Alpha Bombfield (Minimalist Action Game) [Alpha 1.4]

Calvert

Member
Bombfield: the explosive byte-sized action game!

- Classic Action Game
- 100 Levels
- Random Level Sequences
- Minimal Graphics

- Very Difficult

The field is constantly changing around you. Bombs are able to be manipulated, but their change of location is inexorable. Develop your strategy by choosing your stats, then collect treasures and disarm any bombs sitting in your way, or use them as cover from the dangerous things that seek to destroy you.

Goal:
Collect all treasures in a level and run to the ladder while avoiding all hazards. Conquer 30 levels to complete a round of Bombfield.

Download page on Itch.io
https://reveremint.itch.io/bombfield-alpha-10


Skill Setup Menu:



1.4.png

CONTROLS:
Arrow Keys: 4 directional movement.

X: Menu Select.

Hold X + Arrow Key: Disarm Bombs, Collect Treasure.

Escape: Main Menu, Close Game.

STATS:
At the start of your adventure, you are given [8] points to spend on your stats. Stats consist of the following:

- Armour: Determines the amount of hitpoints you have.

- Skill: Determines your speed of bomb detonation.

- Tactic: Determines the percentage rate of items entering the map.

GUI:
Top Left: Current level in campaign
Top Right: Level tag
Bottom Left: Armour

HAZARDS:
- Bomb: By a random order, 2 bombs teleport to a new location every four seconds. Useful to hide behind when being attacked by projectiles. Has a small chance of turning into a Large Bomb upon spawn.

- Large Bomb: The explosion from a Large Bomb can reach outward in it's surrounding area by a radius of 1, meaning explosions may cause chain reactions.

- Hunter: Seeks to hunt the player. Equipped with advanced weaponry.

- Turret: Fires calculated missiles toward the player.

- Crushing Wall: Moves vertically and horizontally. Crushes anything in it's path.

- Dart Trap: Shoots fast darts when player is near. Well hidden.

LEVELS:
- Bombfield currently contains 100 levels.
- During your adventure, Bombfield will choose 30 levels at random to be played through in a random order.
- Each level is named and exists under a level category. They are easily identifiable by their unique tags, which contain a letter and two numbers respectively.

Categories
- Level categories go from A through F. Each category currently contains 10 levels. Every level includes bombs.

-Category A:
Includes Turrets.
Code:
A01, A02, A03, A04, A05,
A06, A07, A08, A09, A10,

-Category B:
Includes Crushing Walls.
Code:
B01, B02, B03, B04, B05,
B06, B07, B08, B09, B10,

-Category C:
Includes Turrets and Crushing Walls.
Code:
C01, C02, C03, C04, C05,
C06, C07, C08, C09, C10,

-Category D:
Includes Hidden Darts.
Code:
D01, D02, D03, D04, D05,
D06, D07, D08, D09, D10,

-Category E:
Includes Turrets and Hidden Darts.
Code:
E01, E02, E03, E04, E05,
E06, E07, E08, E09, E10,

-Category F:
Includes Crushing Walls and Hidden Darts.
Code:
F01, F02, F03, F04, F05,
F06, F07, F08, F09, F10,

SCORE:
Score is the amount of points you accumulate through your campaign in Bombfield. Score is added or subtracted for certain objects that have been interacted with. For example, when a Bomb explodes at any time in the campaign for any reason, or is disarmed by the player, +1 is added to the score amount.

Score sheet:
Code:
Bomb = +1
Large Bomb = +2
Treasure = +3

Damage = -2
Your score can be found only in the "Completed" screen and the "Game Over" screen. Completing Bombfield takes you to the "Completed" screen, which shows all of the points you have accumulated throughout your campaign. Failing Bombfield takes you to the "Game Over" screen where your score is divided in half as a penalty for not completing the campaign.

CHANGELOG:
Alpha 1.4
+ Added shaded indicators to indicate where bombs will spawn
+ Added progress bar for collecting and disarming
+ Added 2 new behaviors for Hunter Mob
+ Added death sound effect
+ Added 30 levels [A11 - A15] [B11 - B15] [C11 - C15] [D11 - D15] [E11 - E15] [F11 - F15]
= Remade all sounds to be more aesthetically pleasing
= Changed atmosphere in levels 000, B05, and C11
= Level 000 now contains treasures and bombs for training purposes
= Added bombs to level B01
= Added treasure to level B05
= Bombs now spawn even more randomly
= The Bombfield engine now works to ensure that there are no less than 12 bombs per level at any given time
= Pressing the "ENTER" key in the menu screens now works as well as the "X" key.
= Adventurer now flashes with invincibility for a short amount of time in the beginning of each level
= Turrets now fire fixated missiles instead of homing missiles
- Removed a treasure located in an unfair position in level D10

Alpha 1.3
+ Added Hunter Mob
+ Added Level Category [G]
+ Added 10 Levels [G01 - G10]
= Disarming Bombs no longer causes them to explode
= Disarming Large Bombs takes longer than regular Bombs
= Changed atmosphere in Level A06
= Changed atmosphere in Level C04
= Changed a wall in Level B09
= Score count has been decreased
= Score is no longer visible during Campaign
= Getting a "Game Over" now divides your score in half (rounded up)

Alpha 1.2
+ Added Large Bombs
= Score is now visible on Gameover screen
= Changed "Health" to "Armour"
= Changed "Disarm" to "Skill"
= Changed "Luck" to "Tactic"
- Fixed a collision in Level D01

Alpha 1.1
+ Added player setup system.
+ Added Health Upgrades
= Score is now visible at all times during gameplay (bottom right HUD)
- Fixed a collision in Level F07
- Fixed a collision in Level D10

Alpha 1.0
+ Initial release

I'll be updating Bombfield every now and then, sending it from Alpha to Beta and eventually to full release. Feedback is appreciated. This post is for you to discuss your ideas and strategies concerning Bombfield. Post your high scores here so that I can include them in this post for all to see.

HIGH SCORES:
Code:
- 0052 - Yrbiax
- 0000 - No Player
- 0000 - No Player
- 0000 - No Player
- 0000 - No Player
 
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Calvert

Member
Kind of looks interesting. Might be fun.
Thanks, I'm glad to hear that, despite the graphics being almost as minimal as they can get. Bombfield is definitely driven by it's mechanics and not it's graphics. I think it's fun, but it's missing a sense of progression. Perhaps adding collectable health and some powerups would improve gameplay.

If you ever care to try it out, let me know what you think of it. Otherwise thanks anyway for the comment.
 

Calvert

Member
Sure. Happy to try it out.
It can be tricky to get the controls down and dodge bullets that follow you. I feel like I should go a little more in detail for you.

Just keep X held down and press an arrow key, a cursor box will come up. Use this to collect your items and disarm bombs when they are blocking your path. You need to hold the cursor box over an item for a short period of time before it gets collected/disarmed. It's something that begins to feel natural after a few minutes of using it.
 
L

Lucia

Guest
interesting game! still an aplha, so it's hard to left a good feedback, but a good start!
 

Calvert

Member
interesting game! still an aplha, so it's hard to left a good feedback, but a good start!
Thanks Lucia, I appreciate your comment. I'm working on another update to add some more strategy to it. Still haven't thought of any new hazards I could add though.
 
L

Lucia

Guest
Thanks Lucia, I appreciate your comment. I'm working on another update to add some more strategy to it. Still haven't thought of any new hazards I could add though.
you're welcome! I wait to see more in the next update! Good luck!
 

Calvert

Member
Bombfield Alpha 1.1 is out now! The update includes the following changes:

+ Added player setup system.
+ Added Health Upgrades
= Score is now visible at all times during gameplay (bottom right HUD)
= Score count has been increased
- Fixed a collision in Level F07
- Fixed a collision in Level D10

You can now customize your character before starting the campaign.

- Health (amount of hitpoints)
- Disarm (speed of disarming bombs)
- Luck (Chance of health pickups spawning)

Enjoy!
 
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Calvert

Member
Bombfield Alpha 1.2 is out now. This update includes the following changes:

+ Added Large Bombs
= Score is now visible on Gameover screen
= Changed "Health" to "Armour"
= Changed "Disarm" to "Skill"
= Changed "Luck" to "Tactic"
- Fixed a collision in Level D01

Every potential Bomb has a chance of being a Large Bomb upon spawn. The explosion from a Large Bomb can reach outward in it's surrounding area by a radius of 1, meaning explosions may cause chain reactions.

Due do graphical limitations, although the explosion of a Large Bomb appears larger, the Large Bomb itself appears to be the same size as an ordinary Bomb. Large bombs are dark tinted.


The new Player Setup Screen:
newscreen.png



A couple of Large Bombs along with the explosion from a Large Bomb causing a chain reaction of explosions next to the player, resulting in damage:
largebomb.png
 
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Calvert

Member
Bombfield Alpha 1.3 is out now. This update includes the following changes:

+ Added Hunter Mob
+ Added Level Category [G]
+ Added 10 Levels [G01 - G10]
= Disarming Bombs no longer causes them to explode
= Disarming Large Bombs takes longer than regular Bombs
= Changed atmosphere in Level A06
= Changed atmosphere in Level C04
= Changed a wall in Level B09
= Score count has been decreased
= Score is no longer visible during Campaign
= Getting a "Game Over" now divides your score in half (rounded up)

The Hunter mob with a new level:
b13h.png

Hunters will follow the player and fire projectiles that are similar to the turrets.

Score:
Score is the amount of points you accumulate through your campaign in Bombfield. Score is added or subracted for certain objects that have been interacted with. For example, when a Bomb explodes at any time in the campaign for any reason, or is disarmed by the player, +1 is added to the score amount.

Score sheet:
Code:
Bomb = +1
Large Bomb = +2
Treasure = +3

Damage = -2
Your score can be found only in the "Completed" screen and the "Game Over" screen. Completing Bombfield takes you to the "Completed" screen, which shows all of the points you have accumulated throughout your campaign. Failing Bombfield takes you to the "Game Over" screen where your score is divided in half as a penalty for not completing the campaign.
 
Any feedback is appreciated.
I really like the 3 color palette. I did download the A1.3 but for some reason I could not start the game. Pressing enter or spacebar, which seems intuitive, didn't do anything. Only later I came to realize it was the x button. Also, I tried to rush to the door, or the symbol that looked like one. I couldn't enter it, do I need to pick up all the treasure? Disable the bombs? Was it even a door? Why not introduce me to this concept in the first room where you have me move to the door? I need some guidance in that regard.

Cheers.
 

Calvert

Member
I really like the 3 color palette. I did download the A1.3 but for some reason I could not start the game. Pressing enter or spacebar, which seems intuitive, didn't do anything. Only later I came to realize it was the x button. Also, I tried to rush to the door, or the symbol that looked like one. I couldn't enter it, do I need to pick up all the treasure? Disable the bombs? Was it even a door? Why not introduce me to this concept in the first room where you have me move to the door? I need some guidance in that regard.

Cheers.
Thank you. I will add more information to the next update as an effort to eliminate the issues you had today.

Due to the limited graphic size, it was easier to create ladders as opposed to doors. You do need to pick up all of the treasure in a stage before heading to the ladder. Disabling bombs is not necessary but sometimes helpful during gameplay. I will add treasure to the first room to introduce players to that concept of collecting before advancing. Prior to releasing the game I had treasure in the first room, but I do not remember my reasoning for taking it out.

How was gameplay besides those issues?
 
Thank you. I will add more information to the next update as an effort to eliminate the issues you had today.

Due to the limited graphic size, it was easier to create ladders as opposed to doors. You do need to pick up all of the treasure in a stage before heading to the ladder. Disabling bombs is not necessary but sometimes helpful during gameplay. I will add treasure to the first room to introduce players to that concept of collecting before advancing. Prior to releasing the game I had treasure in the first room, but I do not remember my reasoning for taking it out.

How was gameplay besides those issues?
Ah ladders, makes sense. I would maybe add two treasure for those that play for the first time to introduce them to the fact that they need to pick up all treasures before going up or down the ladder. Did some levels just now, gameplay is fun enough, the pixel style actually makes it a lot of fun to visually search for dart traps as things do look the same easily. Difficulty seems alright, sometimes it seems a bit to hard, and sometimes everything just aligns right and you can just keep going without any problems. But that makes it fun as well. Not sure if I would keep trying to get a higher score if there is no incentive. It's a mini-game though, so just playing it a couple of times should be enough.
 

Calvert

Member
Ah ladders, makes sense. I would maybe add two treasure for those that play for the first time to introduce them to the fact that they need to pick up all treasures before going up or down the ladder. Did some levels just now, gameplay is fun enough, the pixel style actually makes it a lot of fun to visually search for dart traps as things do look the same easily. Difficulty seems alright, sometimes it seems a bit to hard, and sometimes everything just aligns right and you can just keep going without any problems. But that makes it fun as well. Not sure if I would keep trying to get a higher score if there is no incentive. It's a mini-game though, so just playing it a couple of times should be enough.
Thank you. I appreciate your feedback, it is very valuable to me. If you have any more suggestions, I want to hear them. You, [as well as the entire community] may highly influence the direction of this game.

Incentives for high-scores is an interesting topic for discussion. I have considered an upgrade system, where every X amount of points gives you an experience point to spend on upgrading your adventurer. That would add more depth to the game, but it is a mini-game.

Perhaps I will leave that for debate.

Do you remember what your high-score was? I can put it on the main post for fun, as I would like to create a sense of community.
 
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Calvert

Member
Level G08 featuring the Hunter mob. (Located bottom-right of screen, next to the square adventurer.)


Every Hunter mob has a cove with treasure. The Hunter must be led out of it's cove so that it's treasure can be collected before the level is able to be completed. Note the 12 other instances of treasure that must also be collected whilst dealing with the Hunter. Ladder is located at bottom-left of screen.
 
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Yrbiax

Member
Hey, i tried your game.

Didnt get that far, but here is my score. :)
bombfield.png

At first i didnt really know what to do, so i had to come read these forums posts.

Sometimes i would take damage in beginning of level, before i could even see where i was.
Is there some kind of logic as how bombs are going to move? If its completeley random it would probably be good if there was somekind of warning in advance. Like flashing for 1 second before materializing for example.

Also small progression bar for disarming would be nice.
 

Calvert

Member
Hey, i tried your game.

Didnt get that far, but here is my score. :)
View attachment 27341

At first i didnt really know what to do, so i had to come read these forums posts.

Sometimes i would take damage in beginning of level, before i could even see where i was.
Is there some kind of logic as how bombs are going to move? If its completeley random it would probably be good if there was somekind of warning in advance. Like flashing for 1 second before materializing for example.

Also small progression bar for disarming would be nice.
Thanks for trying it out and sending me your feedback. I posted your score to the OP.

The bombs move anywhere there is an empty space on the map, so it is completely random.

You bring good ideas. I will experiment with a warning system so that the player will have a small timeframe to be able to observe where the next bomb will be. Perhaps a shadow will appear one or two seconds before the upcoming bomb appears.

Due to your feedback, now there will be a progression bar for disarming bombs in update A1.4

EDIT:

As for taking damage in the beginning of the level and not being able to find the adventurer right away, I might make the adventurer invisible invincible for a very short amount of time and cause him to blink so that players can spot him easier.
 
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Calvert

Member
Feedback is appreciated. A1.4 will be released soon and will contain 100 different levels to help keep each playthrough interesting.
 

Calvert

Member


The Labyrinth - stocked with hidden darts. A new level in update A1.4

Comments and suggestions are appreciated.
 

Attachments

Calvert

Member
With help from our community, Bombfield Alpha 1.4 is out now. This update includes the following changes:

Bomb Behavior Update

+ Added shaded indicators to indicate where bombs will spawn
+ Added progress bar for collecting and disarming
+ Added 2 new behaviors for Hunter Mob
+ Added death sound effect
+ Added 30 levels [A11 - A15] [B11 - B15] [C11 - C15] [D11 - D15] [E11 - E15] [F11 - F15]

= Remade all sounds to be more aesthetically pleasing
= Changed atmosphere in levels 000, B05, and C11
= Level 000 now contains treasures and bombs for training purposes
= Added bombs to level B01
= Added treasure to level B05
= Bombs now spawn even more randomly
= The Bombfield engine now works to ensure that there are no less than 12 bombs per level at any given time
= Pressing the "ENTER" key in the menu screens now works as well as the "X" key.
= Adventurer now flashes with invincibility for a short amount of time in the beginning of each level
= Turrets now fire fixated missiles instead of homing missiles

- Removed a treasure located in an unfair position in level D10

In-game screenshot featuring a new level, the new indicator system and the new progress bar:
1.4.png

Special thanks for game-improving suggestions to,
tomtinderbox
Yrbiax


Enjoy Bombfield and post your high scores.
 

Calvert

Member
Happy new years, everyone. Bombfield is a dear project of mine, and it's about at it's halfway point in the development phase until it hits full release. I wanted to make a simple game that has a solid, polished platform which could be built upon later with updates and perhaps new games to follow it. Although extremely simple, I think I have achieved this in it's current engine. If you'd like to be a part of it's development, you may have a large influence just by your feedback from playing the game.

Update 1.4 (Bomb Behavior update) added many new maps and a great amount of polish to the game. Be the first to give it some feedback! I appreciate your time. Enjoy!
 
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Calvert

Member
Bombfield Beta 1.0: "The Explosive Update" is in the works. Progress is coming along good.

Some new features include:

+ New Major Gameplay Mechanics
+ New Bombs
+ New Levels
+ More Polish
And more.

What do you want to see added?
 
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