Wii SpaceBubble 0.5

A new version of SpaceBubble is released with the following changes:

28/01/2009 Version 0.5
– First release for Wii Homebrew Browser
– HotFix: Prevent crash if IR pointer is going out of the screen.
– Adjusted effect and music default volume.
– Added bubble destroy graphical effect.
– Added 10 seconds extra playtime to each level.
– Highscore is send to webservice if score is better then 10.000 points.
– Clock color is changing to red for the last 15 seconds.
– Added extra information on help screen.
– Reposition some buttons.
– Build game with libogc 1.7.1 and devkitPPC r16 compiler.

22 thoughts on “Wii SpaceBubble 0.5”

  1. Seems quite stable to me, thx! Two issues:
    – In the beginning I had these network connection errors again which seemed to be gone in earlier version
    – The global highscore seems to be mixed something. Some entries (from other users) I’ve seen before are now gone. New entries from my side seemed to work until I break the top score for the second time. Then my 2nd entry stayed and the 1st entry has been replaced by the new entry. Please check your logs.

    To be fair: If you have limited ressources for the global high score I think keeping one entry per user will be enough and will attract and motivate more people to play this cool app…

    1. Hi Jan, Thanks again for testing the latest version.

      Remark 1. The network layer is not changed in the latest two releases. I think that the internet connection problem lays in your locale situation. Do you not face the same problems when your start the homebrew channel? This channel is also connecting to internet to check for a new available version. If the icon (right lower part) is white the connection is fine. If it stays gray the internet connections fails.

      Remark 2. I check the IP address to filter out double highscore entries. Only the best one stays. You IP address changed this night there for there are two entries now.

      General: Coming days I do not have much time for development. I will now first wait for the official release in the Homebrew Browser (Saterday) and check the downloads statistics coming week. If it is downloaded around 1.000 times in one week i will continue to add more features else i will focus on upgrading the existing games. I much say that my kids like the current version a lot 😀 . The play it every day. Greetings!

  2. I did not have network issues before on my wii, I’ll have an eye on it.

    Regarding the high scores: Checking for unique IP Adresses is not the way you should go in my humble opinion. At least in Germany it is quite common to get a new IP every 24 hours. Also if one haves more than one Wii or different users at one Wii you will block the others. In my opinion you should check for name and location. Then also all of your kids would have a chance to enter the global highscore.
    Another idea is to show the version of SpaceBubbles as well. In earliers versions you don’t have a chance to get much more then 13.000 points while in 0.50 at least 21.000 are possible :-). In the online score you also show the level which is not shown in the ingame list.

    What I forgot yesterday: I like the new bubble destroy effekt. Also the running out of time sound is louder and more annoying which prvented me from running out of time (in combination with the ten extra seconds per level).

    And BTW: Not just your kids love the game.

    Thoughts for improvements:
    What about an multiplayer (vs and team) and in addition to that an online mode?

    And please prepare to develop a good poker and monopoly clone for the wii soon, including an online playing mode 🙂

    1. Hi Jan, Thanks for your comment on the webservices. I will change it. Remove the IP check and instead use the Location and Nickname to compare if it is an unique entry. Current weekend I will build and roll out this small change. Good night!

    2. About this new game ideas. Poker and Monopoly are really nice game. I think the monopoly is not royal free yet. The patent rights are still hold by Atari, so far i know. I do not want to break the law about patent rights. Poker is a nice alternative. Let me think about it. 😉

  3. Take your time, no hurry. Poker will be fine assuming we talk about Texas Hold’em, don’t we?

    At the moment you should concentrate on finishing SpaceBubble. I’ll check if I can provide a wad at the weakend….

    1. Hi MLtm, Thanks, also a good idea. Today i check the available Wii Homebrew software catalog. I saw that Wii poker already exist. Tetris is also available but the current version is working really poor. Bad design, Bad support for Wii device features. So thanks for your direction. I will think about it. Tetris is not so hard to build. So that is also an advantaged if I compare it with poker. I am willing to invested around 40 hours development time to created something. If it is take much more time i am not really interested. I have also a family to run. 🙂

  4. The existing home brew poker is not Texas Hold’em and also does not have sooo nice grafix.

    Back to Space Bubble:
    – Could you please tell me what extra bonus means exactly and how it is calculated?
    – This evening I managed to get an entry to the global high score (still in 1st place, *huhu*) which has been empty in country and city/region, name has been correct. The next entry I got looked fine. Please check your logs, should be something above 21.000. Right now there is also a guy having an empty entry.
    – some entries show ((null)) for the city/region
    – If one manage to get an equal score like someone else before (s)he should be placed after the the first one, right now it seems the other way round, you know: first come, first served
    – It would be nice if the music changes randomly or if one could set this option. If you concentrate on the game you’ll recognize after 2 hours that you just heard the same and the same again. I think this is a common feature whioch can be reused in your other games :-). You could also think about to have a common database for sound (and other things?) for your apps so one have to install them only once….

    Good work, keep going 🙂

    1. Hi Jan, I think in the next release of SpaceBubble i will rebuild the Level Cleared Screen. On this new screen i will show the exact calculation. Each level have different parameters. See below the parameter matrix.

      Game Level | MaxTime | BubbleOver | Time Bonus | Extra Bonus
      1 | 30 sec | -30*bubble | 10*timeOver | 0
      2 | 45 sec | -25*bubble | 20*timeOver | 0
      3 | 60 sec | -20*bubble | 30*timeOver | 0
      4 | 75 sec | -15*bubble | 40*timeOver | 500
      5 | 85 sec | -10*bubble | 50*timeOver | 1000
      6 | 95 sec | -05*bubble | 60*timeOver | 2000

  5. The time in the global high score here at your web site seems to be wrong, which time zone is this supposed to be 😉 ?

    1. Hi Jan, The used time is your local time Wii time. Is your internal clock correct. My global highscore time is correct.

  6. I tried but had some issues. Most likely the return to HBC will not work, but this could be disabled in an separate build.

    Please check for a tool called wadder, 1.2 is the current release. This is supposed to run under windows only which is my main issues with this piece of software. It even explains about not being able to install at my only windows box I have around, most likely because I do not have this damn drive C. You should then be able to add one of your music tracks and you should choose some pics for different screens and logos, which could also be animated. Sorry for not providing a wad now….

    1. Hi Jan,

      Can we decide with features we will add/test in the next release. I what to created one new build this week. Lancing date around Friday 6 February 2009.

      This is the wish list so far (List is sorted on priority):
      – Fix global high score screen crash (*)
      – Improve information on level cleared screen
      – If player is 10 seconds idle give a random hint!
      – Filter out double entries in global high score data. (Web Service Change)
      – Nintendo Wii Classic controller support
      – Nintendo Game Cube controller support
      – WAD Support
      – Play random music track during game.
      – Multi player support
      – Multi language support (Move language to xml data files)
      – Add super shift bubble option.
      – Nintendo External LAN device support (Hard to solve, because i do not have this device)

      * Two problem reports received, not really clear want is going wrong there, but I will invested sometime in it, maybe there is still a floating variable? 😕

        1. Hi MLtm,

          I will contact Teknecal about this LAN device. Lets hope he can help me! I can not test it so that’s the main problem for me! Nice idea about this MP3 support. I will put it on the wish list. wplaat

  7. Sorry, to much things in and around my head :-).

    To your planned items:
    – Fix global high score screen crash (*)

    Is this still a problem? Which ersion did you get the reports from? I had this in eralier versions, but not in current ones.

    – Improve information on level cleared screen

    Would be fine

    – If player is 10 seconds idle give a random hint!

    OK, might be helpful at level 6 where you might have a lots of bubbles over. Will you then decrease the score for this hint?

    – Filter out double entries in global high score data. (Web Service Change)

    Would be fair IMHO.

    – Nintendo Wii Classic controller support

    Hm, this is not the gamecube thing but the one you have to connect to the wii remote? At least from my side low priority ;).

    – Nintendo Game Cube controller support

    Same thing, I’ve such a piece but the cable is just tooo short.

    – WAD Support

    Would be fine, Thx 😉

    – Play random music track during game.

    Fine 😉

    – Multi player support

    Do oyu an idea how to implement this?

    – Multi language support (Move language to xml data files)

    Not highest priority in my opinion.

    – Add super shift bubble option.

    Sound interessting, surprise me 🙂

    – Nintendo External LAN device support (Hard to solve, because i do not have this device)

    Hm, no idea if there is really a need for this.

    Thx for your work!

  8. Nice idea about the mp3 support. But please do not use any specific folder for SpaceBubble. I would suggest something generic like /mp3 on the SD Card if there is no common standard by other applications already established. Then you can use (and find 🙂 the music from other applications as well.

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