SFML community forums

General => SFML projects => Topic started by: SuperV1234 on February 28, 2025, 02:17:20 am

Title: BubbleByte 🫧🐱 incremental/clicker game about cats & bubbles!
Post by: SuperV1234 on February 28, 2025, 02:17:20 am
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWmuHIllETs

Hey folks, here's what I've been working on lately -- a cutesy/cozy incremental game with a combination of idle, clicker, and tower defense mechanics, inspired by my cat Byte's fascination with soap bubbles. 🐈

(https://shared.fastly.steamstatic.com/store_item_assets/steam/apps/3499760/extras/byteswipe.gif?t=1740696956)

In short: you start as a lone bubble popper, earn money by building up clicking combos, and purchase upgrades and cats. As the game progresses and you discover more types of cats, the automation aspect kicks in: by strategically arranging cats of different types in the right way, you can start earning a lot of money very quickly!

(https://shared.fastly.steamstatic.com/store_item_assets/steam/apps/3499760/extras/ezgif-49350628436a7f.gif?t=1740696956)
There is a prestige mechanic that grants game-breaking permanent upgrades, and a map exploration mechanics that unlocks legendary cats with unique minigames and mechanics.

(https://shared.fastly.steamstatic.com/store_item_assets/steam/apps/3499760/extras/bbgifchaos.gif?t=1740696956)

I'd be happy to hear what you think, and I'm also looking for some beta testers to help me tweak the balance before release -- both veterans of the genre and newcomers are appreciated! ❤️

BubbleByte | Wishlist on Steam
- https://store.steampowered.com/app/3499760/BubbleByte/ (https://store.steampowered.com/app/3499760/BubbleByte/)
Title: Re: BubbleByte 🫧🐱 incremental/clicker game about cats & bubbles!
Post by: Hapax on March 01, 2025, 03:59:57 pm
Nice. Looks cool!

Smart to involve your real-life cat too!

I'm guessing it's not a particularly stressful game?

Of course your cat is called "Byte"  ;D
Title: Re: BubbleByte 🫧🐱 incremental/clicker game about cats & bubbles!
Post by: SuperV1234 on March 01, 2025, 05:15:35 pm
Quote from: Hapax on March 01, 2025, 03:59:57 pm
Nice. Looks cool!

Smart to involve your real-life cat too!

Thank you!

Quote from: Hapax on March 01, 2025, 03:59:57 pm
I'm guessing it's not a particularly stressful game?

Unless you're actively trying to speedrun the milestones, it is meant to be a more relaxing experience.

I wouldn't describe it as a full-on idle game... I'm still making some final balance tweaks, but at the moment I'm quite pleased with the flow.

Early game is a bit more on the active side with clicking combos.
Mid/late game is more about picking a strategy and choosing the most impactful upgrades for that, optimizing cat arrangement, and occasionally interacting with the various minigames.

If you've played Cookie Clicker, the active-to-idle ratio is quite similar. Maybe I should add some sort of "rested state" where inactivity boosts production, for people that prefer idle games...

Quote from: Hapax on March 01, 2025, 03:59:57 pm
Of course your cat is called "Byte"  ;D

It *had* to be a nerdy name, no way around it  ;D

---

Anyway, here's a few more sneak peeks!

This is a prestige upgrade that allows some cats to open up portals to hell:
https://i.imgur.com/tAPs0H5.mp4

And, most importantly, this is a bubble shader I wrote today. Do you think the game looks better with it on, or should I leave it off by default? Performance cost is not significant.
https://i.imgur.com/k9lIWiQ.mp4
Title: Re: BubbleByte 🫧🐱 incremental/clicker game about cats & bubbles!
Post by: Hapax on March 01, 2025, 05:32:34 pm
I think my point about stress is it seems to be a "if you're slow, you progress slowly" as opposed to a "if you're slow, you'll fail until you're quick enough" type, which is more stressful so this would less so :)

Your bubbles look quite nice. I had presumed they were just static sprites; I had not realised that they were adjustable on the fly with your shaders. Nice work!

For me, though, overall, there seems to be too many "particles" (it seems "fussy"). But that's just me; I don't really play bullet hell games for this reason.
Title: Re: BubbleByte 🫧🐱 incremental/clicker game about cats & bubbles!
Post by: SuperV1234 on March 06, 2025, 01:25:19 am
Quote from: Hapax on March 01, 2025, 05:32:34 pm
I think my point about stress is it seems to be a "if you're slow, you progress slowly" as opposed to a "if you're slow, you'll fail until you're quick enough" type, which is more stressful so this would less so :)

This game is definitely the former -- you cannot really fail :)

Quote from: Hapax on March 01, 2025, 05:32:34 pm
Your bubbles look quite nice. I had presumed they were just static sprites; I had not realised that they were adjustable on the fly with your shaders. Nice work!

Thank you, it took quite a bit of work to get them to look right. In the end I created a lot of uniforms to tweak, and used ImGui to actually play around with them in-game until I was satisfied with the final look.

Quote from: Hapax on March 01, 2025, 05:32:34 pm
For me, though, overall, there seems to be too many "particles" (it seems "fussy"). But that's just me; I don't really play bullet hell games for this reason.

Gotcha. There are already options to disable all particles or certain types of them (e.g. the coin particles). They also help with improving performance on lower-end machines :)

Anyway, I’ve made a lot of progress over the past few days, especially on the graphics side. My girlfriend created some extra backgrounds, and one of my best friends is composing a few BGMs. Each of these is themed around the unique cats you unlock as you progress. To tie it all together, I implemented an "unlockables" system that lets you freely select these backgrounds and BGMs after unlocking them once.

Here are some sneak peeks!

- https://i.imgur.com/zQBk0Qo.mp4
- https://i.imgur.com/Kpk5FKf.mp4

I also revamped the trailer, keeping in mind that most viewers decide within the first two seconds whether to keep watching. This new version is much more direct and to the point:

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWsr9I6lYDo

What do you think? Would this be a better fit for Steam and social platforms like Reddit compared to the first, more slow-paced trailer?
Title: Re: BubbleByte 🫧🐱 incremental/clicker game about cats & bubbles!
Post by: SuperV1234 on March 14, 2025, 06:16:53 pm
BubbleByte has officially launched on Steam! 🥳🎉
I'd be incredibly grateful if you tried it out and shared your thoughts with me! ❤️
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3499760/BubbleByte/ (https://store.steampowered.com/app/3499760/BubbleByte/)

(https://i.imgur.com/s2mtaPN.png)

Check out the release trailer here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Db_zp66OHIU