Trace 4K

Contests 4K Game Competition - 2013
#1

http://java4k.com/screenshots/8e416e7fb6c05de28307f540c66394f1.png

I present Trace 4K! This is my first 4K game ever, so it’s probably too simple/boring. Play it anyways!
…Too lazy to embed applet so I’ll just link it.

http://java4k.com/index.php?action=games&method=view&gid=435

The objective of the game is to trace the white line with your radial gradient reticle (mouse cursor). Once traced, a line segment will become a random contrasting color! The background also fades in between six different colors because I was bored. Stray off the line path and the game will end. Score is on the top right, post your high scores!

Any suggestions/criticism is appreciated.

#2

Actually it’s not too bad.

Good job.

#3

Thanks. Any suggestions?

#4

Hey yeah it’s not too bad :slight_smile:

My suggestions would be:

  1. Change the background colour based on your deviation from the line, or at least when you are getting far from the line (I felt like the game end rather abruptly)

  2. Maybe have a health bar that you lose health from each time you go off the bar

  3. Some kind of bonus points system, like having 2 paths fork off the trace, one of which is harder to follow and gives you more points, the other which is easier so you’re less likely to die. And/or you could have bonus icons that appear on the line temporarily, that you have to move quickly to get.

#5

Ok added a health bar…not that it took 2 days to make I just didn’t realize it would update so slowly.

#6

That’s a good and quite original game. I regret there is no highscore, so it is difficult to consider one’s progress into the game. Also, you should allow the player to start the game by pressing some mouse button. Forcing the player to use the keyboard to do so, whereas the game is only played with the mouse, seems odd.

#7

Thanks for the good feedback, implemented mouseclick to start and a highscore board for your own top 10 scores. It’ll be a little bit before java4k updates the applet…

#8

Loading your applet, I still have a ClassNotFoundException on your Trace4K.class. Patience.

#9

Well, it didn’t take so long a time for the applet to be updated. It’s just that it took me some time to test your game again !

Some weird things happen while pressing the mouse buttons during the game. The radial gradient reticle freezes each time, and sometimes, it resets the score ! Also, the game crashed after playing for a while. The last time it happened, my score was about 7200.

#10

I think I’ve fixed the problems, caught a few bugs myself.
I made it so that dragging the mouse doesn’t stop the reticle (it used to be because I was only updating the reticle in MOUSE_MOVE and not MOUSE_DRAGGED). The clicking problem is fixed (pretty sure). The crashing with high scores is fixed too, I think:

30000 score with 5x lines and points added. Should be fine.