[GAME] [FREE] Battle of the Pucks by Lifemakers Studio

What do you get if you crossbreed air hockey, curling, pool, shuffle board, sumo wrestling... and even checkers?

That's right: BATTLE OF THE PUCKS!

An exciting little game with a very simple goal: propel your pucks so they ram your opponent's pucks out of the field! And whenever you score (drive off their puck(s) but don't lose any of your own), you get to push again! GO GO GO!

(Why checkers, you might ask? Because there exists a version of this game called Chapayev where you don't move from field to field but finger-flick your pieces across the board to knock off enemy's army.)

Despite the game's simplicity—and addictiveness!—it takes time to master the skill of propelling your pucks with the exact required force and direction. More than that, it takes strategy and foresight to not only score but create positions that are of maximum difficulty for your opponent. In the BATTLE OF THE PUCKS, you can play against a human or a computer—and the computer's level of skill ranges from comically hapless to deviously agile!

Levels of the game will vary by the initial position of pieces. The further you go, the more difficult would be to knock off your opponent's pucks without losing your own pieces.

Wanna try? BATTLE OF THE PUCKS is now available for pre-release testing! Please comment or PM us if interested.

Here is our initial screen:

And a level with score fields added:

— modified on Dec 18, 2016, 7:08:19 PM

A snippet of gameplay with the first seven boards in Battle of the Pucks:

— modified on Dec 20, 2016, 5:47:36 PM

The best Christmas gift Not to be outdone by her younger sister, our 18-year-old began to develop new levels for Battle of the Pucks as well, already with catchy names!

As you ascend in your gameplay mastery, you will unlock advanced levels where the playing board can be non-rectangular and even non-convex! Here's a sampling of how the gameplay on such boards looks like. Watch in awe how two AIs are battling each other at their full strength... but still making errors, of course, because there may no longer exist a straightforward winning strategy for some of these boards, so the outcome often depends on chance.

We are getting very close to releasing the first version of Battle of the Pucks! Some of the latest additions to its UI:

1. A photo background (a starry night for now) slides together with each move. In the future, we are planning to add different backgrounds for different levels of the game.

2. Pucks of different sizes (and therefore weights) have variable friction and require you to adjust your flicks accordingly.

3. The program adds tips for new players (visible during the first few rounds only) and funny comments the computer makes when you play against it (or when you just watch two AIs battling).

4. By pressing the Restart button you now can choose to play from the square one at any time. Restarting one type of game (for example, human vs. computer) won't affect your current positions in other games (human vs. human or computer vs. computer).

5. If you win a round in Battle of the Pucks without losing your turn or any of your pucks, you will be awarded a star!

6. Your best moves are recorded and can be played again right at the spot or later on, when you review your personal records.

7. The program calculates each move's strength to let you know how sophisticated (wise, artful, risky) your move was. So even with the same score, your total strength will grow along with your expertise in the game.

8. At any time, you can check your current standings in Battle of the Pucks, as well as replay your three best moves so far.

9. New levels (each level up opens ten new boards to play) will become available after you reach a certain degree of mastery. This affects all three versions of the game (playing against another human or computer, or just watching two AI battling) at the same time.

The remaining things to do:

1) Adjusting the smartness of game's AI for the best user experience - will require lots of testing from players of different strengths

2) Adding sound effects

3) Adding an Info screen and more game options (choosing custom colors and smartness levels)

Battle of the Pucks is almost ready for release! Here is our latest gameplay video. Anyone interested in getting an apk file to test-play is welcome, just send us a PM!

Battle of the Pucks: has been released at Google Play!

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lifemakers.battle_of_the_pucks

• Realistic "pucks on ice" physics
• Play against another human (on the same device) or an AI—or, watch two AIs battle each other
• 50 play boards, 5 unlockable levels
• Four AI difficulty settings, the default being Adaptive AI
• Customizable colors
• Various records kept for review
• Your best shots are recorded—and can be replayed

Comments/reviews will be highly appreciated!

We've released version 2 of Battle of the Pucks!

• Two new levels (10 boards each), with many old boards updated or regrouped for a more logical gameplay progression. Total levels in this version: 7, total boards: 70!

• Start a new game from ANY unlocked level, not just level 1! A level-choice screen lists all locked and unlocked levels so you can track your progress.

• Added new, updated existing color schemes: brighter & more vivid colors!

• Android Immersive mode: Play full screen without the Android buttons taking space!

• Nicer animations and new visual effects!

• Fixed display on large-aspect-ratio devices such as Samsung Galaxy S8

• Fixed several bugs, including "black screen" after restart

Thanks to all our testers! Your detailed reviews and ideas have been invaluable.

What to expect in version 3: OBSTACLES! Barriers, borders, walls, pegs... insanely challenging and insanely addictive. Watch for announcements!

Version 3.0 of Battle of the Pucks is up! What's new:

• OBSTACLES! Barriers, borders, walls, pegs... think pinball. The new Level 8 (ten new boards!) introduces a new element into the game: see if you can hit the exact walls at exact angles to sweep away the enemy pucks. Insanely challenging and insanely addictive!

• New colors and new sounds!

• Fixed an immersive-mode bug on Android 7.1.

A funny review for our game by Daikon Media.

From now on, I'll never be able to think about our multicolored game pieces other than as fancy condoms!