AFAIR you controlled the ball/ orb/ puck directly in the old a77itude, right? I think a much more interesting gameplay would result from controlling it indirectly where you place the mouse cursor somewhere next to the ball and as long as you hold down the left mouse button the ball gets pushed away (gets an impuls) from the mouse cursor position.
There is a game that is called "The Moon Hates The Stars". It was long ago available as freeware on the Experimental Gameplay site (
http://experimentalgameplay.com/), where you was able to send in all kinds of creative/experimental games. The site closed, was long under re-construction and follows now since 2009 a totally different approach - but I remember the game very well (here is download link:
http://www.sosej.cz/Software/Hry/Arkady/The-Moon-Hates-The-Stars/Download). I once tried to find/contact the author, but failed - because it is a very beautiful game: you control the moon and all the stars react like a herd of sheep to it - they go away .. it uses crowd behaviour AI. Goal of the game was to fit the stars into one, or many, shapes (circles). Simply beautiful.
Although easy mechanic, you have to take your time. It is relaxing. But it can be unsettling, when you pushed some stars on the one side into the circle, and on the other side some decide something like "hey! lets get out of here"
A passive control scheme for A7ITUDE... I don't know. Can only work if the puzzles are rather easy and slow... I would have to experiment with that.
I also wanted to experiment with some new ingame mechanics (collectables, magnet rails/impulse rails, switches, multiple holes) - some of them are pointless if you have direct control (like collecting items) and get interesting if they are in a "difficult" area, like fast moving obstacles/rings... if I implement a passive control scheme with slower movement, this could get even more interesting. Good point, Superku!
I could also imagine a multiplayer mode, in which different people influence by their pull/push control of their own orb other orbs of other players. Or a co-op mode: two players control together the orb.
Besides, this would destroy totally the "action-orientated" game of skill, in which you have to move fast and quick... hm.
On the other side, having a move + one click button mechanics resolves the necessary to deal with different mouse cursor speeds.. this was an issue with the old approach. It also makes it possible for a touchscreen, because then you would NOT HIDE the orb with your finger, you can see it...
Great idea, Superku! Thanks a lot!
Oh... and I was sure you already decided that before.
Nope... I thought that the approach "make the game up to a certain degree", "shift the prototype to another engine" and finally "finish the game" was a good idea. But with simple algebra I figured out that step 2 is impossible for me alone and that it costs to much money to hire someone to do so. Therefore I decided to work with what I know and do the best I can. All this "use a new engine" gibberish somehow catched me... I should have known better.
