Balls - Endless Arcade Game iOS, Android

This is my first ever post for IndieDB and unless you've been following my regular updates on my Twitter and Facebook you probably have no idea about this Balls game I seem to be yapping on about so instead of boring you all with what would probably be a very long explanation about the game, I'm going to keep things as short and concise as possible.

Anyway, on to the game itself. Balls is a little free to play game I'm currently developing using the Unity engine partly based on a prototype I did for the 31st Ludum Dare game jam (mostly just the mechanics) but redone from the ground up for mobile devices. The game can be described as some sort of "endless arcade" title although to be more far, a more accurate term would be "infinite runner" as the gameplay is similar to something like Canabalt or Flappy Bird.

The objective is straightforward. Just keep a colourful ball up in the air for as long as possible (hence why it's called "Balls"). If you let it fall you lose. If you let it hit the randomly generated spikes that appears throughout the game you lose as well. Simples. You can bounce the ball up by simply tapping on it and wherever you tap influences the direction of the bounce (i.e. taps near the centre of the ball will make it go straight up whilst taps from the side will make it go from that direction). To explain things a lot clearer, here's a little trailer I made earlier this month showcasing most of the features in the game so far:

The game is about 70-80% feature complete (The one last feature I'm working on at the moment is a little shop system to buy/unlock colours for your ball) but my current plan is to aim for a soft launch release on Android stores such as Google Play and Amazon by the end of Q2 or early Q3 this year followed by a release on the Apple App Store and Windows Phone Store a few months later. If you just so happen to have an Android device you can in fact try it right now as I'm currently running a closed beta test for the game (sign up by heading to bit.ly/ballsandroidbeta). You can also try out a web demo version of the game (currently based on a slightly older build of the game so there'll be a couple of design differences here and there) on your PCs/Macs/Laptops by heading to Xanjos.itch.io.

Finally, to round things off I will be demoing Balls (for the first time) in front of a whole bunch of people as part of the developer showcase for Intel's Buzz Workshop event in London next month (Tickets are available at Intelbuzz.bemyapp.com and there'll be loads of interesting to check out such as various talks on game development as well as the chance to try out some pretty cool indie games beside mine).

Have Fun!!

Jason/Xanjos