ACT [Mega Blue Ball] Pixie Panic Garden v1.2 (RJ225140)

[laek]

Hi @Lynte! Thanks for the report, and yes it is a know bug. It can happen with all the bosses, but it is a visual bug only; their health is being decreased correctly when you hit them.

It is fixed for the update 1.2 that is coming soon, hopefully this month.

 

[neutral]

update 1.2 is out! its got new enemies and stages, you can also transfer your save to the new version

 

[ryproar]

Like the new enemies and all but seriously some of the bosses are a bit spammy with the aoe. I mean I like a challenge but I went through over 30 lives on the nightmare boss alone. Other than that, like the new content. Just in the future, tone back the a.o.e a bit when the whole map is covered in less than 10 seconds it becomes more luck than skill at that point, on a side note I can't find any secrets even with the clues since it doesn't say WHAT to use on the clues to get them.

 

[laek]

Thanks for updating the thread @neutral!

Version 1.2 Changelog:

• 2 new bonus stages (Dream and Nightmare)
• 4 new enemies plus 2 new bosses
• 8 new pixel ero animations
• 2 new CG sets (10 new CGs)
• Stop/Cancel an ero animation (default "S" key)
• Reduced the difficulty of Witch Queen boss battle
• Some minor bug fixes and adjustments

The fetishes featured in this update where decided by vote by the early supporters! This free add-on to the game is my way to say thank you!

Also, this is the final update and I now consider this game complete. When I set out to make my own ero game, I knew it would have to be simple and small so as to keep my goal realistic. With the current amount of content in the game, I think I managed to reach that goal, and now I'm really motivated to start working on my next game and try to make it bigger and better, taking into account all the lessons I learned from my mistakes and achievements.

In terms of theme, after Pixie defeated the last boss of stage 5, she thought all was well and returned home. But since then she's been having some weird dreams, and the bonus stages are kinda to represent Pixie battling in her own dreams and nightmares to figure out what is going on. There was going to be a CG that explained why she began having those dreams, but I fucked up and commissioned the work way too late, so its not going to be in game. But when the art is done I'll post it here and in other places.

Feel free to leave your feedback or criticism!

@ryproar - Are you having difficulties with one or both of the bosses? Could you please specify what about their AoE attacks are too OP and in which way it is impeding your progress? With that more info then fine tune the boss better, as I could change the size of the attack, or the frequency, etc. For now, here are some general tips for beating the bosses:

Dream Boss: When he begins charging his attack, try to stay in a mid-range distance from him, That is, don't stay too close but also don't stay too far. If you stay too close he grabs you, but too far and you will give him more room to cover the map with fire. Also, try to bait him into the borders of the map, this way the middle stays mostly open for you. Also, when key areas of movement are blocked by fire you can bomb them away, so take the time when the boss is roaming to clear up some paths. And wind beats fire.

Nightmare Boss: It alternates between it's 2 attacks and since the big webs don't hurt you, you can use this pattern to approach the boss when you know he will use this specific attack. When the boss hides, take this opportunity to bomb and clear as much of the smaller webs as possible. If you have at least 3 power and bombs you can clear a decent amount of ground. But I think the main danger of the boss is the wave attack when he reappears. For this, take note of his shadow and try to position yourself just above or bellow the lines of the wave. But try to avoid the diagonals (specially when closer to the boss) as it is harder to position in relation to them.

I hope those hints help you defeat them, they might seem tough at first, but once you get their pattern they are quite straightforward. But keep the feedback coming, and I might release a small patch to tone them down.

 

[Jason Bill]

I had a lot of fun with the update. Some pretty quality animations in there, and you did some really interesting things with enemies/mechanics. A few things threw me for a loop when I first saw them, (in a good way) they sorta played with my expectations.

@ryproar You can also put out fires with the punch ability. Play sorta defensively. When the boss isn't actively charging you, run around and remove the fire patches so you have space to flee. When it charges, start dropping bombs as you run. (To potentially hit/remove fire spots that appear, and very likely hit the boss once when it comes out of the charge with some bombs at the end.)

 

[UnexpectedTwist]

Nice, I've been waiting for this update to drop. I loved the dream eater enemies, and how they eat you out or just flat out eats you. Now to try for the secrets.

 

[alphaikazuchi]

Awh. The megabulgecode doesn't unlock the new stuff.

 

[KiWolfGirl]

Is there a place I can see what the new enemies and fetishes touch on so i can see if its something i want to chip in for?

 

[ryproar]

Okay I beat the bosses but my problem is not the actual fighting it's the WAY the bosses attack. Nightmare seemed to attack (in my game not sure about if anyone else saw this or if it's me) mostly with the webs that cover the area but it seemed to completely cover the area with webs not missing a single spot unless I dropped bombs. (This was on easy too mind you) The dream boss seemed to do the same. The main problem was on Easy mode the damage seemed to be that same as normal mode and the attacks that cover the area the same. I tested the boss in both modes and it took the same amount of hits in both. And the aoes were the same. I had to do trial and error to beat it but I have one small suggestion (Many of you might disagree with me some may not) take a look at easy mode's scaling for the expansion. The level 3 bomb and speed boost barely give any room for error. I was only slightly ahead of the boss the whole fight making it actually quite difficult and not what I would consider easy. As for the secrets, it's not that they are too hard to understand, it is that the dream one can apply to EVERY map as they all have the description and not knowing if I got the right drop to access it as well. (punch, kick, ect.) Like I said before I like the expansion and like the challenge I was just making a point that the scaling between Easy and Normal seems non-existent to me. Don't take my comments to heart and think I am a total a-hole for having an opinion, I am also not complaining like I want a hand out. I am just stating things as I HAVE SEEN THEM. I am sorry I have to clarify this way but my suggestions and opinions seem to strike some people as hostile. (You would not believe some of the mail I get on youtube and patreon...)

 

[UnexpectedTwist]

Okay I beat the bosses but my problem is not the actual fighting it's the WAY the bosses attack. Nightmare seemed to attack (in my game not sure about if anyone else saw this or if it's me) mostly with the webs that cover the area but it seemed to completely cover the area with webs not missing a single spot unless I dropped bombs. (This was on easy too mind you) The dream boss seemed to do the same. The main problem was on Easy mode the damage seemed to be that same as normal mode and the attacks that cover the area the same. I tested the boss in both modes and it took the same amount of hits in both. And the aoes were the same. I had to do trial and error to beat it but I have one small suggestion (Many of you might disagree with me some may not) take a look at easy mode's scaling for the expansion. The level 3 bomb and speed boost barely give any room for error. I was only slightly ahead of the boss the whole fight making it actually quite difficult and not what I would consider easy. As for the secrets, it's not that they are too hard to understand, it is that the dream one can apply to EVERY map as they all have the description and not knowing if I got the right drop to access it as well. (punch, kick, ect.) Like I said before I like the expansion and like the challenge I was just making a point that the scaling between Easy and Normal seems non-existent to me. Don't take my comments to heart and think I am a total a-hole for having an opinion, I am also not complaining like I want a hand out. I am just stating things as I HAVE SEEN THEM. I am sorry I have to clarify this way but my suggestions and opinions seem to strike some people as hostile. (You would not believe some of the mail I get on youtube and patreon...)

While I can't comment on your experience with the bosses, easy mode doesn't affect how hard they are. It only gives you 30 lives from the start, unlimited continues, and 6 minutes instead of 3 to complete a level (barring survival levels). All the powerups and upgrades do the same thing, regardless of difficulty.

 

[netherus666]

Yo anyone wanna slip me a save? hook a bro up lol

 

[Manuel de Mush]

Yo anyone wanna slip me a save? hook a bro up lol

same, tbh

I think the game is pretty well designed, awesome pixel animations, solid game over CG's. But to be honest, I'm really not willing to put in the time to be the new, challenging levels. That's just not what I want out of my hentai games.

 

[PM21]

3rd-ing a save game request. Unless there's a variation of of the megabulge cheat that works. Don't want to short change the game but, y'know, it's getting late and a man's gotta whack it.

 

[neutral]

Is there a place I can see what the new enemies and fetishes touch on so i can see if its something i want to chip in for?

yes, the devs blog;

You must be registered to see the links

scroll through his posts to see previews.
If you want to know, *spoilers*
the new fetishes are one vore enemy, one tentacle, one futa, vanilla sex, and the two bosses are a horse and a spider. the spider doesn't seem to egg lay, or if it does, its not shown or expressed.

 

[laek]

The code to unlock the new content is "masterunlock". Typed in the same way as before, in the main menu.

 

[netherus666]

The code to unlock the new content is "masterunlock". Typed in the same way as before, in the main menu.

thanks fam

 

[KiWolfGirl]

yes, the devs blog;

You must be registered to see the links

scroll through his posts to see previews.
If you want to know, *spoilers*
the new fetishes are one vore enemy, one tentacle, one futa, vanilla sex, and the two bosses are a horse and a spider. the spider doesn't seem to egg lay, or if it does, its not shown or expressed.

TY, I'll prob hold off for now.

 

[SethK]

I quite enjoyed this update.
For one; horse bestiality is my JAM.
Two, while the challenge was high (If it weren't for easy mode I'd have failed the horse boss lol) I didn't really feel like it was 'cheap'. Usually me dying was a result of not watching where I was going, or getting too aggressive and getting snatched up as a result.
Thanks for the continued support of your game, Blueball, and I can't wait to see what you make next!

 

[Lynte]

Okay, I played through the whole thing on 'easy mode' and beat basically every stage except the witch queen. A special case on the flesh golem, which seemed to bug out and stop attacking me the first time I beat him. I went back and beat him again just to see what he actually does. I used the grantpower code when I came back a second time, though. I'm not gonna try again on the witch queen. Around 10 hours on the whole game. I played with music on mute, sound effects only.

I recommend anyone who wants to play through and still have a good time to just use easy mode and the grantpower code from the get-go. For the flower stages, it's easier to go bombing around the edge of the map - this way you don't really have to think about all 4 sides of the explosion.

- - -

I'm not a fan of Bomberman and danmaku, but I do like top-down view action games. The main skills that this game tests are patience and attention, though. There aren't many opportunities to take advantage of enemies and their movements are random. I really like how various levels have different goals: survival, kill the sprout, bosses etc. Particularly the difference between surviving against dogs (where players have to move around to clear the holes) vs surviving against other enemies (where players can simply stand around to avoid them) is nice. There's good variety in enemy patterns. And the punch and kick have their uses for sure. I don't know if anyone ever preferred having the shield..

The flower levels are a definite pain. Especially because hitting even one ends screws the run. An HP system, or "3 flowers burned and you're out" system would have been nice. These levels are incredibly claustrophobic. It's a game where players are allowed to do many things but most of their moves end the game. Shouldn't touch enemies, shouldn't get hit by bombs, shouldn't hit flowers, shouldn't pick up mimics and shouldn't take time. There are just too many ways to fuck up on these levels. And yet there's not much in space to show mastery of the game.

The use of a continue system is questionable. Some bosses are really difficult without particular power-ups/abilities. They won't drop those power-ups and players won't get them from using continue. Moreover, these stages are filled with permanent debuffs. Which I also find questionable. I'd want players to feel like they're doing better as they replay bosses, not like they're slowly getting cornered. Most people probably didn't notice because of the music but the sound effects are dirty, man. Clean that shit up. I think I can hear the sounds of people in one of the clock sound effects. A little bit of noise reduction can go a long way. It isn't obvious but some good sound design can make a big impact on how comfortable a game feels to play.

I don't think the slime ever did anything except be mildly annoying. The doggo is pretty nice. It incentivizes action since it'll cover the map in holes if players don't clear them. Gnome is probably way too strong for level ch1 boss. It's frustrating to have him teleport away from bombs. Sooner or later players would realize he always goes back to the same area but having him teleport on top of you is also a pain. And if players don't have the punch ability, this boss is much more difficult.

Stage 2 was absolute hell. Most of my time was spent here. I don't know why in the right mind you would put two enemies that players can't influence in the same area. Worse still, the worm randomly denies bombs, aka the main way players can positively interact with the environment. If a player doesn't have punch they're pretty fucked. Most of stage 2 is a waiting game and a bunch of luck. Stage 2 flower stage in the image below is the worst. I played it without easy mode and ran out of time a few times but I couldn't really do anything about it because of their abili ty set. Survival stage was interesting. Mud Bishop was okay.


Stage 3 has a bit of fun in it. The Satyr attacks triggering bombs and they killing themselves were one of the few moments I felt agency. But it's quite rare to have that kind of set up because of the maze-like structure of the place. Clearing the pillars was tedious. The huntress I could kinda bait and take advantage of. Mega sprout is one of the better bosses, just because I can actually damage it with bombs without having to rely much on RNG.

Some of stage 4 was quite easy some of it hard. The breaking doors while hiding away from the homing spells was tedious. The survival level was also quite painful. It's just 3 whole minutes of precision dodging. At the flesh golem, it bugged for me and he just stopped attacking, though I can't seem to replicate it. It has a really annoying sound effect that it keeps spamming. It goes BWONG BWONG BWONG all day or something. Didn't spend long on him but he's probably difficult if I don't have much power. All his attacks repel the player.

The moon wolf was kinda nice. They forced the player to be on the move. I guess players could theoretically use them to detonate the bombs early. But it was always too risky for me. Sprouts and crystals on this level gave a nice opportunity to use the kick. The doors and worms combo was hella tedious, though. Never beat the witch queen, and I don't plan on trying again. Teleports to fucking much. She basically only gets hit when she feels like getting hit. Very little feeling of agency against her.

Dream had a nice combination of passive and active enemies. Punch is quite powerful but not necessary until the Stallion, I guess. And getting Kick is quite dangerous but that's cool too. The collect light is quite a curious goal. But I think it's better than destroying hedges. I'm also glad I didn't have to take care of flowers again. I chose not to continue on the boss and came back with the punch ability. I easily beat it with a bit of luck after that. The strategy was basically as you mentioned in this thread.

I don't have much memory of the nightmare enemies. I don't even feel like I interacted with them very much. Just some incidents where the forks triggered my bombs before I wanted them to. The spider is hands down the best boss in the game, though. I could actually do stuff against it, so long as I had high power. I could clear swaths of webbing by bombing diagonally. Then I could drop bombs perpendicular to the shadow so they detonate early and screw him over. This is the one boss where the player was actually reacting in order to gain an advantage. I'm actually pleasantly surprised spider even got to the top of your poll.

I think you know where your art stands but I wouldn't be too worried about it - you'll get better in time. If you're including CGs you should improve on them, though. At least take care of what's visible on the store page. I personally don't plan to include CGs in my game


I'm excited to see whatever you come up with next. But I'm not exactly looking forward to a PPG sequel just yet...
I hope you actually try your hand in a more straightforward action game instead and see what you come up with. I'll be tracking you on Twitter mostly but I'll check your blog if you ever tweet it.

Spoiler: But I have some suggestions I have if you're making a sequel

A hatched grid would be really nice. so players can see how far the explosion goes more easily.
A range indicator for the bombs would be nice too. Like colouring the tiles red or something.
An option to keep HUD up while playing would be appreciated.
Some visual and audio cues for bomb timing would be really good for new players.
You mentioned it's too late to put an HP system in place by 1.0 because of the design but I really don't think it is. How bad could a 3 strike penalty system really be?
If there's an easy mode, I'd suggest an option to make the player immune to their own bombs. This would really make the game a lot more relaxing for players just looking for a chill game.
The option to choose which ability to use on continue. This is so players don't get stuck going through everything to fight the same boss. Heck, I'd even do away with the buff system if I were you.

 

[Totters]

Hi Laek,

I decided I really wanted to write down my opinions on your game on a site/page you regularly visit and post on yourself. I ended up here and just by chance I happened to already have an account of a few years old and got in after the first try.

I recently bought the game on DLsite and as of writing this I’m only at stage 3, but in my eyes the game is so amazing that it needs some praise. To me, it was like a breath of fresh air; an actually good game with my fetishes beautifully worked out. My absolute favourite games are either dot animations or flash games and comparing Pixie panic garden to my other favourites like the UnHoLY game series, it pushes all the right buttons. While discovering the game, my biggest ‘wow’-moment was when I lost against the first evil sprout and pixie was grabbed and eaten. It ticked all boxes: dot art, great and appropriate sound and voice, tentacles, soft vore.

With a game like yours, my mind tends to transcend the limits of the game and when that happens, I consider it a great game. The earlier mentioned Unholy game series only does this to a certain extent, but PPG manages to make me do it more often; partially due to the extra rules applied. Naturally, one can create a game where the character gets caught when they get hurt too much or come too close to the monster, but you added rules that have nothing to do with that. Almost as if there is some higher power making Pixie play some sick game. The addition of rules like: “don’t destroy the plants” or “don’t kill the rare beetle” causes Pixie to become paralyzed when she fails to obey them. Almost like she gets sexually punished if she disobeys the rules (in some cases even punished with death in the shape of vore).

Your game felt to me like it was thoroughly different from what I usually play (Run-or-rape, 2D shooters, other side-scrollers with hand to hand combat) and in a good way. Another game series that made me feel similar was Swissmadesex’s Dungeon sex slave series (if not familiar:

You must be registered to see the links

). My mind races in that game since the concept is very mysterious and what’s with all those women on the wall? Will they stay that way forever? PPG causes me to think similarly, to think beyond the animations and what the game shows me. Based on location alone, dungeon sex slave and PPG have in common that they take place in a pretty much enclosed environment (dungeon maze, garden maze), signifying that no help is coming and the unknown needs exploring.

I prefer it when the heroine is pretty much fucked as soon as they enter the game. What I mean by that is that they’re helpless if they don’t use their intelligence, because they lack a weapon to defend themselves. “Alps and the Dangerous Forest” is a nice example of that too, where the main character has to use either speed, stealth or intelligence to avoid getting caught. PPG borders between that and the usual hack-and-slash/shooter, because Pixie does have a way to defend herself, but she needs to think carefully before using it.

Back to the animations, I’d like to say that I like how you “dotted” (drew) the character. You stayed close to normal human proportions instead of using a big head with small body or a character that fits in one square of the grid (like most rpg’s). This way the animations look much more natural even though the character consists of pixels only.
In conclusion: I’m not even halfway in the game and it’s already shaping up to be one of my all-time favourites. You have no idea how long I’ve searched and waited for a game that does the same for me as this one. After this game it’ll be waiting yet again for the next one to finally come along.

Finally, I’d like to drop a few pointers that would have made this masterpiece even better in my eyes. First, I thought of an option (cheat or reward for finishing the game) that allows for Pixie to be nude throughout the entire game, since there is no nude walking animation and the worms from stage 2 eat her with clothes on. Apart from that, I suppose it’s kind of a similar thing, it would have been great to have some character modification options, like length of hair and/or colour of skin, hair or clothing (only for animations, not necessarily for CG’s). I doubt you’ll implement these ideas in PPG even if you like them, because I assume you consider it finished. However, if not they may be nice additions to your future games.

This game is very promising and I can’t wait to see what you come up with next. Keep up the amazing work! You deserve the praise.