Having a lot of fun with this! I play Panel Attack as well, and while there are some pretty big differences I like this game's unique take on the genre, e.g. being able to scroll the screen while a combo is going off, being able to catch a falling block with a block from the row immediately below it, etc.
One thing I noticed that is a bummer is that the game slows down noticeably in Mirror mode*, which puts competitive Mirror players at a slight advantage. I've also considered casually streaming the game using Mirror, but I find the slower game speed a little off-putting. Really hoping that performance can be improved to the point where the game performs exactly the same, with or without Mirror!
*footnote: subpar Mirror performance is actually a widespread problem in the Playdate community
Got the catalog version, and it's great. The high scores list is sometimes a little wonky (like the scores may not be shown until the lists are reloaded).
Glad to hear it! And yeah - the high score system does some kind of buffered thing so your score might not show up right away. We separately track your personal best - its the number that is always shown in the menu when picking a difficulty (next to the “HI:” text).
We’d also like to be able to show the scores around your score on the scoreboards, but that’ll have to wait on some upstream changes.
Sorry for the slow response. What I meant is sometimes the score table would show the top 10 names, but with no scores next to them. This would fix on refresh.
No less comfortable than how I hold it the other way. And there’s enough of a border that nothing gets covered by my thumb. I will admit, though, I’m 6’ tall so people with smaller hand may have a different experience. After playing for 2 days, this game would feel way too cramped on the screen in normal orientation.
I have small hands so this was perfectly comfortable for me. The only downside is that I can't use wired headphones while playing it, but it's not a game where I have to have sound for it to be playable so I'll live.
A nice clone of Puzzle League/Panel de Pon, but I would strongly recommend doing more to differentiate the blocks other than just outlines of shapes. Use dithering patterns to help simulate different colors. Fill in some of the shapes. Do something to make it easier for your eye to easily pick up the difference between each block type. They look too similar in its current state, which makes the game unnecessarily difficult.
Edit: Look at the Puyo Puyo clone I just saw posted for a perfect example of how to make them look different. It does a wonderful job of making each of the blob colors look different from each other on the Playdate's screen.
Thanks for the note. Earlier versions did make use of dithering to further distinguish the block types. With the scrolling stack, it ended up too busy and a bit strobe-y.
I will explore further possibilities for a future update.
Yeah, I can see what you mean about the strobe on the grayed-out bottom row. The canonical way around dither strobe on the Playdate (assuming 2x2 dithers) is to scroll in two-pixel increments. If that eats into your smooovness (as I imagine it might), you might have to get resourceful. Two ideas I can imagine:
make the dither into a separate, transparent sprite that overprints the block and moves in 2-pixel increments, but that might be slow and a pain to track with your other sprites, not to mention make flashing effects difficult.
create two versions of the dithered sprites, with the dither pattern offset by one row in the alternate versions of the sprite. Then just pick the odd versions if your tile is in an odd row, and the even versions if the tile is in an even row. If you do that, the dither pattern itself stays still, while the solid-black and solid-white parts slide up under it. It would be an extra step wherever you're picking sprite frames, but depending on how that code's laid out it could be very straightforward.
Failing that, just have an accessibility toggle that, like, blacks out the center of the circle, cross, and heart, or draws them as white-on-black. Changing those three blocks would help distinguish heart from diamond, circle from both square and diamond, and the cross, well, that's just for symmetry since there are six blocks.
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Having a lot of fun with this! I play Panel Attack as well, and while there are some pretty big differences I like this game's unique take on the genre, e.g. being able to scroll the screen while a combo is going off, being able to catch a falling block with a block from the row immediately below it, etc.
One thing I noticed that is a bummer is that the game slows down noticeably in Mirror mode*, which puts competitive Mirror players at a slight advantage. I've also considered casually streaming the game using Mirror, but I find the slower game speed a little off-putting. Really hoping that performance can be improved to the point where the game performs exactly the same, with or without Mirror!
*footnote: subpar Mirror performance is actually a widespread problem in the Playdate community
Got the catalog version, and it's great. The high scores list is sometimes a little wonky (like the scores may not be shown until the lists are reloaded).
Glad to hear it! And yeah - the high score system does some kind of buffered thing so your score might not show up right away. We separately track your personal best - its the number that is always shown in the menu when picking a difficulty (next to the “HI:” text).
We’d also like to be able to show the scores around your score on the scoreboards, but that’ll have to wait on some upstream changes.
Thanks for taking a look and thanks for feedback!
Sorry for the slow response. What I meant is sometimes the score table would show the top 10 names, but with no scores next to them. This would fix on refresh.
Interesting! Does this still happen since the 2.0 Playdate OS update as well? We tweaked how the table is rendered.
I think I got the game just after the os update. Not had a chance to lay it in a little bit.
ok cool, thanks for the heads up! Sorry that you’ve hit that!
Super fun game! A time attack/3 minute mode would be awesome!
Just FYI that we’ve updated the build here with our new version, which includes a time attack / 3 minute mode! Hope you enjoy it!
Ah awesome! 😃
Wow this game is addictive! Reached 436 on hard mode. If only I could focus this hard on my work.
Glad to hear you’re enjoying it! The version available for sale on the Playdate Catalog has a global high score table for sharing your scores!
Once I found a comfortable hand position, it played great! Pressing the B button with my d-pad thumb is what really makes it work.
It doesn't look very comfortable tbh. And you block the screen with your finger.
No less comfortable than how I hold it the other way. And there’s enough of a border that nothing gets covered by my thumb. I will admit, though, I’m 6’ tall so people with smaller hand may have a different experience. After playing for 2 days, this game would feel way too cramped on the screen in normal orientation.
I have small hands so this was perfectly comfortable for me. The only downside is that I can't use wired headphones while playing it, but it's not a game where I have to have sound for it to be playable so I'll live.
Not a fan of the screen orientation either. It's why I've been holding off purchasing it despite loving the original.
The artwork looks nice, but I'm not a fan of the screen orientation. The button layout with the playdate feels uncomfortable.
We wanted to try the rotated layout to give more screen real estate to the board and blocks. Thanks for checking it out and the feedback.
A nice clone of Puzzle League/Panel de Pon, but I would strongly recommend doing more to differentiate the blocks other than just outlines of shapes. Use dithering patterns to help simulate different colors. Fill in some of the shapes. Do something to make it easier for your eye to easily pick up the difference between each block type. They look too similar in its current state, which makes the game unnecessarily difficult.
Edit: Look at the Puyo Puyo clone I just saw posted for a perfect example of how to make them look different. It does a wonderful job of making each of the blob colors look different from each other on the Playdate's screen.
Thanks for the note. Earlier versions did make use of dithering to further distinguish the block types. With the scrolling stack, it ended up too busy and a bit strobe-y.
I will explore further possibilities for a future update.
Are you still working on this?
Yes, but a bit slowly. A bit of wait and see how the official app catalog turns out.
Nice, thanks!
Yeah, I can see what you mean about the strobe on the grayed-out bottom row. The canonical way around dither strobe on the Playdate (assuming 2x2 dithers) is to scroll in two-pixel increments. If that eats into your smooovness (as I imagine it might), you might have to get resourceful. Two ideas I can imagine:
Failing that, just have an accessibility toggle that, like, blacks out the center of the circle, cross, and heart, or draws them as white-on-black. Changing those three blocks would help distinguish heart from diamond, circle from both square and diamond, and the cross, well, that's just for symmetry since there are six blocks.
Oh, and a music toggle would be nice.