Yuri, since you were such a great inspiration for my own project.
I think it is only right that I am a bit honest with yours. It is obvious to me that you are a very talented programmer, and that you have very high goals in terms of beating Mojang’s download sequence and security. I can definitely see your passion for doing something that no one here has ever attempted before.
Honestly, Yuri, you are a technical programmer. By focusing specifically on your code, you have shown to me that you value maintained code higher than anything. You want a game that has code that is reusable, has high security, and has flexible design. From a technical standpoint, these features are highly appreciated when designing huge applications like a bank application, an MMORPG, or a chat service.
However, in your case, you have to realize that you are designing a brick breaker.
This game does not demand the heavy background, networking, and a full Github account to create a good game. A simple game needs to have a very small footprint on memory. Making a more bulky version, regardless of the features, is going to turn people away. From a technical standpoint, you have to think about why someone would download a simple game for 50MB when they can get the same experience for 3MB.
This is the challenge of game making Yuri, it requires a different mindset.
Games need to do as much as they can to keep users happy. In other words, the more time spent on features that’ll make people happy, the better. Let me give you some advice on what I would do to help improve Brick Broken.
1) Get rid of the backgrounds, or use a gradient background.
The background picture is causing a problem, I would just remove it. Having a solid white or black background might be plain, but people can’t say that it looks bad. If your game had a solid theme, just find a background that matches the theme. People don’t like backgrounds that have conflicting colors. Try to get a background that doesn’t clash with the ball color.
2) Make it easier to download
The download service, though it is great for updates, in its current state it is “Broken”. I would stop worrying about my own code and give my game out in a simple runnable jar. There are so many clones of BreakOut that any programmer here can make it in a heartbeat. Normal users will play yours if the features are better. The amount of effort taken to keep your code safe is destroying your fan base.
3) Know your priorities
You have to decide between making a better experience for the users, or making a better program for yourself. Users love flashy animations and easy to pick up game play elements. With the high amount of people saying that the in-game features are lacking, I would absolutely look into what features I can add to make the game more fun. If the main game isn’t something people are willing to get into, then even if I make a great network and level editor, no one will come. I would focus all my energy on minimizing the complaints. The happier my users are, the more chances they’ll come back to play the game.
Please don’t quit on it…
All of us here are developers, the same as you are. If anything makes me happy as a developer, it is seeing another one succeed. Quitting your project isn’t going to help you, or harm your users. Instead, you’ll just add to a statistic of another project that wasn’t finished. Since you are this passionate about adding so many features, I would say you wouldn’t want to see it fail either. Don’t let the people on here destroy your passion.
Anyway, I hope that you listen to the advice. But by all means, don’t give up on your project. I wouldn’t be trying to give it a bit of publicity if I didn’t feel you had something great to offer. Prove me right and finish this game :).
