New Game Release - Thrust or Bust Web Edition

Check out my new game release - Thrust or Bust Web Edition

This is my first completed project. It took about a year's worth of Saturdays to develop this and the accompanying, soon to be released Challenge Edition.

www.smilingcatentertainment.com/arcade/ThrustOrBustWeb.html

 

wow! thats pretty cool! congrats on your first finished project Looks awesome, nice consistent art style. Damn those yellow ballons. My only thought is maybe you want to add some intro levels? was a bit confused to start with, and still don't know how to jump to get those high rings

 

Thanks for trying out the game and for the compliments. As for "jumping" to get the high rings, you'll want to hold down the left <Ctrl> key to use your air to fly upward, then while still holding down the <Ctrl> key, use the arrow keys to steer your thrust in any direction. Remember to keep grabbing those yellow air tanks in order to stay inflated and keep flying.

Duke

 

woah control key totally changes the game play I'd defo recommend you mention it in the text just below the player ... love the shadows of the rings as hint ... though I thought collecting the blue rings would result in disabling the spikey things

ps the yellow ballons are annoying

 

Great job on the aesthetics, controls, level generation and the sound! I love the way it feels when my balloon is being chased by a few other ones and we're all balloon-farting all over the place.

A couple other thoughts

- It was difficult to read the 3d depth from the fixed camera angle. Have you tried a chase cam with the balloon movement? Is it too crazy? (I did get better at reading the shadows as I played)

- The first cactus was the only time I died. Didn't expect it to be a ranged prop. Maybe signal the ranged attack with a hefty anticipation animation or create a ranged character that the player would expect to be ranged?

- A combo system would be pretty awesome, as an encouragement to get lower point rings faster.

- It was fun playing it again trying to kill the yellow balloons. I'd love to see more objects I could use as traps to pop those suckers


Anyways - fun game, rock on!

 

I really enjoyed this. Thank you for sharing.

 

This was really fun. Love the way it looks... sound was very fitting too, nicely done

 

Very cool!

 

Thank you for the compliments. Especially on the aesthetics, I don't really consider myself much of a graphical artist, I'm more a programmer first.

I'm thinking of revising the camera to put it on some sort of limited swivel on the Y axis. I'm hoping that will help with some of the depth issues. I definitely want to keep the style of the camera staring down (roughly) the Z axis, it gives the game the intended feel of an old-school side-scroller.

I've had other feedback about the cacti as well, and the following changes are being made to the cactus in my first update:
The cactus texture will be brighter green in color to help it stand out more against the grassy ground.
The outline of the cactus will now flash for 0.35 seconds before it shoots needles.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by a combo system, did you have something in mind that would be cool? I do have the multiplier system in place - building your multiplier by getting runs of the lower value, easier rings quickly is key to getting high scores.

Getting back at those annoying enemy balloons is indeed one of the highlights of the game, and another great way to build your multiplier. My wife MADE me put an entire bonus level into the Challenge Edition of the game that was dedicated to popping swarms of enemy balloons for revenge.

Thank you everyone for your feedback, keep playing and keep the feedback coming, and lets see some of those high scores!

Duke

 

I loved the cute yet annoying hedgehog funny game !

 

Really really great

 

The full game is a blast! Looking forward to more from SCE.

It's all the more impressive when you realize that one guy learned Unity and Blender and did it all in a very short amount of time.

 

Weekly update has been released with the changes to the cactus appearance and behavior.

- The cactus texture will be brighter green in color to help it stand out more against the grassy ground.
- The outline of the cactus will now flash for 0.35 seconds before it shoots needles.

Still in progress on camera/perspective changes.

Duke

 

Great concept for a game, good going!

 

That's really nice and unique! I love how the balloon hops around and just slides. And those pesky enemy balloons have pretty good AI.
You should try to sell it on mobile.

 

I get this request a lot, and I would love to at some point. There would be a few not-so-minor technical obstacles to overcome. For example, I know I use way too many draw calls for mobile platforms. It could happen, though, depending on support for the game overall and continued demand for a mobile version.

It's amazing how effective a classic pursuit AI can be.

Thank you all for the continued feedback and support. I'm really excited that the game has been received so well so far, and am really looking forward to the release of the Challenge Edition, hopefully next month.

Duke

 

That was actually pretty fun. Good work with that! The other balloons were sort of confusing though, what exactly are they supposed to do other than make my giggle a bit while they chase me around?

 

The enemy balloons are there to knock you off course while collecting runs of rings, preventing you from building up your score multiplier. They are also there to be lured into traps to build your score multiplier.

Duke

 

i love it

 

Second update is available - in this version, I've modified the camera in hopes of improving the 3D perspective of the game. It will now rotate a bit as well as following your balloon. Please try it out and let me know if it is an improvement.

www.smilingcatentertainment.com/arcade/ThrustOrBustWeb.html

I think my next focus will be improving gamepad support.

Duke