Share My Creation HyperBloX

Hi everybody!

Now live on Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ninjadynamics.hyperblox

It's time to go bug hunting before this game hits the Store! :D
Hopefully there will not be many bugs to report, but knowing my luck, I'm expecting quite a few... :rolleyes:


I've posted this game before, but I decided to remove it from the GPlay and make a few significant changes.

New Stuff:
- Ad Supported: This game is now free.
- In-House Ads: I have now full control on which Ads should be displayed, Adbuddiz or my own.
- Game Engine: The difficulty increases for each new level.
- Global High Score Database: Taking my first steps in MySQL.
- Gold Coins: I've created an (experimental) concept of gold coins, a kind of virtual currency that you can use across all my apps and games.
Music:
- Composed by me, myself and I on FL Studio 11. :D
Graphics:
- Basic shapes and free fonts. Everything assembled in Photoshop CS6.
Special Thanks:
- @Peter Simpson: MySQL and DataBase support
- @Informatix: LibGDX support
- @LucaMs: Custom font code snippet
- @sorex, @NJDude, @thedesolatesoul, @Cableguy, @RandomCoder, @DonManfred, @ilan @Erel: General support
- ...and everybody else who ever helped or motivated me. :)
 

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Cableguy

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Very nice indeed... the score table is real online values?
 

thedesolatesoul

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Very nice!
I faced some issues on the login screen, it told me username or password too short but didnt tell me how long it needs to be. Also, i think there should be a guest mode ;) ...when i did manage to login it still showed me an error that password is too short.
Also it changes the text of the edittext to 'password too short' which is a bit annoying as i have to erase it.

Personally i found the ads annoying because they entered the gameplay area so i couldnt see the ball.

I love the starfield and the direction changing. The colors are nice too. Overall the actual game itself is well implemented.
 

wonder

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Thank you very much for the review!! I should make the rules more specific then. Username must be at least 2 characters and not more than 12. The minimum password length is 6 characters. You shouldn't have to erase it, once you touch the password field it should become empty. I will look into it.
I'm happy you didn't get a network error. :)

The ads... the ads... the best thing I can do regarding the ads now is to reduce their display time a little bit.
Ideally, the ball should be drawn above the ad. However, since it's being rendered on the LibGDX layer, I can't bring it to the front without bringing the whole GDX layer to the front as well.

I love the starfield and the direction changing. The colors are nice too. Overall the actual game itself is well implemented.
Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed the game!!! :) Ah, by the way, there is a guest mode.
Either cancel the Logon screen by pressing Back, disable Auto-Sync in the options menu or disable your Internet connection.
 

Cableguy

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Very nice!
I faced some issues on the login screen, it told me username or password too short but didnt tell me how long it needs to be. Also, i think there should be a guest mode ;) ...when i did manage to login it still showed me an error that password is too short.
Also it changes the text of the edittext to 'password too short' which is a bit annoying as i have to erase it.

Personally i found the ads annoying because they entered the gameplay area so i couldnt see the ball.

I love the starfield and the direction changing. The colors are nice too. Overall the actual game itself is well implemented.
I could have wrote this review myself... I add that in the "losing" screen the word "gold" shows up doubled...

One suggestion: you could change the name "gold" or "coins" to "schurikan" ( not sure of the spelling), to merge it into the hole "Ninja Dynamics" theme
 

wonder

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I could have wrote this review myself... I add that in the "losing" screen the word "gold" shows up doubled...
Hi Paulo!

Can you print-screen that? How often does it occur?
 
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Cableguy

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Dahm, can't seem to reproduce this... If I run into it again I will report it with a screenshot
 

ivan.tellez

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Its annoying the ingame ads, for this kindo of action game, its better to put the ads or the win/loose screens
Its annoying the contacting server... Conexion error in all the game
Its annoying/weird the contacting server... Conexion error beetween levels, you can actually keep playin with the conection screen over the game.

Retro game, adds, server conection, gold.... Totally remind me this vid:


 

wonder

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Its annoying the ingame ads, for this kindo of action game, its better to put the ads or the win/loose screens
Its annoying the contacting server... Conexion error in all the game
Its annoying/weird the contacting server... Conexion error beetween levels, you can actually keep playin with the conection screen over the game.

Retro game, adds, server conection, gold.... Totally remind me this vid:



Hi Ivan, thanks for your opinion.

There's a major update on the way. The version you downloaded uses FTP, while the new version will use a database and MySQL. Hopefully, there won't be anymore connection errors. For this new version, I'm using a free database, but once I have the money to purchase a solid DB Server, the connection should be even faster and more reliable.

You only get ads when you lose points. If you don't lose any points, you won't see any ads.

Indeed ads are annoying! As a consumer I hate them in every way, but we need to put food on our plates, right? o_O
 

wonder

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Also, if you disable Auto-Sync in the options menu, the game runs is offline mode. No more weird server connections and your gold is stored locally.
There are one million Pong clones. Yes, this is just another one, but I'm doing my best to give it modern appeal and make it more interesting.
 

ivan.tellez

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Indeed ads are annoying! As a consumer I hate them in every way, but we need to put food on our plates, right? o_O

Yes i know, I have to do the same. I think that you dont have the best ad aproach. When the ads appear, the player is... playing. During the game play, you have a really low probability to have a clik in the ad. Consider some tweaks, like interstitials beetween levels, or banner on menus to keep free and enjoyable the game play.


Also, if you disable Auto-Sync in the options menu, the game runs is offline mode. No more weird server connections and your gold is stored locally.

Well, the MySQL server shoul speed up the procces even if you have not a ssd. If you have already build a local store, consider using an Async approach to do the sync with the server. Allways remember the user is LAZY, most of them dont want to mess wit menus and options. So, its better to give the the optimum configuration and the less interruptions in the the game.


There are one million Pong clones. Yes, this is just another one, but I'm doing my best to give it modern appeal and make it more interesting.

Its actually a really good job :D
 

wonder

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Yes i know, I have to do the same. I think that you dont have the best ad aproach. When the ads appear, the player is... playing. During the game play, you have a really low probability to have a clik in the ad. Consider some tweaks, like interstitials beetween levels, or banner on menus to keep free and enjoyable the game play.
I will definitely re-think my in-game ad integration. I'm actually quite unhappy with AdMob, I might get rid of it at all. Thanks for the feedback.

Well, the MySQL server should speed up the procces even if you have not a ssd. If you have already build a local store, consider using an Async approach to do the sync with the server. Allways remember the user is LAZY, most of them dont want to mess wit menus and options. So, its better to give the the optimum configuration and the less interruptions in the the game.
What's an Async approach? I'm pretty new to MySQL.

Its actually a really good job :D
Thanks!! :)

By the way guys, what's your comment on the music? I've spent a few couple of hours on FL Studio! :D :cool:
Download Sample: http://www.ninjadynamics.com/stuff/sample.mp3

studio.png
 

ivan.tellez

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What's an Async approach? I'm pretty new to MySQL.

Its when you do an asynchronous task. Yu have your main thread on the game, and you use another background thread to do asynchronous tasks.

For example, when you finish a level, yo start the conection with the server in the background without telling/annoying the user, then when the update is complete, you show a little notification "Score updated", "gold storesd", etc. The same when it was an error.


what's your comment on the music?

I really liked. Wish I had music talent :(
 

wonder

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Its when you do an asynchronous task. Yu have your main thread on the game, and you use another background thread to do asynchronous tasks.

For example, when you finish a level, yo start the conection with the server in the background without telling/annoying the user, then when the update is complete, you show a little notification "Score updated", "gold storesd", etc. The same when it was an error.

I really liked. Wish I had music talent :(

Without knowing it, I believe I've already implemented that method in the upcoming version with MySQL. No more disturbances for the user. :)

With FL Studio and a few youtube tutorials, anyone can achieve some pretty decent results!! :)

EDIT: I finally understand why so many people dislike the bottom ad banner. I've been developing and testing this game on my tablet. The ad there is rather small and non-intrusive. Only now, that I've tested the HyperBloX on my phone, I can see how intrusive and ugly the ad looks like on a smaller screen.
I'll get rid of it.
 
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wonder

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New version released:
http://www.ninjadynamics.com/stuff/hyperblox.apk

Updates:

- The FTP server was disabled. Current data was migrated to the new DB server.
- In-game annoying ads disabled.
- This is still a work-in-progress
- Thank you for testing
 
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Cableguy

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i'm getting NO update prompt and the game starts up with an error:

"An error has occurred in sub:
java.lang.IndexOutOfBoundsException;
Invalid index 3m size is 3"

If I hit continue = Yes, the game carries on normally...
I recon it has to do with the new DB management
 

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