Pipe Rush // Demo

This week i started a little Puzzle Game "Pipe Rush" (temp.Name) and want to show you a little Video and for Modem users 2 screenshots.

The Game looks a bit like Tetris but plays different , you have to place the pipes with the open parts to another open part of an other pipe. You have to close all openings of a Pipe and get score for this. Some Pipes has 4 openings and others only 2 or 3 (most score for the 4 openings pipe). The pipes also have different colors , so if you close 3 pipes with the same color (without closing an other colored pipe) you get extra score.
The look is not final , i will change background from black to maybe some pics.
The Font is also not Final.

Later i will add more features like Bombs , pipes that you cant rotate and some more.

This is my first commercial Game , if someone has experience with puplishing a Game or know good puplisher or any info would be nice.
Thanks...



Video 2 MB

P.s. The Music made by Shaque ..

That looks pretty sweet. Very professional. Some action (you mentioned bombs) and other flashes and bangs would make for a very addicting game. I imagine it speeds up as you play.

Look'n forward to a demo sometime.

keep it up!

It looks pretty nice. Probably would find a home in the 4.99 market (I say this because you mentioned it will be for sale).

I do have a few nit-picky suggestions, though, so please forgive me. The over all UI is a bit dull, being grey with a little texture. Perhaps this is only one level??? Also, the text, for the time, score, ect. dosent look like its aligned correctly. Easily fixed, but just figured I would point it out.

Other than that, looking good. Keep with it, and you could have an entertaining product when finished.

Regards,
Raddaddy

Highly impressive.

Some tips I got from publishers when I was trying to get Tower published.

Make all the movement done by mouse. Seems women are the primary players of casual games and they don't care to use both hands for game play (not me saying this, came from a publisher.)

When you're done with your game, make sure to send a copy to each of these guys.

AOL Games Channel - http://onlinegames.channel.aol.com
Arcadetown - www.arcadetown.com
Bigfishgames - www.bigfishgames.com
Boonty - www.boonty.com
EA’s Pogo - www.pogo.com
Gamefiesta - www.gamefiesta.com
Gamehouse - www.gamehouse.com
Gameslammer - www.gameslammer.com
Gametrust - www.gametrust.com
Gamextazy - www.gamextazy.com
Gamezone - www.gamezone.com
Garagegames - www.garagegames.com
Grab.com - www.grab.com
Hotgames - www.hotgames.com
Midasplayer - www.midasplayer.com
Miniclip - www.miniclip.com
MSN Gaming Zone - http://zone.msn.com
Nextarcade - www.nextarcade.com
Oberon Games - http://gamecenter.oberon-media.com
Playfirst - www.playfirst.com
Popcap - www.popcap.com
RealArcade - www.realarcade.com
Realore - www.realore.com
Reflexive - www.reflexive.com
Shockwave - www.shockwave.com
Terragame - www.terragame.com
Totalgaming - www.totalgaming.net
Trygames - www.trygames.com
Tucows’s Playclique - www.playclique.com
WildGames - www.wildgames.com
Yahoo Games - http://games.yahoo.com
Zylom - www.zylom.com

These were mentioned in the reply

Illusionsoftware - http://www.illusionsoftware.be
Absolutist - www.Absolutist.com
Gamehorde - http://www.gamehorde.net/
Casual games are those simular to "Tetris". However there are other types of games hosted on these sites. Thought I would share this list with everyone, if you know of some that are not on here then let me know.


http://www.coniserver.net/ubbthreads/sho...true#Post646587

@Albert thanks ... yes it will have more actions and the game speeds up by reaching the next Level.

@Rad Daddy .. as i mentioned the look is not Final and also the font .. it could be possible that at the end the look is mutch different from now .. Thanks for your Tips...

@FoxHound .. thanks for the tips and of course the Links .. i will include both , Mouse and Keyboard.

Wow, Shinobi, that was an excellent demo! Well done. It's like a cross between Tetris and Pipe Mania on the old Super Nintendo, but obviously much better since you used a superior engine. After watching the demo, I find myself urging to play it. I think a backdrop and changes every now and then might be a good idea. Even at this early stage, it looks like a fun game.

EDIT: And thanks for crediting me.

Thanks Shaque ..

I thought about a Animating Background or something simular , but first i will work on the extra Stuff like bombs and more. I am sure(hope) this will change the fun to mutch more.

Aaah, a puzzle game. Everyone loves puzzlegames.

It looks like a real interesting twist to tetris. As far as the colorbonus goes, I might have misunderstood the system, but I think it would be clearer if you a) display that you're "almost there" to get the colorbonus and b) get the colorbonus not for closing three same-colored pipes in a row, but if one pipe is connected to pipes all of the same color. See what I mean? Oh well, probably not

Anyway, what you have here is an awesome start. I really like the idea. From watching the video, I feel that a little more feedback would be nice. The best thing right now you can do to increase the feedback is to adjust the music as people play. You might even analyze the stlye of play and adjust the music to that (I tried that concept in one of the new ExperimentalGamdesign-games, it works pretty well ). Or you might make the soundeffects when pipes land more interesting. Players may create their own rythm in the game!

Other than adjusting audio, you may adjust video. You can combine that by creating simple, but colorful particle-streaks or whatever in the background. Start with a black background and as you go, there will be a unique colored scene (the game I mentioned earlier uses this concept as well and it's awesome )


Whats more? As it takes quite a while for a levelup, I'd combine that with a bonus round. For example, water may flow out of certain pipes. You have to close them before the water reaches a certain high, otherwise you'll punish the player with a few pipes more. If he manages to close them all, though, some pipes might be removed.


Again: Looks good so far! You may completely ignore the advices I've given - it's just what I'd do at this point

@Error 014 i won´t ignore any advices and yours are very good so far . I will see what of them i can include in my game . Thanks for your comments , they are always welcome

Updated the UI and the Bombs are in Game now ....

Bomb effect:
If you hit a Pipe with the Bomb , the Pipe explodes and his neighbors are destroyed and become Transparent. These transparent neighbors cant be closen from now on.

Tip: try to bomb an empty area or bomb some already closen(glowing) Pipes.

Soon i will replace the old Video with a new one.

As always: Impressive Shinobi !!
I'm always cheerfull when I play/ see one of your games/demo's, don't know why
I think it's because you make simple but very amusing and attractive games !!
Keep it up

Cheers

Frazzle

Thank you Frazzle , for your cute words

Here are 2 new Shots ... Bomb in action !

Ok i recorded a new Video (the old is removed) .
This time with Bombs and Non Rotatable Pipes (Black & white).

The Music again by Shaque..

Video (7 MB)

The concept is very intresting, and the shots look good. I think you'll do well with this once finished and published. My advice is to offer levels in themes, for example, one level could have bamboo pipes in an asian setting, another set in the artic, ect. Possibly missions too, like hook up the pipes to a certain point in the map to feed something water, in a set amount of time.

@William i like the idea with different Pipe themes , actually i have it so that every new level , a new item/feature apears .

from Level 2 : Bombs
from Level 3 : non roatable Pipes

and more to come.
I also planed a Bonus level lets say every 5 Levels or something.

First of all, you should increase the speed of the blocks falling over time. Urgency is always a great thing in puzzlegames, as it prevents the game from becoming stale.

What I've noticed is that... well, it seems as if it is impossible to lose, really. Either you want to lose or you won't, as you can keep placing the pipes so that a line is complete, which will remove that line and you can go on. That, my friend, isn't so good. Let's try to make this different: Pipes disappear when you connect four or more of them together. That does also help to set your game apart from tetris. Combine that with my neat "water-comes-down-the-pipes"-idea and you have even more urgency which is, as I've stated, the key to true awesomeness in puzzlers.

Special missions might also help, for example, the player may earn a nice bonus when he manages to connect four "+"-parts in the next thirty seconds - otherwise he'll lose points, gain a few useless pipes, get only bombs or whatever. Surprises are always good (almost as good as urgency )

every time you come in a higher Level , the falling speed of the Pipes already Increases ( not showen in video , i was cheating ).

You can loose of course , at the starting level its mutch easier as in later levels , in later levels you have bombs , unrotateable Pipes , Pipes falling faster and more.
And there is a time running down and if you place a pipe without an opening to the bottom , you loose 10 time points.

About the special missions , i will make bonus levels , in these levels i can use your examples . The idea with using only the closen pipes and let them disapear if closen , sounds not bad , i will think about that.

Thanks...

Yes, it does look fun and a nice game I can;t wait to play it, I'm buying it. Looks like fun!

What I noticed through the game is that, yes, it did look hard to lose, even with bombs. what I was thinking was, to get rid of the pipes, you have to get all of them in that row lite or make a closed ciruit one or what not...

However you plan on doing it, is probably best, and it will be fun either way Can't wait amigo

Thanks Towelie for your nice comments.

I will try some of the suggestions by Error and Towelie , but i am really happy with that what i have so far , because it will be harder each next level you reach , belive me .

Also i won´t give the player the feeling , to loose in just a minute

Another thing that came in my mind and maybe make the game harder is that from time to time the game notice the empty places at the bottom and place blocks there , now you have to place a Bomb on a block to get this place free again.

Your very welcome.
To let you know, I'd be overjoyed to get as far as you. You've done amazing.
The feeling to loose in a minute is not good, true, however, with how it looked after 3 minutes, it seems impossible to lose, which is where my suggestion came from. You can even notice it in Tetris, that it gets harder by the third minute.

Thanks again Towelie

I tryed some of the sugestions , but i wasnt really happy with them .
But i will do some Bonus Levels that was also sugested.

Now i updated the game with another to things that makes the game harder on the next levels .
1: Sometimes some Cross Pipes with a glowing shine appears , after placing it on another pipe you have some given time to close it . If you can close it in time you get 300 bonus score , but if not the glowing shine of the pipe moves up and if this shine hits other pipes , these pipes will morph to unuseable pipes and cant close anymore (like the pipes hitten by the Bomb).

2: Also on later levels , it could be that a Transparent Box appears and scans the bottom for a free slot , if it finds one it drops down and become full visible. If you hit now this Box with a pipe , the pipe removes and you got -10 Time points. Now its not posible to close the bottom line to get more space for the pipes , only way to remove the Box , is a Bomb .

Hi ,
I made again a new Video (11 MB) that shows the current development state of the Game , i started recording directly at level 4 , so you can see all currently available behaviour patterns of the game.
As you can see in the Video , at level 4 its mutch mutch harder as before.

First i´ve tryed some particle effects for the Background , but it was harder to identify what´s background and what not , so i made some transparent shapes that falling down in the background.

Pls. let me know again what you think of the current status of the game.

nice work, all tho i didn't get the rules by lookin' at the vid, but it looks like an adictive game for sure

Thanks .

I will upload a time limit Demo version if the Game is finished and i will write a full detailed game Info , maybe in game or as a Document .

But the idea is simple , you just have a Number of Pipes that you have to close their ends. The Pipe Number is showen in the right side under "time" and "score". Pipes with more then 2 ends are better scored but counts as 1 closed pipe.

I will include some bonus levels and maybe one or two more features and i am done.