Catching up
The little magic workshop
Comparing effects in a separate preview helped settle on a green medic cross for healing features.
- VFX
- Healing
- Development
DEV LOG
MY FIRST GAME.
MY FIRST GAME.
ONE BALL AT A TIME.
Prototype milestones, board experiments, combat ideas, things that worked, things that absolutely did not, and everything learned while turning BattleBall into a real game.
Catching up
Okay, THAT enemy is on my side now
Bewitching has become more controlled, and its success now happens when the ball earns it.
- Bewitching
- Characters
- Feedback
Catching up
Building our own lightning
A custom lightning strike gives the board a much more visible impact without relying on another effect pack.
- VFX
- Lightning
- Development
Catching up
Fine, I'll nudge it
A recovery nudge helps with the rare ball that manages to lose every last bit of momentum.
- Pinball
- Controls
Catching up
Armor should actually block a hit
The hit that breaks armor no longer carries its leftover damage straight into health.
- Combat
- Guard
- Upgrades
Catching up
I took some of the decoration back off
Dressing the machine helped, but more signs and detail weren't always making it look better.
- Art
- Boards
Catching up
The scales have company
Four new special events turn the same board spot into very different offers.
- Special events
- Relics
Catching up
Board 8 got an upstairs
Two ramps and a little elevated bumper terrace gave the next board a different reason to exist.
- Boards
- Pinball
Catching up
Board 7 worked. It also felt familiar.
Switchback Grove gave us another playable layout and a useful warning about making variations too similar.
- Boards
- Development
Catching up
What actually carried that run?
The end screen now gives the run a proper breakdown instead of a small pile of totals.
- Run report
- UI
Catching up
That glowing shot needs a better reward
Shot Flow now offers more interesting payoffs and has to be earned before another opportunity appears.
- Shot Flow
- Pinball
- Rewards
Catching up
Seeing the table and the fight
The overhead view now has a live battlefield window, plus an early foundation for cabinet displays.
- Camera
- UI
- Cabinet
Catching up
Board 6 went back to an empty collection
The first launch was heading for the drain too quickly, so the layout got a proper restart.
- Boards
- Iteration
Catching up
The goblins have learned to shout back
Rallying Cry and Called Reinforcements give melee enemies different ways to interfere during a ball.
- Enemies
- Combat
- Counterplay
Catching up
That was supposed to be the dangerous route?
Optional hard battles now have stronger groups and more pressure, with better treasure opportunities in return.
- Encounters
- Balance
- Loot
Catching up
The route is finally starting to look like a journey
The run now travels through a draggable landscape with real route choices and a castle waiting at the end.
- Map
- Art
- Progression
Catching up
There is now a tier above Legendary
Divine rewards are the deliberately rare things that can turn an ordinary run into complete nonsense.
- Divine
- Relics
- Multiball
Catching up
The warning looked good. I couldn't read it and play.
Enemy magic moved away from big announcements and toward clearer warnings on the actual board feature.
- Enemy Magic
- UI
- Pinball
Catching up
The disappearing ramp was getting on my nerves
Making the ramp transparent solved one visibility problem and created a distraction of its own.
- Visibility
- Playtesting
Catching up
Less debug menu, more adventure
Scroll-style rewards and clearer labels are helping the interface feel closer to the game around it.
- UI
- Rewards
- Readability
Catching up
Picking a rune isn't the whole decision
Board rewards now separate the effect you want from the feature that gets it.
- Upgrades
- Choices
Catching up
The ball needs to get back to me
Speeding up the table meant looking at the whole trip, not just its fastest possible shot.
- Physics
- Pacing
Catching up
Finding the right sound for a spell
Combat and spell sounds are replacing the placeholder beeps, with a few choices still bothering me.
- Audio
- Combat
- Development
Catching up
Making the numbers feel like hits
Floating rewards now share a little bounce and drift while staying connected to the feature that earned them.
- UI
- Feedback
- Relics
Catching up
The smoother sprite experiment I didn't keep
A smoother animation experiment helped me figure out what I actually liked about the original sprites.
- Art
- Animation
- Development
Catching up
I can finally stop at a shop
Battle payouts, shops and a limited reroll add decisions between the pinball fights.
- Shops
- Gold
- Progression
Catching up
The nicest board wasn't the most fun
Boards 4 and 5 looked promising, but Board 1 kept teaching me what I actually enjoyed playing.
- Boards
- Playtesting
Catching up
Was my favorite character just too strong?
A proper balance audit gave me more to work with than another run that felt a little too easy.
- Balance
- Characters
- Testing
Catching up
A moving gate is more than its model
The route-changing ramp needed the moving arm and the stationary track to agree about what was actually moving.
- Ramps
- Development
Catching up
Giving Chill something to break
Growing crystals give Chill a visible ready state and something satisfying to shatter on a hit.
- VFX
- Chill
Catching up
Wait, when did I give that bumper poison?
Upgraded features now carry visible effects so their bonuses are easier to remember during a ball.
- VFX
- Upgrades
- Readability
Catching up
Giving the table its clacks back
Recorded pinball sounds now give flippers, bumpers, launches, and ball contacts a more physical feel.
- Audio
- Pinball
Catching up
The enemy died, but my heal was next
Finishing the fight no longer throws away the useful effects still waiting in your queue.
- Combat
- Healing
- Queue
Catching up
Poison needed to feel worth collecting
Repeated feature hits can build poison again, with less predictable spreading across the enemies.
- Poison
- Balance
- Upgrades
Catching up
An optional bad decision
The Gamble station gives you a tempting upgrade, a visible risk, and permission to walk away.
- Special events
- Gamble
Catching up
Shock had nobody left to jump to
A lone enemy can now take the remaining countdown hits instead of wasting most of a lightning attack.
- Shock
- Combat
- Feedback
Catching up
Why would I pick that target upgrade?
A reward for finishing a whole target set needed to compete with upgrading something I could hit constantly.
- Rewards
- Balance
Catching up
The mage in the back is getting annoying
Nightscout brings a way to reach the enemies hiding behind the melee line.
- Characters
- Combat
- Flank
Catching up
Where are all the interesting drops?
Treasure chances now build through a run, and tougher carriers can improve the quality of their rewards.
- Loot
- Relics
- Progression
Catching up
Letting the characters react
Hurt and death animations give the little battlefield a much clearer response to each hit.
- Animation
- Combat
- Readability
Catching up
A day in the Quiet Woods
The battlefield now has morning, midday, and dusk scenes that belong to the same forest and castle setting.
- Art
- Environments
At the workbench
Less text, more game!
Cleaner sprite animations, less text covering everything, and little floating icons that show exactly what each shot is giving you. The board is starting to feel a lot more alive!
- Art
- UI
- Development
At the workbench
Finding the pressure without ruining the pinball
Early fights were giving away upgrades too easily. The answer isn’t to make the table miserable, it’s to give the enemies a better chance to matter.
- Balance
- Encounters
- Characters
Prototype milestone
The loop finally loops
There’s a fight to finish, an upgrade to choose, and another encounter after it. That feels like a real milestone for my first game.
- Milestone
- Combat
- Readability
Table notes
A ramp needs somewhere to send the ball
A mechanism isn’t a good addition just because it fits in an empty space. The important question is what happens after the shot.
- Pinball
- Whitewood
- Physics
Design notebook
What’s working, and what’s still in the notebook
Characters, relics, and items are now part of the prototype. The bigger run structure is still something I’m figuring out.
- Characters
- Relics
- Future