Addicting, I like it.
Its a bit frustrating at first. I reccomend playing "random potting to get used to the feel" its pretty addicting once you get used to it. The controls are a bit akward at first but you have to get used to it. It is definately a skill game. I think the most fun parts are random potting and straight pool. I also enjoyed the funny player names like 'Wobbly jeff".
Can't stop playin'
One of my favourite games here, well done. Maybe the audio is a bit limitated
Im amazed at the physics
I agree with most of the detailed reviews here that the physics is really amazing and uses perfect 2D actionscript trig. I enjoyed the difficulity of the game and the medals made me want to beat it. Im going to have to keep coming back every now and then to finish it, since it takes a while to beat. It is very realistic in time, friction, momentum, and everything for the most part.
The only thing that I noticed was that the game grows a bit boring after a while because it has the same music in the background over and over again. I am just going to mute it here in a bit. I can't wait to get to the challenges either, that should be very interesting from what I have read.
The MAIN fault of this game and the reason it hasnt attracted that many players is that its a virtual pool game, and that can never replace the true pool play, in my opinion. Wait.. wtf? 9,000 views? This needs at least 200,000 views! Not even front paged? PM Tom Fulp about this game man and get the respect you deserve. \
The AI is very well done as well. I have no idea how you managed to program that! Very great job on gameplay and physics, but it is just a bit dull because it cant give that full pool like experience, but god damn it is as close as any flash game could get to it!
Great Game
Its one of the best pool games that i've played, and i'm glad its the English game over the american. I cant stand American pool, massive pockets etc etc, its daft and games are less challenging. Their are though, a few downsides to the rules of the game settings.
1. If i remember correctly, You should only get 2 shots on the 8-Ball when the opponent has four or more balls on the table, unless the foul shots being played come from a run of at least one ball before the 8-ball is shot upon.
2. Everybody should know this rule... You can't shoot up table from a foul ball placed behind the line. You may place the ball directly inline with the top most ball, and shoot for it, but the first shot should always be played 'Down Table'.
3. The first shot from a foul ball is a free ball, touch or even pot and opponents ball, on this shot only.
Thanks for the great review.
Here is my response:
1. People play all kind of rules - I've never heard that one before though. The old EPA rules, they say you get two shots on the black for any kind of foul. And that's the rules I used to play in pub leagues too.
2. This was originally a Straight Pool rule (still is, but I haven't included it in the game), but it's not played in official 8-Ball rules - and why would you want to???
3, This rule is in the game! You can pot your opponent's ball directly with your first shot after a foul, and still have two shots left! That's the proper pub rules - it speeds up the frames and stops people from blocking pockets all the time.
My gripes
Really fun game, I keep coming back to it. But it has its problems:
1) I've never in my life seen a pool table with as little friction as the one in this game has. And I've played a lot of pool.
2) The rails don't seem to take any speed off the ball unless you've spun it in the opposite direction to the angle of impact. Rails are designed to absorb momentum, so all balls should come off the rails probably 40% slower than they went in.
3) Where did you get "break" to mean "number of balls potted in a row"? A break is the shot that breaks open the rack (hence the name). Potting several balls in a row is called a run.
4) Since when is there a rule that says you get two turns to the table after your opponent scratches? I've never heard of that rule anywhere, even among pool afficionados. I'm going to go out on a limb here and posit that you misinterpreted a rule about failing to pot a ball on your first shot after your opponent scratches?
5) When placing the cue ball behind the line after a scratch, you should be forced to shoot the cue ball such that it crosses over the line before hitting another ball. Otherwise there's no point in forcing the ball placement. I shouldn't be able to place my cue ball behind the line and tap in a ball to the near corner.
6) You've given the game the most uneducated pool audience ever. A real pool audience isn't counting shots, they're cheering difficult pots. Given the difficulties of giving them subjective judgment on whether a shot was hard, IMO the audience should cheer under these circumstances:
- Potting 2 or more balls at once without being a scratch
- Single-ball shot where the angle is severe
- Any shot where the ball struck is not the ball that is potted (i.e. combos)
- Running the table. i.e. in a straight pool game, you pot a ball on the break, then stay at the table until it's racked again.
7) Finally, is there a way to turn off the messages that pop up? I've played the game enough to know the rules, and there's no good reason for me to have to click 4 more times before beginning my game, or twice after scratching in order for my opponent to take his shot. Tedium is not attractive.
All that aside, this is still easily the best pool game I've ever played online, and I applaud you for making it. I will keep coming back to it when I need to relax, but I sincerely hope you take my criticisms to heart and use them to improve the next iteration of your pool games.
DiMono, I'll answer your points one by one - I can tell you're clearly not from the UK, so I'll try to clear some things up for you...
1) I don't think there is a problem with the friction, I've played on tables with less friction than in this game. There are also a lot of programming issues with ball speeds, accurate collisions and desired maximum distance a ball can travel - I think the balance is pretty good.
2) "Rails are designed to absorb momentum"??? Not in England! The cushions are designed to bounce the balls off losing as little energy as possible. If the ball lost 40% of their energy in the UK, people would find a better table as the cushions are dead! In the game, the balls lose about 15-20% of the ball energy when hitting a cushion - I can't remember exactly.
3) "Break" is an English word for the total score without missing a ball. It comes from Snooker: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximum_
break
"Break" is also used for first shot of the frame.
4) 2-Shots is a very common rule in UK pubs - I'd say played in every pub. We pay by the frame, so the rules are designed to speed up the game, so more frames are played.
You can change this rule in the game:
- Pool Rules->Set 8-Ball Rules
Common English 8-Ball Rules, see rule 6A: http://www.epa.org.uk/oldeparules.php
The official English 8-Ball rules have recently switched to World 8-Ball Rules, but most people play the traditional English rules.
5) Hitting down the table is a rule from Straight Pool only, in 8-Ball you don't play that rule - it's an old rule that has no purpose in 8-ball these days. I didn't add the rule to the Straight Pool mode as I didn't think it was worth the effort of adding this check. Mainly because I don't see the point of it and find it the most frustrating rule ever!
6) Yeah, the clapping isn't great, that's quite a lot of extra code to judge the difficulty of a shot you made, and to judge if you meant to do it or not! I might try to make the clapping better if I make another one...
7) You can't turn off the messages completely. As you play a few of them stop being shown. I just click quickly, it never really bothered me, I might improve this if I get time...
I hope that clears up some of your gripes.
"All that aside, this is still easily the best pool game I've ever played online"
Thanks :-)