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Drawdle - An Android Exclusive

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Update: A free lite version is now available:

Drawdle Lite

If you try it out, please let me know what you think! Thanks.

Another update:

Here is the official gameplay trailer:

Drawdle Trailer - YouTube

Original Post:

Hey everyone,

Drawdle is an independently-developed, drawing-based physics game available now on the android market.

In Drawdle you must draw shapes and then "throw" them into paint balloons which then paint doodles. The more paint you get into the doodles the more stars you collect. The shape you draw directly affects how you do, so you must plan, draw and throw your shapes carefully.

And here are some screenshots:
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Drawdle features:


  • 48 challenging levels
  • Realistic physics
  • Sound and music
  • A hint system for when you get stuck
  • 100% ad-free
Get it now:
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.oss.DrawdleLite (Lite Version)
https://market.android.com/details?id=oss.AndroidDrawdleFramework (Full Version)

Feedback is greatly appreciated! If you try it out, please let me know what you think!
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Hey everyone,

Wanted to let you all know I've made several updates to Drawdle since my above post, including HD graphics for tablets and many performance improvements and compatibility fixes. If you were having problems running Drawdle, please give it another shot.

Drawdle Lite on Android Market

As always, feedback is greatly appreciated. If you try out Drawdle, let me know how it goes! Thank you :)
 
This game is the definition of cool. I just wish you'll would add more drawing tools. Have to completely erase if you mess up kinda sucks. Must have regardless. Very nice exclusive.
 
Thanks for the kind words, supermandlegend.

I'm curious what you meant by "more drawing tools". Would you like to erase only part of your doodles? Different line weights?
 
It really is very nice (sorry I haven't gotten around to writing a review yet, but it's definitely on my to-do list), but I'm also for more drawing tools... chief reason being that on my tiny screen it's almost impossible to get the shape you want.

So, suggestion #1 would be a zoom where the drawing field is scaled (and, if the AR requires it, rotated) to fit the screen. An eraser to remove individual lines also wouldn't hurt.

The lack of precision is a bit of a general problem. Throwing likewise is more dumb luck than anything else. I know it's hard to balance the lower difficulty you get when you add too much help, but a bit more help would lead to much less frustration. Not much, maybe a AngryBirds-like slingshot where a short line is drawn in the general direction.

The amount of retries needed per level also leads to suggestion #3: Please add a restart button that's always available and skips the beautiful, but (if you have to watch it for the 30th time in one level) slightly infuriating, blend.
 
hansschmucker said:
It really is very nice (sorry I haven't gotten around to writing a review yet, but it's definitely on my to-do list), but I'm also for more drawing tools... chief reason being that on my tiny screen it's almost impossible to get the shape you want.

So, suggestion #1 would be a zoom where the drawing field is scaled (and, if the AR requires it, rotated) to fit the screen. An eraser to remove individual lines also wouldn't hurt.

The lack of precision is a bit of a general problem. Throwing likewise is more dumb luck than anything else. I know it's hard to balance the lower difficulty you get when you add too much help, but a bit more help would lead to much less frustration. Not much, maybe a AngryBirds-like slingshot where a short line is drawn in the general direction.

The amount of retries needed per level also leads to suggestion #3: Please add a restart button that's always available and skips the beautiful, but (if you have to watch it for the 30th time in one level) slightly infuriating, blend.
Click to expand...

This is a great post, a lot of good suggestions. I have a small screen device for testing (an HTC Hero) and will admit that it isn't quite the same experience as whe playing on a "standard" (800x480) display or larger.

I am going to try some of your suggestions:
- a quicker fade-in/fade-out (maybe only when user manually resets?)
- A second throwing mode. The current throwing mode is continuous: how fast your doodle is thrown depends on how fast you throw it. A second mode (perhaps activated after a period of time when throwing?) shows you an aiming arrow, and how fast your doodle is thrown depends on how far you've dragged your finger.
- Throwing "history" so you can see where you previously aimed, a la Angry Birds.
- Some ability to erase a doodle while drawing it, perhaps by back-tracing over what you've drawn already. This will require some experimentation.

Is this close to what you had in mind?
 
Sounds great. I really think you only have to tweak the fade when the user resets manually... if he doesn't it's pretty safe to assume that he's not in a hurry and after all the fade does look nice :)

About the throwing. I'm not sure about the history function, since it might add a lot of unwanted information to the screen, but you're definitely on the right track when it comes to the actual throwing. But I wouldn't make it into different gestures or with a timeout: the current controls, which seem more natural for people with bigger screens would inevitably suffer. Making it into an option seems like a better way to go.

About the erasing: How about a push-tool which pushes the vertices in its radius in the direction the user pushes, weighted by distance... possible adding vertices. This way the user could make the shape smaller or bigger at certain points after it has been painted.
 
Just bought the full version... I was running out of levels :)

Playing through the first few levels again, the tutorial almost drove me crazy: Like I said, throwing is a bit difficult and the tutorial levels erase the drawn shape at every restart, meaning that I have to draw the same stuff over and over again... bringing the tutorial behavior in line with the rest of the game might be a good idea.

I'm really looking forward to the possibility of a "push-vertex" tool... it's annoying when you've finally managed to draw the perfect shape, but one corner is simply a bit too sharp.

Oh... and one last thing: why not simply bind a triple-tap (to be sure that it's not accidental) to "restart level without fade"?
 
Hey everyone,

I've just updated Drawdle and Drawdle Lite. The new version features many of the suggestions hans made:

- Faster fade when manually resetting
- "Arrow" aiming mode (enable in the options menu)
- Speaking of, a new, dedicated options menu
- Better performance on older devices

A "push vertex" tool is planed for the next update :)

Get it here. If you try it, let me know what you think! Thank you.

hansschmucker: I understand your suggestion about keeping doodles after a reset on levels 1-3, but my concern is that the player hasn't learned about double-tapping to erase by then, and there is a good chance they'll get stuck if they try a level again. Hope leaving that as-is is OK :\
 
Makes sense... I'm afraid I didn't think that one through. I'll give you some feedback on the improvements tomorrow, now it's time for bed :)
 
Alright, first results:
1. The arrows don't really help much since they are usually hidden below your finger unless the object is really big.... making the arrows twice as long as the actual vector or moving them to the opposite side of the screen seem like possible options. To be honest, it didn't really bother me a lot because of 2.
2. The new aiming system is great and since you don't have to complete the gesture in a limited time like you had to with the "push" system, precision has improved dramatically.
3. I was going to ask about disabling the explode effect because of the performance issue: glad to see that it won't be needed anymore. Performance is perfect, even on my 600Mhz ARMv6

P.S. Hmm... somehow I can't post reviews on the Android Market right now. I'll stick it here until the system comes up again:

Device:LG Optimus One P500, Compatibility:Perfect
Throwing your drawn balls at balloons filled with paint doesn't really seem like something that could become addictive, but it does: The game keeps throwing new challenges at you at every corner. Doors, spikes, trampolines, multiple balls, predefined shapes, physics-challenges where you create objects that will bounce off others in certain ways. It never gets boring, while the non-linear progression system keeps frustration to a minimum
Click to expand...
P.P.S. (it's not really related, but I don't want to create yet another post)

Added a short "first look" summary to LowDroid
First Look: Drawdle | LowDroid
 
Thanks for the kind words hans! I'll do some experimenting with the arrow aiming to see if I can make it better (undocumented tip: you can actually start your drag anywhere on the drawing rectangle, you don't have to start on the doodle itself).

And thanks also for writing up a first look. The site looks great; looking forward to the full review!
 
Hehe, as good as anything can look that was created in <20 minutes ;)

I registered the domain a few months back for entirely different purpose (to provide a better search for the Android Market, including filtering by permissions), but I figured that I could simply use it for a blog until I have the time to create an UI for that.

Wish I knew what the heck I should write about Drawdle yet: the basic setup is as simple as it gets... the level design and pacing is really what turns this into a good game: But discussing individual levels is something I would try to avoid. We'll see.
 
Hey everyone.

Wanted to let you all know that I've released new versions of Drawdle and Drawdle Lite.

The biggest new feature is the ability to zoom in on a drawing region (thanks hansschmucker for the suggestion!). To zoom in, simply double-tap on an empty drawing region. Zooming should make it considerably easier to draw with precision, especially on smaller screens.

Also fixed a couple of bugs and changed the icon to something a little spiffier.

I did spend some time experimenting with different mechanisms to modify existing doodles (a push-vertex tool, etc.), but invariably it would always be easier to just erase the doodle and start over :(. I'll continue to think about it; hopefully the zoom feature helps with drawing in the meantime.

Feedback is appreciated as always!

P.S. The Android Market was having some problems with their comments system, so if you tried to leave a comment and were not able to (or it hasn't shown up) please try again. Thank you! :)
 
Released a small update today, the biggest new feature being an offset on the dragging arrow. Now when you use it the head of the arrow should be offset so it is no longer right underneath your finger. Hopefully it is an improvement, but let me know if you don't like it/think something else would be better :)

Also, here is a screenshot of the zoom feature in action. If you've tried it out, let me know what you think!

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Sorry for the lack of comments, but right now I'm busy with my own game... I'll take a look at it as soon as possible.
 
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