Announcing Ballland: World, Cross-Platform Puzzle and Multiplayer Battle Game

Ballland was the first game that I, as a game developer, ever made. It was quick and used nearly 100% stock sprites. Since then the game had grown towards a nearly MMO-capable, friendly, and competitive series, with difficult levels such as BQ2RP level 70, and AI that rivals humans in BBLegacy.

The decision was made in November, 2022 to create a capstone Ballland game to close out the series. It is intended to function as a platform for puzzle games, as well as an arena for pseudo-competitive online matches.

The capstone project is to be called "Ballland: World" (BWORLD). The name is meant to display a full encapsulation of the series, but not "World Edition" as to imply a reference towards real world places. It's still an alternate universe, despite earth-like backgrounds.

Notable improvements over every past game will be as follows:

Uncapped FPS. Unlike all past games, BWorld will be able to run on not only 60 FPS, but an uncapped FPS. This feature should have been brought to BBDeluxe during it's time, but wasn't due to the low-end hardware that was used in developing te game. BBLegacy featured 60 FPS, and the smoothness could not be understated. We want compatibility with 144Hz monitors and beyond if necessary, with compatibility for low-end hardware.

Cross-platform and mobile. We feel it's time to bring Ballland onto mobile. With this release, special controls and dynamic screen-size compatibility will allow for mobile and web play.

High-resolution graphics. Ballland sprites have always been based on a 16x16 grid, meaning that the resolution, even interpolated, would look abysmal on Full HD and above monitors. We will use a vector-based model for the sprites, leading to a large boost in the animation quality of the characters, items, and UI. Additionally, the game will feature animations not based on the frame-based default model, but more fluid movements.

Remote multiplayer server. In BBDeluxe, players needed to use port forwarding in order to open up their rooms, and ever since GMechanism's shut down, online access has been disabled. In BBLegacy, a remote server was made that allowed for rooms to be hosted remotely, leading to capabilities such as visible room lists and spectator modes. The game BWorld will bring that back, along with an embedded clan/alliance system.

Level editor and in-house sharing. Both story and battle modes will have a level editor, and levels can be uploaded onto the server, and played by others both in online battle like BBDeluxe, and in a dedicated story mode section.

Compatibility with the community. Account access, creation, and profile updates may be handled in-line with online communities such as our forum or a discord server.

Server-based authentication and anti-cheat.

Player customizability.

4 more main characters. Purpz, Cyana, Renji, and Blacky.

More stats. Like BBLegacy, there will be more visible statistics per character: Speed, Attack, Defense, Powerup.

Graphics updates.

And more.

We plan to start development from the level-editor, up. There, the mechanics can be perfected, and focus will then shift from there to the story mode's story and battle mode features. We'll then handle the online capabilities, fix up glitches, and release the first beta.

The issues that we face as a game devleopment studio are no different than the issues most companies face: Funding. I, the lead developer, will not have the time to finish this game out within the next year. We created the community here in order to keep the fans updated, and remind you all that BBDeluxe still has life in the form of custom stages. If we can get a build of GameMaker 8.1 Pro, we can recompile the game to allow for online multiplayer, skipping the check for GMechanism.

If we get a build of BBLegacy, which is unlikely, there can also be online sessions held there, since the server is available on GitHub, and the IP address to connect to from that game is changeable from the options menu.

Otherwise, there will be a lot of time to focus on the journey over the destination.

This thread will be dedicated to the "bottom-line" talks - budget, deadlines, team, and more.