Balanc3d
Games
tilt ball maze game
SHOW HN2024
How HN took it
20 positive, 30 neutral or asking, 7 mixed, 21 critical, out of 78 comments about the project. Thread score +0.02.
Execution: 3 for, 12 againstDesign: 5 for, 7 againstIdea: 5 for, 0 againstPerformance: 2 for, 1 againstDocs: 1 for, 0 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Responsive, precise controls and keyboard controls feel good
From 3 comments
Nice and very precise. I was expecting controls to be less reactive.
brospars on HNNicely implemented; controls felt very intuitive on the keyboard.
jonnycomputer on HNThe keyboard controls are particularly satisfying. Well done.
georges_gomes on HN
Nostalgic Marble Madness and Monkey Ball feel
From 3 comments
Marble Madness vibes. One of my favorite nostalgia games. I think having 3 lives per level with it resetting just that level might be better for starters, then the 3 lives for…
sen on HNOne of the first big games on the original iPhone after the App Store was shipped was “super Monkey Ball”, a port of a popular console franchise. It was basically this but with…
M4v3R on HNThis is awesome! Makes me wanna play Monkey Ball!
yzzyx on HN
Polished graphics and motion
From 2 comments
very nicely done with all the graphics and motion. One thing i would add is autofocus attribute on the next button so that i just have to hit enter.
developer1000 on HNExtremely well done! I didn't know you could access gyroscope from the browser.
alabhyajindal on HN
Objections
Camera angle and neutral flat-phone orientation are awkward
From 3 comments
Nice work! Some thoughts: The camera is tilted instead of looking straight down, and my phone needs to be flat to be in the no movement neutral position. This is unpleasant in to…
Laremere on HNVery cool! An issue I immediately had is that it seems to be coded for a horizontal plane being zero. This means I must hold my phone looking down at it, which isn’t how I want…
Waterluvian on HNNeeds to have some visual feedback of the orientation. Also the ball is too heavy & slow. And as someone else said the perspective is wrong.
IshKebab on HN
Doesn't work on some browsers or devices such as Firefox Android and iPad
From 4 comments
Doesn't work in Firefox for Android.
dmos62 on HNDoesn’t work on ipad? I can click Start, but in the next screen nothing reacts to input.
stpedgwdgfhgdd on HNDoesn't work on Chrome for android. Mid range android phone though
sufficer on HNI'm on chrome on android and it's not working for me. I see 3 dots on the left, a 1 on the right, but nothing seems to happen when clicking/swiping
hanniabu on HN
Ball can fall off the map and fall forever without losing a life
From 3 comments
The ball just falls off and then endlessly falls through space…
speg on HNThe ball can pop over the sides near the start. When this happens it falls forever without triggering the next life
pbronez on HNI was laying on my back. Started up the game without resetting my phone to a flat state. Then the ball fell off the map. No automatic reset like the other levels. Maybe this is a…
xyst on HN
Speedrun exploit lets players skip levels by flipping the phone
From 3 comments
you can speedrun by playing with the phone screen facing down. tilt it slightly and the ball will go super fast. you can sort of "fly", too, and climb up walls. i got to level 9…
nasso_dev on HNCan confirm. "Finished" all 10 levels in a minute on my first try of this strategy. Maybe the end detection area is too high...
Liftyee on HNYou can get the ball off the ground if you turn your phone upside down. Then you can just sort of fly over the places where you'd normally fall. Takes maybe a minute or two to…
pyryt on HN
Requests
Let players set a custom neutral orientation or add a zero button
From 3 comments
Very cool! An issue I immediately had is that it seems to be coded for a horizontal plane being zero. This means I must hold my phone looking down at it, which isn’t how I want…
Waterluvian on HNSuggesttion: Have a button where people can "zero" their phone orientation. Looks good!
meowster on HN+1, tilt should be dampened towards the natural orientation the phone was in during initialization
lwansbrough on HN
Remove or soften lives, or allow infinite retries per level
From 3 comments
Awesome! Make it a daily Wordle-style game! I need something new in my morning routine. I think having a universal 3-life max is very harsh. I died on level 9 and was sent back…
SamBam on HNNice! I would like it more without the "lives" though.
ghnws on HNMarble Madness vibes. One of my favorite nostalgia games. I think having 3 lives per level with it resetting just that level might be better for starters, then the 3 lives for…
sen on HN
Add a leaderboard or comparison of completion times
From 2 comments
I like it! Unsolicited improvement suggestion: When I finish a level, let me see how well I did compared to others.
logrot on HNA leaderboard for speed runners would be interesting :)
georges_gomes on HN
Add a visual orientation indicator
From 2 comments
You can always have a “bubble level” showing you the orientation. Anything is better than requiring a player to orient themselves very specifically to play at all.
Waterluvian on HNNeeds to have some visual feedback of the orientation. Also the ball is too heavy & slow. And as someone else said the perspective is wrong.
IshKebab on HN
Make it installable as a web app
From 1 comment
Create a webapp from it. The typical usecase for an installable version. Add service worker and a manifest.json. that way on android phones you have an icon.
holoduke on HN
Questions
Is there a way to avoid redoing completed levels?
From 1 comment
I lost a bunch of times on level 7 and then was sent back to level 1. Is there a way to avoid redoing completed levels?
tromp on HN
What engine or library was used?
From 2 comments
What engine / library was used to make this?
dlivingston on HNNice. How did you build it?
kosolam on HN
Alternatives named
Marble Blast Gold
From 1 comment
For me, this took me back to Marble Blast Gold. An early 2000s game with essentially the same concept. Great fun :-)
sunday_serif on HN
Super Monkey Ball
From 1 comment
One of the first big games on the original iPhone after the App Store was shipped was “super Monkey Ball”, a port of a popular console franchise. It was basically this but with…
M4v3R on HN
Marble Madness
From 1 comment
Marble Madness vibes. One of my favorite nostalgia games. I think having 3 lives per level with it resetting just that level might be better for starters, then the 3 lives for…
sen on HN
Oxyd and Enigma
From 2 comments
My neutral position is tilting away from me, even. Not ideal but fun game either way. Reminds me of Oxyd: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxyd (I've only played the nineties mac…
andrelaszlo on HNOxyd was core to my childhood gaming as a Mac-only household. Theres a free version called Enigma that has the Oxyd levels by the way!
Waterluvian on HN
Ballance
From 1 comment
this has the feel of an old game called Ballance ... it was amazing and begging for level editor. Amazing job.
ReptileMan on HN