. This is the game to beat, IMO. My favorite of all the games up through Stranded. *applauds*

I thought it read punching the unicorn, not poking the unicorn, which was pretty funny IMO :)

At first the lack of detailed instructions was annoying but I grew to love the open ended discovery concept of the game once i got the whole "combo" aspect of it.

This quality of a game in so little time is unbelievable.

Gets my vote so far and probably overall.

Do the increased tech levels make the minigames harder? I got a second version of the alien attack game. Instead of just killing 2 ships before they abducted the sheep, I had to kill 3 ships without knocking down buildings in "the city" below. Which was UBER hard.

There's a glowing green ball, too? I wonder if there's a glowing ball for each color, and each has special powers?

I couldn't get to tech level 3, probably because I fueled the ship with a glowing blue ball when all of the meteor's lights were lit at level 2 and "overflowed the run counter" like FunnyMan said.

There's so much complexity in this game! And it looks good! The music is okay by me, but not great. Enormously high replay value. It's going in my favorites.

Unicorns are wonderful mythical creatures who don't deserve to be punched or poked! *launches Save the Unicorn from Felix campaign* It was only a jesting jibe about the game!

Having left my browser open all night (I did have to eat, chat to my husband and get some sleep), I resumed playing this morning (am in the UK btw) and am now on 573,954 points and worryingly addicted to the game!

I may have found a glitch/bug, call it what you will. Somehow I triggered a game of Space Invaders - quite fun as it turns your coloured balls black so you have to get them coloured up again and you only seem to be able to kill invaders with a coloured ball........At the end of the game I'd cleared the invaders but didn't get a 'you win' or 'you lose' message and the words Space Invaders are still showing on the screen.

I think I now have 13 balls, including three glowing bonus balls.

I shall be continuing to play in between working!

Put me in the confused and frustrated column. I'm 21, maybe too young?
If it weren't for the comments I would have given up completely after two minutes and just randomly watching balls bounce around. Even when I knew what I was supposed to do I still felt irritated.

Sorry again for the bug, I sent jay an updated version ( I really appreciate that he allows bugfixes! ).

To clarify a bit...

Special Balls:

The special balls can't change colors, but they possess more than one color... you just have to find out which.

It's "Punch the Unicorn"

There are four combo-fields, distinguishable by the different frame color. Clear one field to activate one of the four corresponding areas on the table. To activate a combo you have to collide a ball with the left-most color with a ball possessing the middle color, which in turn has to hit a ball with the right-most color.

Sorry, was just trying out how TypeKey works!

Coming up to 862,000 points now!

can someone help with the golf minigame? I really don't understand how to win that.

@smjjames:

the arrow is the key...

When the hyperspace rockets activate: shoot a ball straight for the tunnel below the start, and then aim for the rocket's nose. If zen-power is on when you HS, THEN NEXT TURN YOU CAN USE ALL THE BALLS!

Dog paw: i thing you need to get three of the same.
Cat Paw: the little wierd things above each circle stop the wheel.
Zen Power: you need to use the balls to power the zen- thingie. or something. if the balls below Zen-power hit 0, the minigame will shut off.
If you get the rocket fired, then a light will come on around the asteroid. light them all up to get a tech level up.
Asteroid attack: use green balls to stop the meteor. hitting the little ship enough gets you a glowy blue ball.
Sheepz!: attack the aliens with PINK balls.
Evil boss guy/ship: attach balls to the lights. use pink balls and you get a penalty. when you win, you get a glowy green ball.

Okay, well, I've done the following in one game:

Played several minigames: They want the sheep (aliens abducting sheep), Breakout, Bullseye, Golf, Meteors (hit with the green balls), and the Mothership. I won everything except Bullseye. Don't ask me about how to beat Golf because that was pure luck. When I played the "aliens abducting sheep" minigame for the second time and won it, the aliens and sheep didn't get off of the table, so for the past hour or so (yeaup, I've been playing for more than an hour straight lol) I haven't been able to see the middle of the board. But I beat the Mothership (got the glowing green ball) and it looks like all of the minigame lights are turned on. I'm at tech level 3 and have the green and blue glowing balls.

Current score: 137461

...and now my glowing green ball got stuck on the meteor near the head of the rocket (after losing and cutting my score in half during the "aliens attack the city" minigame, which I won)...

I'd really like some sort of walkthrough or collection of do-this-to-make-this-happen. I'm all for the thrill of discovery, but this is getting close to ridiculous :P

And where was this game during the LAST competition?

I think I posted a comment yesterday about playing Space Invaders, clearing the board, but having the words Space Invaders still showing on the screen - and not getting another little box thingy.

Before my IE crashed last night, I'd got to more than 865,000 points with six litle box thingies showing.

The trick with the minigolf seems to be to hit the ball in the direction the arrow points.

I'm going to give this another go and see if I've learned from my previous efforts and the tips from the other posters.

Phew - you guys are good at finding bugs. Both issues should be fixed with the next update.

It's a good game Felix - it will be a superb game once you've perfected it! Keep up the good work!

I'm not gonna spoiler tag this...because I believe this is just the basic instructions.

-the main goal of the game is..well..there is no goal...just to get points and have fun
-you start out with 6 balls...and one at a time,you shoot them at different colors,bumpers,and many other things
-Notice there are 4 color spaces,hit them to change your ball from neutral black to blue,green,yellow,or pinky/purple
-anytime you get it in a chute[the two arrows or the big hole opposite of the start],it goes back into the side storage to be used again
-This is essential to the game,because when you run out of balls to use...you "loose"..and will have to pat half your score to continue.
-To help,once you reach the 20,000, 40,000, 60,000, and 80,000 markers,you will get an extra ball,for a total of 10 balls.
-when you first start,there is nothing really to do...but after a while,you'll start to notice things light up...that is the cause of getting combos.
-to get a combo,just hit one color against another colored ball,then that one into a different one.The list of combos is on the left side near the big hole.
-if you notice,there are 9 combos,split up into different colors.Pink is Zenpower,Blue is Catspaw,Yellow is Dogspaw,and the most important,Green,is the rocket
-a tip to getting combos,get a ball stuck in the hyperspace rocket tube,then shoot another one down at full power,it'll hit the first one,the first will bounce back and knock the second one out at full power,easy combos man!
-Zenpower is pretty important,what it does is there are four bumpers,hit them to get points,first 60,then 40,then 20,then it'll go away.To stop it from doing this hit the pink little dots near Zenpower,then the Zen level will go up and the points will reset
-Catspaw is a slot machine like game,and when you hit the little blue dots it'll stop the corresponding slot.Depending on what you stop on,it'll trigger either minigames,points,another try at the slots,or it'll quit.
-Dogs paw is a matching game,get three balls of the same kind on those little discs and you'll get points and another mini game of some sort.
-Hyperspace Rocket is the most important,it is the key to getting major points.Shoot a ball down the tube to fuel it up,then hit a ball into the tip of the rocket to fire it,do that 12 times to up the tech level,for each tech level a mini game will come,the first is an "asteroid" minigame[easter egg,destroy the ship to lose 1000 points,but to get a shiny blue ball that is a bunch of colours rolled into one]& the last tech level is a save the sheep game,which doesn't do much
-more to come!

-Josh

As this game is eating my brain big time, I guess i'll post my discoveries.
I'm also including some of yours so feel free to copy this as a guide or something and keep adding stuff...
I'm using spoiler tags to keep the board short :)

::The balls:

Normal balls can change colour (Green Blue Yellow Pink) while special ones can't, but they work as different colours each.
You star out with 6 and get new bonus ball once you reach 20.000, 30.000, 40.000 and 50.000. That makes it 10 balls plus the special glowing ones:
Green glowing ball: works either as green or yellow; unlocked when "mothership" is beaten
Blue glowing ball: works either as blue or pink; unlocked when ship in "space attack" is destroyed
Pink? (see note) glowing ball: haven't figured yed how it works: unlocked when "punch the unicorn" is won
Yellow glowing ball: this is a wild guess as i havent unlocked it yet (I also wonder if it even exists)
note: I dont really know if it's pink or whatever, it looks weird to me as i'm colour-blind. Actually its easy for me to confuse the green and yellow little lights. Anyway, this weird looking glowing ball appeared when beating the unicorn game and i didn't play much longer after that, so i don't know how that ball works or if it's actually pink (gotta ask my roommate). [Ducatisti] has mentioned a platinum one; may this be the case, I'm guessing it's a wild ball working as every colour. May it be pink, it will probably work as other colour too, and there would be a Yellow one, but as i have beaten every single mini-game in different rounds, and i havent seen any Yellow looking one, im guessing this is not the case.

[this one comes from Felix Reidl himself]
There are four combo-fields, distinguishable by the different frame color. Clear one field to activate one of the four corresponding areas on the table. To activate a combo you have to collide a ball with the left-most color with a ball possessing the middle color, which in turn has to hit a ball with the right-most color.
[Flash was the one to enlighten me, so here goes his description of what's going on]
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v318/GDstew4/aabg.jpg
There are 9 sets of 3 balls in the arc to the right of the hole. Those 9 sets are divided into 4 color groups, with each color group representing a different area on the table. For example, if I wanted to activate the ZenPower area I would have to make a 3 ball combo with the colors in the purple group. Referring to the picture, I would first have to shoot a purple ball into a second purple ball and that second purple ball would have to then strike a yellow ball. Then I would have to shoot a purple, blue, yellow combo. Once you get all three sets in the green group the rocket activates. If you complete the green group again you just get bonus points.
I would add that the combo is only activated if the corresponding colour is lit in the lights around the "hole".
Pink combos: ZenPower
Blue combos: Cat's paw
Yellow combos: Dog's paw
Green combos: Hyperspace rocket

Activated with the blue combos
This one doesn't give yo point's at all but it will trigger other areas, mini-games or the x2 x3 x4 modifiers
Works just like a slot machine. the blue dots stop the slot they are close to and if no combination is got, you are given another try. It features hammers(H) stars(*) sevens(7) dollar signs($) and question marks (?). The order doesn't matter, just the combination. Here are the ones i've found:
:: two of a kind: next round has a x2 modifier. Triggered with almost any combination of two of a kind (except (?) or ($))
**H **$ **7 HH* HH$ HH7 77* 77H 77$ 77?
:: other combinations:
??* x3 and it also triggers zenPower or zenergy-up
??H x3
??7 triggers the dog's paw
??$ x4
$$H golf mini-game
$H? golf mini-game
HHH whack-a-mole mini-game
HH? whack-a-mole mini-game
777 has appeared many times, but i didn't notice anything happening
note: i've checked them and always work. All but 77? and ??7 which only happened once each.

Activated with the yellow combos
this one will give you points, mini-games or lit other areas.
Here the combinations are more complex as they can involve the glowing balls. Order seems to play an important role, but i haven't figured yet much about it. Here goes what i've found (or think i've found) so far. Colours are denoted this way: green(g) blue(b) yellow(y) pink(p) glowing green(G) glowing blue (B)
bbb cat's paw (checked)
bbB cat's paw (checked)
ggg breakout mini-game (checked)
ggG breakout mini-game (checked)
gGg alien attack
Ggg alien attack
yGy mothership mini-game(checked)
yGp asteroids mini-game
pGb ZenPower

Activated with the green combos
This one is big points. Easy to use: fuel it with a ball (if it's a glowing one the message will be different and you score more points) and throw a ball into the ship. Once youve done this 12 times the techlevel increases and a mini-game is activated (either alien attack, alien abduction or asteroids). Sometimes the game activated will be the mothership (happened twice to my while completing for the fourth time the 12 hits round, but not every time i do that). Once the mothership is destroyed, you are awarded the green glowing ball and the games no longer appear there but in the dog's paw.
Also:
When you send a ball through the front part of the rocket while it is not fueled, "Reverse Engineering" appears on the screen and you get bonus points [Farrhago]

Activated with the pink combos
Also big points, as you can upgrade the "Zenergy".
What it does is there are four bumpers,hit them to get points,first 60,then 40,then 20,then it'll go away.To stop it from doing this hit the pink little dots near Zenpower,then the Zen level will go up and the points will reset [josh]
Zenergy-up also occurs when the pink combos are reactivated while the ZenPower area is still up. A Zenplosion seems to happen when many hits are absorbed by the ZenPower.
Also:
If you have the pink area of the board lit (Zen Power) and launch the rocket, your next turn is in "hyperspace zen-field" which means you get to move ALL of the balls on the field [LSN]]

At certain points you get to play different mini-games. Should you win any, a square light in the center will activate.
-1: Breakout: activated when 3 green balls stand in the dog's paw (also 2 greens and the glowing green in the middle). You always beat it, it just takes time and the right colours.
-2: Havent't figured yet which game corresponds to this light
-3: Whack-a-mole: activated when 3 hammers (HHH) stand in the cat's paw. hit the moles with balls the same color as the moles nose. [Sky]
-4: Golf: activated when 2 dollar signs and a hammer ($$H) stand in the cat's paw. You have to hit the golf ball in the direction the arrows show you 3 times.
-5: Havent't figured yet which game corresponds to this light
-6: Alien abduction: activated through the hyperspace rocket. Every ball works except pink ones (that includes the blue glowing ball, as it is also pink)
-7: Alien attack: activated through the hyperspace rocket. Every ball works except pink ones (that includes the blue glowing ball, as it is also pink)
-8: Mothership: I dont know the way to activate it for the first time, but it probably has to do with the hyprspacial rocket. Once you beat it you are awarded the green glowing ball. After that you can re-activate it in the dog's paw with two yellow and the glowing green (I always put the glowing one in the middle, so i dont know if any other combination would work)
-9: Asteroids: activated through the hyperspace rocket. Only green balls work. You are awarded the blue glowing ball [LSN] by hitting the triangular ship with a ball. (Only the first time, next time you get a minus 1000 points).
-10: Havent't figured yet which game corresponds to this light
Also, I have seen:
-Punch the unicorn: i dont know how to unlock it. You have to hit the unicorn with a ball the same colour as its eye. Once beaten you are awarded the purple/platinum/whatever glowing ball.
-Space invaders: i dont know how to unlock it. When I finished it it didn't display the squared light and the words Space Invaders never disappeared from the screen
-Bull´s eye: i dont know how to unlock it.

::Bugs:
apart from the ones already fixed (the most annoying one was getting a ball stuck in the hole area), i have noticed the that space invaders doesn't trigger the squared light, that at a certain point you don't get more games in the hyperspacial rocket (don't know if this is a feature as it usually happes right after you destroy the mothership for the first time). And once i saw a ball disappearing after hitting hard on the power bumper (i guess it flew off the board ;D ). after a couple shots i was left with no playable balls, but never displayed the continue screen (gess the game supposed the "ghost ball" was still playable or something, but i couldn't see it though)

::Critic:
awesome game, a little random when you start, as you don't get how the combos work after some time, i know it adds to the fun the fact that you have to discover things in most pinball games, but if you dont get combos you dont score no point and could get boring.
Physics seem to work awesomely right, still i would expect different hits on different surfaces, plastic or rubber surfaces around, so they absorb some energy.
Controls are easy, but i don't usually like using both the keyboard and the mouse, how about a double-click instead of space?
And finally, and this has been said and answered, but the music is sooo repetitive i had to turn it off, and play some of my own ;D
Indeed a great game overall and with a high replay factor, cheers Felix

nex

New info on the fueling of the hyperspace rocket!...fuel it with any ball...it'll say Rocket Fueled in orange lettering.The blue shining ball is Rocket Fueled! but Fueled is in blue lettering.With the green glowing one it says Rocket Z^&GS or some kind of alien language...

more at 6:00...this is Tom Tucker from the channel 5 news

new facts:
I'm using spoiler tags to keep the board short :)
:: the rocket launcher:

the glowing balls are special when fueling the rocket, yeah. Josh already posted it (good work breaking this thing down, by the way), and someone before us also said something about it.
What's new is that if you fuel it with those two balls, it will not only say differently the rocket fueled thing, but also it will make the launch counter (the circles arround the rocket) go faster: blue glowing ball is double fueled, while green ball counts as three

remeber we said that to keep it up you should hit the three buttons standing by it? well, it doesn't look like that's correct.
But there's more: remember that pink balls seem to be useless?: they don't work for any of the alien mini-games (the mothership will even take 25 points from you if any pink ball gets stuck into it). Well, they are not that useless as the way to keep up the ZenPower, and increase the Zenergy (up to 7 lights, but you can increase it up to x8) is by hitting the power button (down from the start sign)with a pink ball (glowing blue also works as it's blue-pink powered)

I'm writing the combinations i've got, if anyone is interested in creatting a pattern out of it, you are welcomed. The ones i've got more than once are the ones "cheked".
green(g) blue(b) yellow(y) pink(p) glowing green(G) glowing blue (B) black (0)
bbb cat's paw (checked)
bbB cat's paw (checked)
ggg breakout (checked)
ggG breakout (checked)
gGg alien attak
Ggg alien attak
Gbb alien abduction
yGy mothership (checked)
pGy asteroids
yGp asteroids
0by 111
gbp 111
pyy 222 and x2 modifier
bbg 222 x2
pbb 222 x2
gyG 222 x2
gBb 222 x2
yBy 222 x2
pGb Zenergy-up
Bbp Zenergy-up
Bpp Zenergy-up
bpp Zenergy-up
so far it seems like most combos with two of a kind give you 222points plus a x2 modifier, while three totally different render 111 points. Combinations including the glowing balls tend to unlock minigames, or increase the Zanergy.

hammers(H) stars(*) sevens(7) dollar signs($) and question marks (?)
*** and **? unlock "eagle eve" which is the mini-game number 5. It's a bull's eye game.
??? happend only once to me and it featured the ubiquitous "allien attak"
still missing $$$, but as soon as I get two ($), the third always comes either a hammer (H) or starts spining again, so i never get to see what it featured.

::Bugs:
I just hit the corner up-right from the techlevel lights (right at the end of the hyperspace tunnel) and the ball dissapeared (off the board i still supose hehe). I kept on playing but after about 10 shots (i gess they were 11 as that's the balls i had left: 10normal minus one plus two glowing ones) no ball appeared in the start spot while every ball remains in the stack (leftmost part of the board, where they rest if they are caught in the holes). So: no more gaming tonight, 493402 in the score :( (a highscore board would be awesome, think about it next time)
Also there's this other thing, which is not so anoying but weird nevertheless: happens when you get a Zenfield (when you can start every ball remaining in the board) and you also have balls in the dog's paw. Well, if you launch the balls in the dog's paw (which you can, as they are circled in white) after that, you cannot refill the holes left, as the game still thinks there are balls resting there and you only hit the spot as if there was a ball still there.

::To Felix
Please, oh! please give us a clue about how to unlock the mothership without the green glowing ball (is it random?), space invaders (no idea) and punch the unicorn (i think it has to do with the dog's paw). And also, please tell us if there's a 4th glowing ball, as i've seen only the green, blue and the weird/purple/platinum/something looking ball.
Do it or not, either way, this game rocks!!!

nex

I think...

getting three glowing balls into the dogs paw triggers the space invaders game - but I'm not playing again today, I need to do stuff!!

Okay, some real spoilers:

Glowing Balls

There are only three. Internally their called "Warp-Ball", "Alien-Ball" and "Rainbow-Ball", btw. But Platinum Ball sounds good, too ;)

All Space-Related games can be triggered via rocket launches, but they are chosen random based on the tech-level ( the mothership only appears if the third tech-level is reached )

Just a hint: you'll need the blue and green glowing ball for the first, all glowing balls for the second...

Oh, and I again updated the game. I cleared the issues with the locks ( Dogs Paw ) and the Hyperspace Zenfield ( I was a bit surprised about this bug, as I was sure that I already fixed it - and I did. But due to the non-strict typing of ActionScript it sneaked itself in again >.< ), as well as the physics-issue ( balls leaving the area ).

Hm, my post seems to be cut off. I also fixed the physics issue.

[Edit: It was the angle brackets used in your emoticon. Since these are HTML comments, angle brackets designate the begin or ending of a tag. So if you use them for other purposes, you need to use the HTML entity for them: &lt; and &gr; -Jay]

thanks for the credit, nextourniquet, I'm glad to have finally contributed something..now off to find out how to get that darned unicorn game!

ooh.. sorry for the double post... again, but there is a problem with the hyperspace rocket, the bals go in, bounce off near where it curves up near the front, and come out the back end again.

there is also an issue with the glowing balls and the rocket launch counter (the dots that light up) where if you only have one more dot to light up and you get a fglowing ball in there, it seems to overflow or something and gets stuck and cannot reset.

@smjjames: did that happen recently? I fixed this bug at the very beginning of the competition - I can only imagine that you played and old version ( but jay says caching should not be an issue ) or I screwed up and sent jay a wrong version.

Oh my god this game is AMAZING. I've played it for two hours straight before I even read these comments.

I think it's a little unfair to complain there's no instructions - it follows the old-school pinball rule of 'keep hitting stuff and new stuff will happen' - working out what happens when is part of the fun!

I wish the 'You Loose' typo didn't bug me so much. Felix, If you're reading this, please change it to 'Lose'!

Other than that, I've got to keep playing now to 'win' all the mini games. Unlike pinball - where you can't leave when a ball is in play, I can wander off and get a cup of tea, have a coughing fit, check my emails and return for more!

I can't see me losing at all now unless I hit a glitch as now I've got a gazillion balls, (including green and blue special balls and multi-special ball) at least one sinks down a hole each turn, rendering you practically invincible. It's odd how the special balls are invisible in the queue, but it's not a problem.

I've never had so much fun off work sick.

I'm not sure if it was an old bug appearing again or I simply thought the bug had happened again. I'll clear my cookies and temp files and check this morning.

Hurrah!

I completed the game - all ten mini-games and it has told me I won - congratulations :)

I can't play any more now - final score 320744 :o(

Shame there's no hi-score table.

That is sincerely the best 'casual' game I've played in ages!! And now I've got my other half hooked!

yeah finished all mini games

final score 424505

surely the best entry of this competition far above the others

This is definately my favorite of the entries. Good ball physics, pretty original concept, and fun to play and discover along the way. I also think this has the best replay value. The beginning was a bit tough, though. At first I didn't really know what to do, until I checked it for the second time. Even then I didn't realize what triggered the rocket launcher, but as soon as I had that the game got a lot more fun, and things started to make sence. It's so cool to realize and explore. "Oh my, this triggered that light, so if I do it again, let's see what happens now!" There's so much to discover in here, although some basic explanation wouldn't have hurt. You get my vote Felix, this is an absolute awesome ball game!

Definitely my second favorite of the entries and it is really difficult to find any faults with this at all. The graphics and art are beautiful, the game play is simple to understand, yet has the potential to be quite complex and engaging, and the mini games are truly a pleasure to engage in.

It does take a little bit to figure out what is going on, but much like traditional pinball, that's what it's all about; discovering the secrets that are to be had in the play.

I can recommend nothing better for this game, but do hope you make a sequel that gives us more of what you've given us here! Great game.

Darn, comment was eaten. Okay... redo.

I loved this game, and I would say it was my second favorite of all the entries (but please, don't take that the wrong way, I'm quirky, and there was simply another game I had more fun with, and by all rights, this is still probably the better game).

Great job on this one, and I think what really makes it is that in one fell swoop you managed to deliver simple gameplay that has untold depths and complexity to it. In other words, this game can be as simple or as complex as the player wants it to be, creating an experience that molds itself to the player's liking.

The only advice I can offer is to make a sequel, and give us more... please!

I am still, after seeing all the other entries, completely crazy about this game. The replay value is immense! I hope you win, Felix! You really deserve it.

How the Heck does the Golf Game work?
HELP!

@Wriig: the direction (arrow ) is the key...

I really wish people would start testing games for the color-blind. Sadly, this one is completely unplayable for anyone with red-green colorblindness, the most common kind. (7% of American males are colorblind, like me!)

Andy - that's a very good point. One of the categories we score on is accessibility, and AABG actually received a deduction in points for its reliance on color.

For games in which color is used to differentiate between objects, a symbol or texture should also be used to give the play an alternative to color identification.

@Andy: well, in fact I did. My friend has a color weakness, and he told me about having trouble. Sadly, I hadn't had the time to do major changes by then, but I am aware of the problem and will release a new version in the next time ( I also play on changing the music, the menu system and everything else I had to do in a hurry ^^ )

I went back to play this one again to see what it was that I missed...

Some observations:

(I'll put it in spoiler, because it got a bit long)

The first time I played, I just kind of shot balls around randomly and nothing happened and I lost. I figured I'd gotten unlucky, but I didn't really care, nothing was happening anyway so I didn't really feel like I'd missed much, it just seemed like a pointless exercise in keeping balls bouncing and knocking them in the holes.

The second time - after the game got second place - I go back, read over the instructions again to see if I missed anything, blah controls blah lose condition blah blah blah. This time I actually tried to do stuff, I was shooting balls into the hole on the left in the combo orders listed, I was shooting in which colors were lit up around it, I was getting a lot of colors going... but still nothing and ended up losing because I got most of my balls stuck in the rocket tube. In hindsight, I was just unlucky again and was one combo away from each of the unlocks, but I still didn't know what was causing those lights to blink off or what the point was in general.

So I read the comments here, there must be *something* going on... AH! so that's how combos work, I go back to the game and reread the instructions, yep, there at the bottom the most important part, the part in the wall of text after my brain shut off. So now I actually play the game and concentrate on the balls, and not my prior pinball knowledge which told me to concentrate on hitting things on the board. This time I finish off the 4 combo sets all at least once, I get the rocket ship to the third tech, I break up some asteroids, I lose some sheep to aliens, but feel I was really close to stopping them, I lose the golf game -- how? I have no idea =| I get a glowing blue ball and "lose" the slot game a few times -- heck I might have won something, I just never noticed anything, it just went away.

So now I see what everyone was talking about at least -- I liked the unlocking things, the figuring out what you were trying to do. I get it now, it's still not exactly my cup of tea, in the end it felt too much luck based. Yes, you can set up good shots, you can make good shots, but in the end you just end up watching balls bounce around.

I'm just afraid there were more then a few people in my boat - people who played a simplistic "bounce balls around while nothing happens" game and wrote it off =(

Looking at it now, and thinking about it, the only glaring problem (outside of color dependence issues) is getting that first breakthrough as to how combos work. Once you can do that, you can start working on how to get/win the other minigames etc. Now in my case - it was because I didn't read all of the instructions, but honestly how many people read instructions of flash games anyway? I even went back to the instructions after I didn't "get" it the first time and still failed.

What I suggest, the instructions could be done in 3 simple pictures:

1. show the aiming/power arrow, label and describe
2. show the queue and describe losing condition
3. visually show a combo here's my simple text example lower case = as it's shown on the board, upper case = balls, ')' = collision graphic combo: ybg = Y->)B->)G

This way anyone could at a glace realize what they needed to do and you'd hopefully avoid situations where people play "boring bouncing balls" game. The other idea that I'd been mulling over, I'm not sure if it's needed, or I just would like to see it, but I'll throw it out there. There's really no visual clues for what the different color combos do or why you should be aiming to get them. Looking at the Dog's Paw, do I go for yellow since it says yellow next to it? but it says pink there too... and there's a green arrow as well? I realize part of the joy is in discovering, but I guess I was expecting some way (other than doing it once) to figure out what would be influencing what. I'd like to see an icon next to the combos so I could figure, "oh green has a rocket next to it, I bet those influence this rocket part of the board somehow."

Anyway, that's my $0.02

Oops, forgot that the spoiler tags killed formating =(

[Edit: Sorry about that. To preserve extra carriage returns, use br tags. -Jay]

I must admit I avoided this game because of the name. It just sounded so pretentious. However, it was recommended to me by The First Door, after it had been awarded second. So I gave it a try. I got hooked. I had a misspent youth where I used to play pinballs, space invaders, pac man etc at the local ice skating rink. This encompasses lots of those elements.

I've been listening to Chris Isaak whilst playing, and I suspect his voice will be forever associated with Absolute Awesome Ball Game.

The highest I got was 691590 whilst playing space invaders, the last of the mini games I needed to crack. Sure enough, I lost all my balls so had to surrender half. Won the game with 353958 points. Phew. Now I can get on with life. For a while, anyway. I suspect I'll be back!

Great game, Felix. Congratulations.

This game is great. It seems like a game that I will come back and play a year from now. There are a handful of people who didn't seem to like it because of the lack of instructions. I kind of felt like this the first time, but if you just keep playing it, it becomes more and more fun.

I got all three tech levels. You can keep activating the rocket indefinitely, and I didn't really notice if the tech levels gave me anything. Also, I found an "exploit" that will help get the third tech level. It might work for the second one, I'm not sure. After you earn a tech level, the asteroid game appears. Get the asteroids reduced to their smallest forms, then destroy all of them except for the one that lies closest to the word "Combo", i.e. the left-most asteroid. Now, every time one of your green balls comes up, send it to the back of the queue by shooting it straight through the upper exit. Every other color ball, when shot at full strength through the rocket chute from the starting position, will fuel the rocket, bounce back off of the asteroid and "pilot" the rocket, all in one easy shot.

I've got to say I seem to be the only one who dosen't like this game. Everyone else is absolutly in awe of this game to the point that people are crying out that it is art, it is the best game ever, and they will still be playing this game for years. Unfortunatly I don't see all that, literally because I can't see how to play the game.
You see I'm colour blind, to the point where I can't tell the difference between the blue and pink balls and lights, or between the yellow and green. This has been a pet peeve of mine for a while. People will make a game that looks really fun and then demand that the player beable to tell the difference between similar colours.
Now not to claim that colour blindness is the same as being deaf, but several games include a subtitle feature for those who are hard of hearing, but very rarely is a similar feature in place for those who can't see different colours. In fact the only game I can recall doing this is Hexic for the Xbox 360 Arcade. The game is your typical match colour puzzle game, but it has the option to show a symbol on each piece that relates to the colour.
Not that I'm demanding that this game, or any game for that matter, implement a similar feature. But I'm just trying to draw attention to the issue. What do you think about all this?

Hi Josh, your criticism is valid and is one that I inadvertently left out of the review (I'm correcting that now).

We did score this game low on accessibility, and it's a shame there is that barrier to those with trouble differentiating colors. As you said, a simple symbol or texture option for the balls and color indicators on the board would be a great improvement for a new version of the game.

Thanks for the feedback. :)

Guess I oughta give this another shot.

Third time's the charm, I suppose.

Nope. Still don't get it, still not a huge fan, still WANT to get it and like it.

Still don't.

What don't you understand, Scramble? Even after my explanation in the review? Where did I fall short?

Jeez, Jay, don't take it personally (and neither should the developer). What I don't really get is how you're supposed to get all those combos in only a limited number of shots. Balls are only available to shoot (from my view) from the "dispenser" at the right. And you can only get them to return to the dispenser, it seems, if you hit the balls into one of the holes. This, coupled with the slightly annoying task of having to make combos, makes the game initially frustrating enough for me not to want to pursue it any further.

In summary, it's not my kind of game, I guess.

Looks real pretty though. :)

Not taking it personally, I am sincerely trying to understand what about it that I did not communicate clear enough in the review.

Perhaps you're trying to hard? Are you just blasting the balls around hoping for something to happen? Because if you are, then chances are nothing will.

Try to keep the balls on the play field, fire softly. It is a game of skill as well as chance. You must look for opportunities with which to make combos, and you can't do that if all the balls are in the dispenser.

Scramble, if you get too frustrated, I suggest queing up the balls needed for a combo in the lower tube. Just shoot the balls you need softly in, then fire the last one at full strength.

I gave up on this game quickly during the competition, but with this review and (most of) the comments, I gave it another try. And I just played it for a solid two hours. I've gotten 9 of the 10 minigames (not sure which I'm missing), and I think my score topped out at just over 300k.

It's excellent, really it is.

The "Space Invaders" text still remains on the board after the game, by the way.

One in six males is color blind. [Yellow = green] = Not So Fun.

Well I don't know what pinball machines you've played with in arcades back in the days, but as an ex-pinball addict I must say every pinball machine I saw was waaay more easier to figure out than this. Knock down all the bumpers to open a ramp, hit the ramp three times you get a shooting mini game and so on. Not to mention that every pinball machine I saw gave much more feedback to a player even though it was all mostly just flashing lights and a few recorded sounds. And MAN, those things were addicting.

Anyways, I must say that this obscure variant of color-coded pool really has nothing much to do with pinball at all whatever you might say, and it just doesn't do it for me. Sure, it was kinda fun to decipher what all those colors mean but I cannot say I've found the final discovery so riveting nor entertaining. In fact, I'd much rather play a nicely done traditional pinball game then this. Then again, to each his own.

This was one of those games I knew must be great but I was never able to get to even the first minigame :( And, since there were so many other entries to try I just left it after a fruitless 10 minutes and never returned :(

this games is ruining my life. What a joy.

I've done everything, but I can't get Eagle Eye to fire. It's really annoying, I got it before and lost. Is there any way to do it without just trying a million times?

P.S. something about glowing balls and the rocket (if no one has noticed):

If you charge a rocket with a glowing ball you get more yellow lights when it takes off. blue = 2 green = 3 platinum = not sure...

Are those... Diglets? In the Whack-a-Mole game?

Put me in the I-don't-get-this-game camp. The graphics are great, but I found staring at the tiny balls trying to figure out which combo(s) I could make tedious. Plus planning what balls should be near what others and which color I needed the next ball launched to be was very un-fun. Am I missing something? Oh well.

Felix! i have discovered a major glitch! i filled up the fuel tube, but when i tried to send it off, it went THROUGH THE ROCKET TOP!!!1
OH YEA, AND how the helkynessosity (woot)am i suposed to unlock the mothership smackdown/boss battle/pie throwing contest/edible monkey/whatever fight! it is weird! i got to tech level 3, but then it glitched up!
HELP!!!!!

i hate this, i have pulled 3 all-nighters trying to beat this game, SOMEONE! PLEASE! END MY SUFFERING! POST A WALKTHROUGH! FELIX!

allright… i discovered a couple new things

golf game:

if you get 3 hits in the right direction in a row in one turn the message "one hit wonder" appears. i'm not sure if i got an extra ball for this or not

not sure if this was posted, but if you hit the power button on the bottom right with the purple ball, your power level goes up

the glowing green one counts as green or yellow in combos
the blue counts as purple or blue
platinum counts as anything
fueling the rocket with the platinum one doesn't do anything special

you play if you put two special balls in the dogs paw

get all three special balls in the dog's paw

beat almost all the minigames (i never won the target one) and you win!
pic:
http://img526.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture3cp4.png

[Edit: I fixed the image link. -Jay]

me (and those wanting to see a "win screenshot"):

your link to the picture didn't show up. here's the corrected link
Also, http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/3778/picture3cp4.png here's a direct link to the picture (for dial-up users)

Oh, thank heavens, I've finally conquered this thing. Thank all y'all who posted walkthrough hints.

Just a little hint for the frustrated ones: there are certain "sweet spots" that allow you to color a ball and still get them into a hole. I'll just give you the yellow one: aim for the center of the dogs' paw top toe (the bright little center).

If you figure out these spots, the first combos are quite easily done (color all balls with the needed colors, then just lay the first two colors of a combo in a straight line on the table and hit them with the third color, optimally hitting a hole with one of them).

I really like this game, and have been playing it for a long time, but it is getting a bit frustrating. I've read the helpful comments and I understand a lot of it, but I still don't understand a few things. There have been references to glowing balls -- I have been playing a long, long time, and I haven't seen one yet, and I don't understand how to unlock one. Further, I have had #2, #8, and #10 blank on my scoreboard for so long I am on the verge of deciding that it is pointless to continue. I thought that maybe golf was one of the ones I am missing, but I just beat it and it still says 2-8-10. I have kept my computer on for four days now, the last two of which I am pretty much at the same juncture.

Amazing, but frustrating.

Oh, a couple more points. Sometimes when I clear a range of combinations (all three of the ones req'd for green, let's say), instead of getting something for it, it resets and fills up the area with more combos. It makes you feel as if you have not progressed.

Another thing: is there any way to control what outcomes you get in the slots? I get that slots are supposed to be random, but has anyone had any success timing it?

Funny, as soon as I start whining about it, I get a glowing blue ball!

One last thing: I think I have solved the Eagle Eye (nobody has posted this, anyway).

I don't know if color matters here, I don't think it does. What you're supposed to do is hit the ball in such a way that it stops rolling in the blue area, or possibly just the target overall. Think of it as a finesse/touch exercise where you are using very small directional arrows when you shoot.

Ciao tutti
I'm really addict ! this game is great ! I've got many difficulties to win, but my score is as big as my pain.

Punktitude best score

I'm gonna take some vacations now !

i need help! i put both special balls in dogs paw, but punch the unicorn diddnt show! help!

At first it's non-sensical then after accidentally finding the multi-verse of smaller games within. This game rocks! (pun intended) My only problem is that my score doesn't show up. Perhaps because I'm on a MAC in Safari. Who knows?

Rewyn - that really doesn't sound like a Mac-specific issue, more likely to be a Flash Player versioning issue.

There was a new Flash Player just released a few days ago by Adobe. Try installing that to see if that fixes it for you.

(Click the "Get Flash" button in the left sidebar)

Jay- My version is up to date, but I decided to quit and re-install flash anyway...and nope still cannot see score, thanks anyway.

Rewyn: I don't know about Mac but I have seen lots of weird problems with Flash on Linux and fonts. Do you have the Microsoft bundle of allegedly standard Web fonts installed on your computer? Sometimes that helps. (Verdana, etc. - no longer available from Microsoft, but can be had at http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/corefonts/ among other places.)

Thanks for the tip, but Verdana is already active along with all the core fonts, even on this Mac.

The font used for the score is actually Times or Times New Roman, a standard font on all platforms (I believe -- though I am unsure about Linux).

I'm really not sure what might be causing the issue you're describing. I'm also on a Mac and cannot reproduce the problem. =/

Hi!

Great game, totally killed my productivity today. After finally getting enough balls to where losing isn't much of an issue, I just can't close the window. Your score starts to go up ridiculously fast after unlocking all but one of the balls (where I'm at now). Some close calls, but luck so far has prevailed. I've been practicing the Eagle's Eye, so next time I unlock it, I'll have beat every minigame but the Whack-a-Mole. 510,813 after 4 hours.

Glitch alert! I got all three special balls in dog's paw, but at the same time got star star money in cat's paw. Which means I would've unlocked two minigames.
But none popped up.

this one wont load for me to it's your games grrrr >=(

The competition games load just fine. If you're having trouble with them, try this link instead:
http://casualgameplay.com/cgdc4/?gameID=7