Show HN: Balancing game for the mobile browser with increasing difficulty

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Overall Reception

  • Many find the game “very cool,” polished, and responsive, especially for a browser title.
  • Several players completed all levels, sometimes on the first run; others quit due to frustration with the punishment system.
  • Nostalgic comparisons to classic ball-rolling and platform games are frequent.

Controls & UX (Mobile vs Desktop)

  • Core mechanic uses the phone’s accelerometer; arrow keys / WASD also work on desktop and are widely praised as intuitive and precise.
  • Major pain point: neutral orientation is fixed to a flat, horizontal phone, forcing uncomfortable posture (e.g., lying in bed).
  • Suggestions:
    • Calibrate zero at start and via a “reset orientation” button.
    • Add a bubble-level or other visual orientation indicator.
    • Match camera to a top‑down view if “flat” must be neutral.
  • Some users initially didn’t realize tilting was needed; clearer instructions and visible start button in landscape are requested.

Difficulty & Lives System

  • Global 3‑life limit across all 10 levels is highly controversial.
  • Critics call it tedious and “artificial difficulty,” causing rage‑quits and preventing later-level exploration.
  • Supporters argue it adds suspense, preserves challenge, and prevents trivial completion.
  • Proposed alternatives: per‑level lives, checkpoints, infinite retries with a death counter, optional “zen/story” mode, or a separate hard mode.

Bugs, Exploits & Edge Cases

  • Known issues:
    • Ball can fall forever off some edges without triggering a new life.
    • Finishing from underneath the goal tile sometimes counts as a win.
    • Starting while not flat can cause instant fall with no reset.
  • Exploit: flipping the phone upside down lets the ball “fly,” enabling extremely fast clears.

Compatibility & Performance

  • Mixed reports on Android (Chrome, Brave, Firefox) and iOS/iPad; sometimes no motion detected or no permission prompt.
  • Some note Three.js generally runs smoothly on old phones, but React-based games can be slower.

Requested Features & Enhancements

  • Leaderboards (especially for speedruns), performance stats per level, daily/Wordle-style mode, PWA support, camera angle shifts with tilt, improved lighting/shading, level editor, and cosmetic additions (e.g., a character inside the ball).