Here is my first Pico-8 game, 'Cosmo Boing!', a fantasy arcade game for one or two players.
The aim is simply to guide your ball to the finish line, without falling into a gap. Levels increase in length and difficulty as you progress. Use of 'direction' tiles is possible (and unavoidable), so use them to aid progress. You have 3 'jumps' (per level/life) which you can use to jump gaps or avoid certain tiles - use these wisely!
Scoring:
Safe tile: 1 point
Direction tile: 2 points
Consecutive direction tiles (combo): 5 points per tile, plus 25 bonus for every 5 tile combo.
Level clear: amount varies depending on level difficulty, reduced by using 'jumps', and zeroed when a life is lost.
Bonus point powerup: amount varies (random).
Bonus lives are awarded at 1000 points, and every 2000 points thereafter.
Power-Ups (green animated icons):
Bonus points
Bonus jump
Bonus life
Super jump
Controls:
Insert Coin = Up
Move left/right = Left / Right
Jump = X or Z (Shift or A for player 2)
Note: when 2 players are active, players are given 5 jumps instead of the usual 3.
This has been a fun project, taken me about 5-6 weeks to write (on and off). This is my first game and first Pico-8 project (wasn't even intended to be a game originally) so the code could be better/tidier.
Hopefully there aren't any bugs, but please let me know if you find any! I'd also be interested to hear how far you can get. Hope you enjoy!
Seems to periodically stutter in the web player for me, so I'd recommend playing in Pico-8!
Nice work! The whole thing hangs together really well: solid art, solid mechanics, great soundtrack under it all.
Pretty cool game... I particularly love that the ball bounces to the music's beat!
Great game. The spinning ball with moon orbiting the star/sun is a nice touch.
Thanks for the comments!
It was my intention for the ball to bounce on the music beat, but it does go out of sync. I couldn't work out how to keep it in sync using _UPDATE (closest music speed is either slightly fast or slow).
Hah, yeah, there is a similarity. I've played Trailblazer but always found it very difficult. Someone also pointed out to me this game (which I hadn't seen before):
Will have to give that one a try, and the sequel 'Rebounder'.
This is nice... Didn't understand what to do at first, but once I did, I found it quite compelling. Also, the graphics are pretty :-) Minor suggestion: perhaps the ball bounces a bit "high" (i.e. becomes too big when you jump, obscuring too much of the "board")?
Thanks for your comment!
Do you mean just the normal jump (when pressing button or hitting and 'up' arrow tile) ? I don't find that to be a problem as at the peak height, the ball is only obscuring the tile it is jumping over, which isn't really important. At that point you're more interested at the row of tiles in front of the one you're jumping over..
In later levels the 'super jump' (green 'up' arrow) does obscure much more than that, but that's sort of a pay off.
Anyone made it to the second 'planet' yet (level 21)?
Just made it to level 24!
I keep coming back to this game, it's a lot of fun. I had no idea there was even more awesome music hidden in the later levels too. The gameplay gets intense in the later levels, and I love how the combo system makes you want to try crazy jump sequences.
Ah excellent, I'm glad someone has made it to the other tune - well done! :) Truth be told I was getting sick of the first tune after a months programming/testing...
Glad you like the combo system too. When playtesting I found myself seeing how many I could do in a row...and found that quite fun, so the combo points system was born! It also adds an extra risk/reward thing.
You missed the extra life in level 20 though!
This game is great. I played it earlier and loved it. I'll play again later. I'll be back.
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