Balls are planning what’s next…

Steam post image Artistic vision: “The Council of Balls”, Leonardo The Ball, 1564.

The game has already reached almost 500 people worldwide. Thank you for playing, reviewing, and spending time with the game — this is what truly drives further development. Full post content: Below I share what I am realistically thinking about and considering as next steps. These are not promises or marketing — this is the current state of planning. If something here makes no sense or something important is missing, I can only see it if someone actually names it. Trailer

Directions I am currently considering and even already testing

Game modes

As unlockable additions later in the game — the core Flappy/arcade mode remains the heart/DNA of the game, each mode would have separate online leaderboards, and some would unlock after completing tasks or spending time in the game — e.g. after 12h, 24h, 48h, etc., so as not to disrupt the game’s core flappy DNA — this is mainly for players who might later feel a lack of content.

• Campaign (narrative mode) — a philosophical, reflective story about the “ball” as an idea/form (not just an object), about movement, chaos, and control. No time pressure and no leaderboards.

• Sandbox — no pressure and no ending (you play as long as you want). No leaderboard or a single shared one.

• Tower Defense mode — static defense of a position against waves of enemies (Plants vs Zombies style).

• SHMUP mode — full X/Y movement across the entire playfield (classic bullet-hell / arcade shooter).

• Local versus / hot-seat mode — take turns playing on the same screen.

Upgrade system

Randomness control (prototype)

• LIKE — I want to see it more often

• DON’T LIKE — I want to see it less often

• TEMPORARY / PERMANENT BAN — I don’t want to see it in this run or ever

Additionally, in the game settings you could define a list of upgrades that never appear or are always allowed to appear.

Example new upgrades:

• Projectile splitting on axes (up / down / sideways)

• Spirals and rotating flight paths

• Projectiles orbiting around the player (drones / boomerangs)

• Linking projectiles into lasers / beams

• Leech (stealing HP from enemies)

• Projectiles that collect XP

• Swarm intelligence (projectiles react to other hits)

• Portals (entry/exit like in Pattern Survivors)

• Chaos bullets

Power-ups (temporary run effects)

• Upgrade Chest — a chest with a random upgrade or reward

• Slow Motion — slows time for a few seconds

• Freeze — freezes enemies

• Nuke — clears the screen of enemies

• Shield — temporary invulnerability / shield

• Double XP — double experience

• Magnet — pulls in all XP crystals

• Extra Skip / Roll Token — additional use of SKIP or ROLL

• Bullet Storm — sudden increase in projectile count

• Overclock — faster shooting and movement at the cost of control

• Time Rewind — rewind the last few seconds

• Ghost Mode — pass through enemies for a short time

Companion / Support Units (prototype)

• Drone — orbits the player and shoots automatically

• Wingman — a small SHMUP ship moving independently

• Shield Unit — generates a protective field

• Collector — collects XP and power-ups from a larger radius

• Disruptor — slows or weakens enemies in range

Other

• Codex / bestiary / mechanic descriptions

• Better build readability

• Minimal meta-progression without destroying the arcade character

• Save & Exit — save a run and exit at any time, then return to exactly the same spot

• “FAL” boss wave system — short, intense waves plus boss fights at later levels.

If any of this is important (or makes no sense)

You don’t need to write long posts. Just:

• “this mode makes sense / this doesn’t”

• “this is interesting / this doesn’t interest me”

• “X is missing”

• "bump"

• like up / down

It’s possible that some of these things will appear soon because I’m already testing them (checking if they’re fun), and mainly I still want to “mutate the projectile” so the pla*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()*]()