Hi Steve T and the rest of the Shock Site Gaming team.
If you have the time and the interest I'd love to see a review Optical Ball. Of all the games that I made it's my favorite. (If you are interessted a other game of mine instead that's cool too)
Studio Name: Woodsmoke
Name of Game: Optical Ball
Quick Bio of Game: I was testing Gamemaker and made a simple brick-breaker, then started to make a GTA1-ish game as originally planned. When I realized I didn't have the skills for a GTA1 game I continued making more levels and fell in love with game making at that point. I was always a fan of brick-breaking games starting with Crystal Hammer and Amegas on the good old Amiga500. But this game is very different and often a mashup of brick breakers and other classic games.
How long the Game was in development and if it's still in development, early access, or complete: Took me about one year (in my free time). The game is complete, but it will recieve an update which fixes a few bugs and adds some polish soon for a Steam release.
Why you became a game developer in the first place: At first I wanted to make a GTA1 game with 60fps framerate because I'm a huge fan of GTA1 but the framerate is really bad. Thats how I stumbled across Gamemaker. Also, after decades of playing games I felt that I've seen it all, and feel like experimenting with new types of games. I always loved to draw and making art for games is even more fun and helps me be more creative than ever before :D
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I like that your reviews are short and straight to the point. The background on your site I don't like that much because it tends to destract me from the content with the colour, symbols(numbers), and high contrast. If it was monochrome I think it would be alot better. Anyway I also have much respect for your honesty when reviewing games.