A Simple Ball Game News

[p]First off, a big THANK YOU from me to everyone who played, wishlisted, and wrote a review for A Simple Ball Game. ❤️❤️❤️ It is especially exciting for me to read your thoughts. 🙏 Overall, next fest was awesome and I can't wait for everyone to get their hands on the full release![/p][p][/p][h2]Release Date[/h2][p][/p][p]While I don't have a specific date yet (hopefully soon!), A Simple Ball Game is planned to release during Q3 2025, meaning September at the latest. There are still some development tasks that need ironing out including one really cool addition I hope I can talk about soon![/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]What to do Before Release[/h2][p][/p][p]For the current Demo, I revamped many aspects of the game including the visual style, many stages, controls, optimizations, and customizations. And well, there's still more of that to do. 😅[/p][p][/p][p]Some more specific examples what what I'll be focusing on next:[/p]

• [p]Increasing the total stage count from 75 to 80.[/p]
• [p]Reworking around 30 stages based on your feedback and my own learnings (there won't be any significant changes to the Demo stages).[/p]
• [p]Adjusting the appearance of some of the background vistas (again, I won't be changing much about the vistas present in the Demo).[/p]
• [p]Improving the controls and gameplay feel even more.[/p]
• [p]Optimizing the frame rate, lighting, and a bunch of other things so the game runs as smoothly as it possibly can.[/p]
• [p]Fixing bugs.[/p]

[p][/p][p]The release date is approaching fast, but there's plenty of work to be done! 💪⚙️ Thank you for your patience, it will be rewarded.[/p][p][/p][p]That's all for now! Stay Cozy. 🌒 🌃 [/p][p]Paul[/p]

[h3]Well, it's been a while since the first demo, from waaaay back in February. There are a ton of new updates, additions, and reworks to roll through![/h3]

In this Demo, take on three different game modes: Challenge Mode, Rogue Mode, and Practice Mode. A total of 15 stages are playable. Five of which will only unlock if you discover and complete an optional challenge... So good Luck!

Rolling around in space might not make sense, but I think it looks awesome

[h3]One more thing... Please consider leaving a review, I'd really like to hear your thoughts! 🙏[/h3]



Thank you for your support! Stay Cozy. 🌒 🌃 ❤️

Paul

[h2]NEXT FEST Starts JUNE 9, 2025[/h2]

A Simple Ball Game will be making an appearance, with an all new Demo to play. And, if you want to start tilting early... It will be available starting next week!



For specific times, check Pajama Town's social media accounts, linked below.



That's all for now! Stay Cozy. 🌒 🌃

[h3]It's been a busy month, and it's going to get even busier as we get closer to the release of A Simple Ball Game's new Demo. Look forward to more details very soon![/h3]



[h2]New Stages and plenty of Stage Reworks![/h2]

I improved a ton of stages, from little tweaks to complete overhauls. In addition, I added 5 completely new stages, bringing to total stage count to 75!

Of course, the Demo will included a lot of this new content, so everyone will get a chance to try it out! And there's still plenty more stage-related work to be done,



[h2]Just Choose a Playstyle![/h2]

Recently, I added a bunch of new settings to customize your ball rolling experience. In addition, I've now added a way to skip going through each setting one by one. Just select a playstyle, and a bunch of settings will change all at once to match. You can choose between Cozy, Balanced, and Hardcore.

For the players who still want to take the time to tune their own perfectly customized experience, myself included, all the settings are still there and ready to be experimented with!



That's all for now! Stay Cozy. 🌒 🌃

Paul

Over the past month, A Simple Ball Game has gone through some important updates. The big three I'll be sharing today are stage reworks, controls optimizations, and the biggest one... a new visual style. Read on to learn more!



[h2]A Revamped Visual Style[/h2]

Why change the style?

(1) To create a unique timeless identity for A Simple Ball Game.

I find games with a timeless visual style really memorable. If I look at a game from 2001, does it still hold up in 2025? If it does, that's a sign of a good visual style. If someone looks at A Simple Ball Game in 2050, will they think it still holds up? I want as many yeses as I can get.

(2) To improve frame rates for users with older hardware.

There's no getting around it, Unreal Engine 5 is really hard for older GPUs to run. To even open an empty project on PC, Epic recommends an Nvidia 2060... However, with this new style, I was able to remove many visual features and reduce the GPU load, hopefully creating a better experience for everyone.

[h3]So... What changed?[/h3]

TLDR: I added cell shading, increased the brightness, and removed all the expensive lighting effects.


What do you think? There are still a few more things to update, but so far so good. Also, I will be sharing plenty more visual examples of the new style going forward!



[h2]Broken Levels... Fixed![/h2]

After learning from the demo and from watching many... many playthroughs. My level design philosophy refined quite a bit. I've gone through all 70 levels and took note of the ones that need reworking. 13 in total!

The first levels to be reworked we're number 5 and 7 from February's demo.



I’ll be posting dev log videos on ▶️ YouTube ▶️ to dive even further into my process in updating these levels (look out for the video on stage 7 next week!), but just to share a little teaser...





[h2]Many New Controls Options and Optimizations[/h2]

You can now use the Mouse (by itself) to tilt the level.

This is something I debated adding for a while as it takes a bit to get used to. The huge benefit in using a mouse is to match the range of precise motion a control stick has. I find myself really enjoying it, so hopefully mouse & keyboard players do too!

In addition, I have added a ton of new settings so players can customize their own ball rolling experience. You can now adjust:

• How sensitive the level is to your input
  
• How sensitive the camera is to your input
  
• How sensitive the camera is to the ball's movement
  
• Whether you want to use the Mouse or WASD to control the level tilt
  
• The size of the dead zone for both the left and right control sticks on a controller
  

And, in case you don't want to worry about all that, I've also added an "Overall Experience" option that will customize gameplay settings based on the experience you are looking for. You'll be asked this the first time you open the game. Of course, you can always adjust it later.



That's all for now! Stay Cozy. 🌒 🌃

Paul