Found a few more breaking bugs when playing through boss rush mode:
1. After defeating first phase of boss 10, which involves the black spiky ball then transforms into rainbow square, which fell on the paddle on its last stock, hits 0 then the score was high enough to trigger the stock extend, the paddle plays through without another ball spawning. Somewhere, it managed to tick ball count required to be 0 without proper lock-in for game over.
2. On the corrupted carrier ship, boss 12, several balls landed (both of them happen to be spark balls) onto the hit-able parts on slowdown at the edges, they stayed tight for so long the game freezes again, unable to pause the game. Had to force exit.
Endless mode - After random trigger of fire popping out of bricks, no more bricks can be produced, making endless mode impossible.
No matter what happens, there should always be bricks generated above the play field. No bricks shall be destroyed by screen clearing events when outside the play field.
It specifically happens when there are no indestructible blocks on screen.
One more game breaking bug:
After finding the toxic monster in the invader mode, when high score has been entered, the achievement screen pops up, without disappearing nor having button prompt. I could not even pause the game. I had to quit the game.
Hey thank you for the update. Will add those problems to the list should be an easy fix.
I do have a big list of updates and new features to put into the game but game development isn't my full time job and i am working on some other (more boring) projects currently.
I am hoping to release some new content for BB by about April (3 new power ups, 3 new bad guys/drones, new mouse control UI, bug fixes you have addressed)
One day in the long haul i want to create a level editor so anyone can make levels.
I found an impossible level to complete because the ball disappears before it can hit the brick below. I tried to aim for that. If you want those levels to be completed, then losing the ball would have to go completely out of bounds at the bottom. The N powerup, the nitro-ball actually pushed the level downward, which explains the ball being lost before hitting the bottom. Either have the bottom most bricks destroyed by the nitro wrecking ball effect or have the ball be lost from reaching the bottom of the screen past the UI elements.
Also discovered a game breaking glitch involving operative and ice. For some strange reason, when the operative uses ice so many times, the game suddenly freezes, cannot pause the game yet my mouse can still move.
Yep i see the problem. No worries that should be an easy fix. I thought when N pushed the level down. Bricks lower than the UI should be destroyed... obviously that didn't happen so will look into this one.
If you do find yourself for whatever reason in an unpassable level a work around is to pause the game and exit back to the main menu, the game will auto save your progress when you go to start a game again you can restore from the start of the level.
Found another game breaking bug: Hitting the bomb block with paddle while moving, caused by a brick dropping red ship, makes it into a transparent dud. Making the level impossible to beat.
I am curious if you plan to include support for spinner controls, which is basically a 1 axis rotating mechanism found in various arcade titles.
I am having a good time by trying the online version before purchasing the full version. Looking forward to playing it out with several fellows when I have them.
Hello - yes i would love to make a custom spinner controller for the game. As far as i know there is no off the shelf spinner controller, so I have been thinking of making a USB one myself as i am lucky enough to have a few friends who understand the electronics. I have made my own game joysticks using micro controllers in the past.
For these paddle based games using a spinner controls would greatly improve the game play!
Thanks. I very much enjoy it myself and it is very challenging still trying to beat the master levels (super difficult levels you can unlock) on hard difficulty.
Interestingly I wrote most of the music over 10 years ago back then I didn't know how to program video games only knew about music. I revisited some of my old music and rearranged and reworked the songs to suit the game.
Love the review (I could read it using Google translate) you really cover everything and i'm glad my intentions for the game where understood by you and captured in the review.
With CRT and Scanline filters are interesting suggestions and i think it would be possible to include a feature like that.
99% of the sounds in the game where created by me using an Alesis Micron synthesiser but i drew inspiration from sounds of the past to make them. The three sounds I didn't make were the dragon roars, a cheer effect and a whistle sample. But they are public domain sounds.
Hey Ricochet thanks for the message. I haven't put it up on Steam yet. Will let you know once its actually on there. I have made lots of improvements since the trailer came out and will have to re-do the trailer and get the game out to the public.
The biggest difference is now your paddle can jump at anytime which gives you a lot more control and freedom.
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Found a few more breaking bugs when playing through boss rush mode:
1. After defeating first phase of boss 10, which involves the black spiky ball then transforms into rainbow square, which fell on the paddle on its last stock, hits 0 then the score was high enough to trigger the stock extend, the paddle plays through without another ball spawning. Somewhere, it managed to tick ball count required to be 0 without proper lock-in for game over.
2. On the corrupted carrier ship, boss 12, several balls landed (both of them happen to be spark balls) onto the hit-able parts on slowdown at the edges, they stayed tight for so long the game freezes again, unable to pause the game. Had to force exit.
Playing on latest version on Mac OSX
Found one more game breaking bug:
Endless mode - After random trigger of fire popping out of bricks, no more bricks can be produced, making endless mode impossible.
No matter what happens, there should always be bricks generated above the play field. No bricks shall be destroyed by screen clearing events when outside the play field.
It specifically happens when there are no indestructible blocks on screen.
One more game breaking bug:
After finding the toxic monster in the invader mode, when high score has been entered, the achievement screen pops up, without disappearing nor having button prompt. I could not even pause the game. I had to quit the game.
Hey thank you for the update. Will add those problems to the list should be an easy fix.
I do have a big list of updates and new features to put into the game but game development isn't my full time job and i am working on some other (more boring) projects currently.
I am hoping to release some new content for BB by about April (3 new power ups, 3 new bad guys/drones, new mouse control UI, bug fixes you have addressed)
One day in the long haul i want to create a level editor so anyone can make levels.
I found an impossible level to complete because the ball disappears before it can hit the brick below. I tried to aim for that. If you want those levels to be completed, then losing the ball would have to go completely out of bounds at the bottom. The N powerup, the nitro-ball actually pushed the level downward, which explains the ball being lost before hitting the bottom.
Either have the bottom most bricks destroyed by the nitro wrecking ball effect or have the ball be lost from reaching the bottom of the screen past the UI elements.
Also discovered a game breaking glitch involving operative and ice. For some strange reason, when the operative uses ice so many times, the game suddenly freezes, cannot pause the game yet my mouse can still move.
Thanks for the bug finding. I add this to my bug list to investigate. Thanks for letting me know
Yep i see the problem. No worries that should be an easy fix. I thought when N pushed the level down. Bricks lower than the UI should be destroyed... obviously that didn't happen so will look into this one.
If you do find yourself for whatever reason in an unpassable level a work around is to pause the game and exit back to the main menu, the game will auto save your progress when you go to start a game again you can restore from the start of the level.
Found another game breaking bug: Hitting the bomb block with paddle while moving, caused by a brick dropping red ship, makes it into a transparent dud. Making the level impossible to beat.
Thank you very much - will look into this one and add it to the list, nice to see you are playing on a Mac too!
I am curious if you plan to include support for spinner controls, which is basically a 1 axis rotating mechanism found in various arcade titles.
I am having a good time by trying the online version before purchasing the full version. Looking forward to playing it out with several fellows when I have them.
Hello - yes i would love to make a custom spinner controller for the game. As far as i know there is no off the shelf spinner controller, so I have been thinking of making a USB one myself as i am lucky enough to have a few friends who understand the electronics. I have made my own game joysticks using micro controllers in the past.
For these paddle based games using a spinner controls would greatly improve the game play!
Do you get a steam key with purchase on Itch.io?
Yes i have just uploaded some Steam keys for this - every purchase gets a Steam activation code.
This game is a pretty nice reinvention of Arkanoid, it's very challenging and fun.
BTW, I became addicted to the music.
Thanks. I very much enjoy it myself and it is very challenging still trying to beat the master levels (super difficult levels you can unlock) on hard difficulty.
Interestingly I wrote most of the music over 10 years ago back then I didn't know how to program video games only knew about music. I revisited some of my old music and rearranged and reworked the songs to suit the game.
Soundtrack is available on my band camp page
https://readywolf.bandcamp.com/album/beautiful-bricks-soundtrack
That's awesome!!!
BTW I wrote a review in spanish about Beautiful Bricks: https://retroorama.blogspot.com/2019/11/indie-review-beautiful-bricks.html
Love the review (I could read it using Google translate) you really cover everything and i'm glad my intentions for the game where understood by you and captured in the review.
With CRT and Scanline filters are interesting suggestions and i think it would be possible to include a feature like that.
99% of the sounds in the game where created by me using an Alesis Micron synthesiser but i drew inspiration from sounds of the past to make them. The three sounds I didn't make were the dragon roars, a cheer effect and a whistle sample. But they are public domain sounds.
Yeah, I think add a bunch of retro flavoured screen filters would be awesome to the aesthetics.
Thanks for the compliments about the review. :)
Congratulations, Matt! Making a game is no mean feat, and Beautiful Bricks is a stunner! Looking forward to playing it this weekend.
Thanks so much mate. Nice to hear from you and enjoy the Beautiful Bricks!
Hey Ricochet thanks for the message. I haven't put it up on Steam yet. Will let you know once its actually on there. I have made lots of improvements since the trailer came out and will have to re-do the trailer and get the game out to the public.
The biggest difference is now your paddle can jump at anytime which gives you a lot more control and freedom.
Hey m5. Ok so maybe its taken a little longer but Beautiful Bricks is finally on Steam! Ha things sometimes take longer than we hoped!
A link to the steam store: https://store.steampowered.com/app/810060/Beautiful_Bricks/