Pachoink!

Electros

Member
About

Pachoink! is a Breakout / Pachinko hybrid game, coming to mobile in early 2020. It has a simple 1-finger control system, and will launch with 50+ levels.

It actually came about after following the GameMaker physics tutorials, and progressively messing around and extending it till a game pretty much fell out. :)

Where

App Store (iOS): https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pachoink/id1488272669?ls=1
Google Play (Android): https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.co.AToPlay.Pachoink

When

21st Feb, 2020.


Press Kit

http://www.atoplay.co.uk/Pachoink.html


Coverage (External links)

Pocket Gamer: https://www.pocketgamer.com/article...unching-for-ios-and-android-on-february-21st/
Touch Arcade: https://toucharcade.com/2020/02/26/best-new-iphone-games-february-27th/
Tech Radar: https://www.techradar.com/uk/news/best-iphone-games-2019/8

Metro Game Central: https://metro.co.uk/2020/04/10/best-new-mobile-games-ios-android-april-2020-round-12536012/
Pocket Gamer App Army feature: https://www.pocketgamer.com/articles/082177/app-army-assemble-pachoink/
Mobile Mode Gaming: https://mobilemodegaming.com/2020/02/05/pachoink-is-a-new-casual-puzzler-for-mobile-devices/
Gear Coupon: https://www.gearcoupon.com/cute-pla...uccessful-one-will-arrive-soon-on-the-iphone/


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Electros

Member
A v. Brief dev update, hopefully not too many more before release!

-After fixing a nasty mem leak, known bugs & issue count stands at - 0!?
-All 1.0 content in and locked
-Updated the launch trailer with some of the newer graphical elements
-Android / iOS store materials work in progress
-Sleep required

 

Electros

Member
Pachoink! V1.0 will be releasing this Friday! :)

V1.1 is near readiness, and will follow V1.0 as closely as is possible. It will add:
-New area - City Area 2
-New board hazards - timer switches and laser barriers (can be seen in action here: https://twitter.com/AToPlayLtd/status/1225116960654012419?s=20). Mulling whether to keep these zone specific or available in all, will probably decide after the next hazards are done.
-Updated zone backgrounds (see below). Some user feedback was that the zones felt a bit samey, so revamped the backgrounds to try and give them more of a different feel. Zone specific hazards may help this also if I go down that route.
-Various bug fixes

V1.1_Screenshot_1.jpg V1.1_Screenshot_2.jpg V1.1_Screenshot_3.jpg
 

Electros

Member
Today is the release day for Pachoink! Google Play will be going live with V1.1, App store will be live with V1.0, with V1.1 following asap after Apple review.

Could a mod move this to the Made with GameMaker section? Thanks!

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Edit: Added a dev insight piece for anyone interested:

I'm releasing Pachoink! today, so thought it may be interesting to share a little insight around its development.

Late in 2019, I'd been feeling a bit jaded working on my main PC project, so thought I would take a break and do a little learning. I find it useful for trying to avoid burnout, and coming back to your main project from a fresh perspective. I'd seen previously a YoYo blog post series on Physics in GameMaker, and as I had never utilised the in-built physics engine, it seemed like a good opportunity to learn (it is here, incidentally: https://www.yoyogames.com/blog/69/physics-in-gamemaker-studio-2-part-1).

The short story is I had a blast with it, ended up crayoning on smiley faces to the balls in the image editor, and it was great fun watching the little guys bouncing around. What followed was the game in many ways designing itself:
-Objective: The little balls are bouncing around, but how could a game come about from it?
Answer: Target blocks to destroy, rectangular and blocky to contrast the round smilies.
-Controls: This feels like it would work well on mobile, but how to control it in an easy and fun way?
Answer: A Pachinko style launch tube, where the player controls the power by dragging down and releasing. (For technical interest, there are 100 degrees of drag precision, but the visual indicator rounds to the nearest 5)
-Progression: What drives the player forward within the game
Answer: Improvement of skill (you get a feel for the power drag as you play), unlocking zones, board hazards to help and hinder (like teleports, spinners, catchers etc)

The main game engine was essentially complete, so then followed the content development period - music, SFX, art, board hazard development, etc. The main takeaway here was solid parenting, to make adding additional board hazards fairly straightforward to add. All levels were created as child rooms, with the main game board as the parent room, so any modifications to the main board would be on all of them.

V1.0 was ready in January, but I gave myself a full month before release for marketing, taking on board feedback and developing V1.1.

So the game releases today, and out of the games I have created so far, it's the one I'm most proud of. How well it does commercially I'll have to wait and see, but I'm really happy with how this one came about, out of a tutorial whim, and ended up a complete product.

Any questions, drop one on this thread, and if anyone is interested in the game, it's a single purchase without all the Ad / IAP malarky (details below). :)

Timi W

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App Store (iOS): https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pachoink/id1488272669?ls=1
Google Play (Android): https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.co.AToPlay.Pachoink

Pachoink! The game boards provide the targets, but do you have the ball skills to take them all out?
Some levels require precision, others good timing, some brute force, but more often than not it's a combination of all of these. Rise to the challenge and earn your stars!

Features:
-Intuitive one-touch controls: Simply tap, drag down and release!
-Single game purchase: Lifetime free content updates, no Ads / IAPs.
-Multiple board hazards: Teleports, catchers, spinners, movers and more can help or hinder you on your journey!
-50+ Levels: A large base set of (skill based unlocking) levels and areas, with more board elements, traps and levels in future releases.
 
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