Beta 2 Less blocks, more fun

The second stage of the beta is focused on level design. The change list is rather short, but the game changed a lot.

Less blocks

Every single level was reviewed, or even completely redone. There is no change about the type of blocks, the order of the levels, but the number of blocks and their placement was updated.

Each level now contains less blocks in general, especially for levels 3 and next. The number of keys was also reduced.

Basically, levels are shorter, starting from level 1. The keys can be targeted right from start to clear a level without taking risks with a rather slow ball and reach further level with higher score bonus, or you can try to optimize your score from the first levels.

Scoring focused on combos

With less blocks and keys per level, keys became more important in scoring. A key block earned 30 points in the previous versions, it earns now 50. A regular block still earns 10 points. It is then more rewarding to reach a 10 hit combo before getting a key to get 100 points instead of 50.

The bonus granted when clearing a given amount of blocks in a stage was also reduced. A long combo chain can replace a 100% clear bonus. Both methods can give a high score, and both are not exclusive.

The potential score for each level was then completely changed, as well as the score to reach to clear a challenge. It was easier before to get a high score, so the score you got in the previous versions aren't currently meaningful.

Some fixes and updates

A few bugs were discovered on beta 1, like unlocking a challenge achievement.

Beside that and to go along the importance of combos in this version, a visual effect was added to the ball when a 10 hit combo is reached, to give an other clue you now get the maximum score. The variable color of the ball according to its speed was also removed for better readability, especially on the last levels which are already visually rich. The ball stays in a light blue color no matter what and stands out from other mobile elements.

When will be the final version?

The beta phase was scheduled to end this summer. Adjusting all levels and scores was one of the last remaining things in the todo-list. This version is close to the final one, but there are still some polishing to to.