[Game] Orbtime - A Drop7 Clone with a Twist

Meiguro

Update: Game saving on exit, high scores, and less flickering! Visit the Webpage to Sideload Orbtime.

Orbtime is a Drop7 / Chainfactor clone with a twist. After releasing my previous game Droptype, Donald Bubbins suggested that something like Drop7 would suit the Pebble. After mulling over this idea, I decided to make a prototype which eventually became this! Since Orbtime is a clone, it shares the same gameplay mechanic that's often described as a cross between sudoku and a falling block puzzle game. And the twist? Orbtime recognizes that a Pebble is a timepiece and includes time orbs which represent the current time. In Orbtime, what time you play will affect the outcome of your game.

Controls

Up: Move Left

Select: Drop Floating Orb

Down: Move Right

Back: Pause to Main Menu

Scroll down to read the second post for details on how to play. Drop7 which Orbtime is modeled after is notorious for being difficult to explain with words so I've included images.

As a bonus, I also included a way to tell the time in the main menu. You'll be able to figure out how to tell the time with it after reading about time orbs below.

And finally, there is a hidden game mechanic that I'll reveal as soon as someone discovers it

Read more about Orbtime

Installing

You can install Orbtime using the Pebble App Store.

Install Orbtime via the Pebble App Store.

If you don't see the new "Scores" option, then try sideloading the new Orbtime game onto your watch. This can happen if the Phone app cached the old Orbtime version.

Visit the Webpage to Sideload Orbtime.

Changelog

v1.2

- Your current game progress will now save when you exit Orbtime! [Note: Be sure to exit if your Pebble is about to run out of battery life.]
- High Scores! Each difficulty has a separate leaderboard, ten slots for Normal and another ten slots for Hard. [Note: Unloading Orbtime will delete your high scores.]

- Rendering has been improved to flicker much less. Orbtime will now only redraw the game field when necessary.

v1.1.1

- Updated to SDK 2.0! Sorry, no new features, but I will be sure to make use of the new 2.0 features for Orbtime in the future.

v1.1

- The main menu time orbs animation is fancier

- Garbage orbs can no longer initially change into time orbs. This should make the game more difficult and less sporadic. After becoming basic orbs, they can be still be promoted as normal.

Meiguro

How To Play

You have a 7 wide and 7 high field that can be filled with orbs. The idea is to keep the field from overflowing by having the orbs clear themselves. How does an orb clear itself? The following infographic demonstrates this.

You have a percent chance to get a time orb, so depending on when you play, you'll get more of a certain number. Here's how Orbtime represents the current time as an orb.

If you've played Drop7 before, you may know that an onslaught of low numbers can be deadly. Orbtime features orb promotion which can help remove these low numbered orbs.

AdamThomas

Great game, love it.  Score: 57,726

DonaldBubbins

Wow this is fantastic! You really are one of the best pebble developers. This is so pollished and so thought out. A game perfectly designed for a time piece. Well done, well done.

Edit: ok maybe that was a little too much praise but I think you've done some good work.

dezign999

Can you make a brainless version? Or is that Droptype?

HellRa1SeR

NIce game. Score :88,526 lvl 12

ReinhardMitschang

definetly the best game available yet! played it to ~300.000 Points then the screen went blank...I guess, this game is kind of a battery killer ;-)

Meiguro

@Adam_Thomas

Glad you liked it, I noticed you tried it as soon as I posted it up!

@Donald_Bubbins

Thank you once again. I was weary about making an outright clone, but I felt pretty excited when I had the idea of combining time with the numbers. To be honest, there is still the issue with the second orb perhaps being too destructive when it comes to someone creating an elaborate chain. I also considered possibly allowing orb promotion to carry a chain, but that may make it too easy to accidentally chain. Currently, garbage orbs can also turn into time orbs -- this may change if hardcore chaining players find this annoying.

@dezign999

It's true, Droptype is pretty modest in the beginning. In Orbtime however, I reduced the amount of discs you have in Normal mode compared to Drop7 because of the help you can get with the minute and second orbs. Try a strategy where you immediately clear orbs of smaller numbers and leave larger number orbs to naturally disappear when you level up. I also released the game on a dreaded 1-day where all day orbs are 1's, so it's a bit more difficult than normal.

@HellRa1SeR

Ah, you spotted the level indicator. I tried having a level up banner show, but all it did was obstruct my view when a level up caused the new garbage blocks to immediately become numbered orbs and possibly chain.

BradleyConyers

Awesome job with this! Sitting at a little over 300k right now and going strong!

HansGerwitz

Great work! The level of polish in how quickly things move, the clarity of parts, etc. is amazing for a first release.

I'd like to suggest that garbage orbs changing into time orbs is, indeed, too randomizing. And the second (and even minute) orbs do make the Normal game too easy. I tried playing and got over a million points and wrapped the level to "14" (114) before my Pebble did the unceremonious out-of-battery shutdown.

But Hard is quite fun. Any chance of a "leaderboard" (with dates rather than names)?

Meiguro

@Bradley_Convers & @Hans_Gerwitz

You two are very good at this

Yes, I purposely made the level indicator wrap to two digits because of the screen size, though the score should have a very telling story! Since I have agreement on the garbage issue, I'll go ahead and make that change once I have the time. I may also consider having second orbs appear less frequently or adapt a power ramp similar to Droptype.

For leaderboards, eventually in the future I'd love to have android apps accompany my games in order to store state. In the mean time, I could perhaps use httpebble's cookie feature. I like the date idea, that would give the player a feeling of progress.

Meiguro

Orbtime is now at version 1.1! This update includes a fancier animation for the main menu time orbs and the discussed change with garbage orbs.

More specifically, garbage orbs no longer change into time orbs once they've been hit twice by adjacent clears. They should always turn into basic orbs once they run out of hits. The resulting basic orbs should still be able to be promoted to time orbs however. I decided to release an update with only this change to see what the resulting gameplay is like before taking more measures to make Normal not too easy. Download here or use the first post.

DonaldBubbins

Thanks I look forward to checking it out!

JosephTomasone

Excellent app and nicely done!

DonaldBubbins

This needs to come to 2.0

Daniel Zrinyifalvi

I've hold back on OS2 waiting for a compatible version of Orbtime. I would even do the conversion if I had the sourcecode. Or maybe I'll just make a clone? I don't want to rip the developer off, but this needs to come to the new OS ASAP!

gerwitz

+1

Meiguro

Thank you everyone! I've not abandoned my projects, I will definitely convert them all to 2.0, it's been on my todo list for a long time, but a certain project of mine is taking up all my time . Unfortunately I will have to hold off on fancy features, I will see if I can provide a direct port for Droptype and Orbtime by the end of the week.

Meiguro

Thanks for waiting, I've updated Orbtime to 2.0! Go to the original post or the website http://meiguro.com/orbtime/pebble/ for the download links for both 1.x and 2.x. Similar to Droptype, Orbtime also doesn't make use of any new 2.0 features yet. The suggestions in this thread to have tracking pertain very well to this game, so I will definitely want to add such features in the future which SDK 2.0 make possible. This was also a quick port, so I will be updating if I find any issues.

Daniel Zrinyifalvi

Thank you! Today I updated to OS2, Orbtime is already on my Pebble!

Adam

I love this game but an am noticing it's not saving my game If I leave and go to a different pebble app and then come back later. Is this just a limitation of the pebble APIs?

Meiguro

Thanks @Adam17! Not exactly, it was a limitation of the old API. The new firmware can handle saving, but I unfortunately haven't gotten around to using it. I'll post an update when I've done so, but don't hold your breathe!

Adam

Meiguro said:

Thanks @Adam17! Not exactly, it was a limitation of the old API. The new firmware can handle saving, but I unfortunately haven't gotten around to using it. I'll post an update when I've done so, but don't hold your breathe!

Understood. Thanks for the quick reply!

Adam

would love to eventually have the ability for the game to be saved...this is my favorite game on the pebble still

Meiguro

It’s been a long wait, but I found time this Christmas break to update Orbtime. Version 1.2 brings automatic game saving on exit, high scores, and less flickering! In order to update, Visit the Webpage to Sideload Orbtime.

NOTE: Unloading Orbtime from your watch deletes your high scores. This is due to Orbtime being only a watch-based program at this time. Running out of battery life can lose your current game. This is because Orbtime is made to use as little power as possible by not periodically saving to flash.

The current game will always be saved on exiting. Exiting the game whether by the back button or by using a custom notification app will no longer end your game. This change adds “Forfeit” to the game menu if you want to start a new game. Forfeiting does not save your score. In order to use as little battery as possible, Orbtime does not periodically save your game, so if you are low on battery, you should exit the game or charge the watch. In any other situation, it should feel as though your game is always saved.

There are now high scores. It will be able to save your top ten scores in Normal and Hard mode separately, totaling to twenty high score slots in all. When viewing scores, it’ll show the scores for the current mode. Pressing select will show scores of the other mode, but if you just Game Over’d, it’ll dismiss instead. Please note that unloading Orbtime from your watch will delete your high scores since I have not yet added a remote storing component.

There should be little to no flickering during movement now. Orbtime has been changed to only redraw the game field when orbs are dropping or reacting. Orb numbers are also now drawn using bitmaps instead, so even less computing is expended for drawing the game field. The special Game Over orbs are still text based, so you may notice a bit of a flicker after losing.

I still believe tracking your progress is a great feature request. In order to bring game saving on exit as soon as possible, I’ve added a slot based high score system instead of full tracking for the interim. I definitely want to allow users to track their progress for every game in the future, not just the top ten!

Thanks for playing Orbtime, and Happy New Year!

Adam

This is great, thanks!