How do I create a game like Zuma

I wanted to create a Zuma styled game something like this in C2 - http://www.codethislab.com/bozze/codecanyon/sorcerer/

I am trying to solve 2 problems.

Prob#1: Make objects move along smooth curves. To create curved paths at the edit stage with less manual effort on which the objects with bullet behaviour can move along smoothly.

Prob#2: When a ball hits the chain of the balls, how do I position the shot ball to be a part of the chain and move all other balls in the chain either forward / backward along the curve? I want to achieve this functionality with very little manual effort in the design stage.

• Beizer curves are not supported in C2, making it very complex to have objects move along curved paths smoothly.

• Have tried the below options but nothing appears to be a good option. If someone has any better suggestions, let me know -

Option#1. With Waypoints - I have to create too many way points to make the objects go smooth around the curves...(This might bring the performance down?). The positioning of the waypoints etc., is not very automatic and precise to make objects move along the exact curves smoothly.

Option#2. Pode Spline path behavior - Doesnt really seems to be an option with no control on speed and to make the balls stop/proceed in the chain as per the bullet behavior. Again my second problem is also not solved with this anyway. The balls definitely should have bullet behavior so that they can be stopped / moved at will in parts of the chain. This cannot be achieved using spline path.

Option#3. I tried placing multiple imagepoints along the curved path and then dynamically create waypoints. Again with this method, I had to create and place too many waypoints to make the object move along a smooth curve and do lot of manual precision efforts in placing the imagepoints exactly along the curve path image. Does not seem to be a very good option.

Option#4. Create a static chain of circles from start to end along the curve path in the design stage itself that will act both as waypoints and as a placeholders for the balls in the chain as they move forward/backward - This method seems to solve both of my above problems but it involves lot of manual effort for each level. Also the performance might decline because of too many static objects.

Any better techniques / plugins / behaviors that solves both the above problems, then let me know.

To answer Problem #1

I'll have to get into my files again, but I believe i did a test on this. I set it up as a "tower defense" game first. I broke up the background into separate images and made them solids. edited the collision polygon to follow the curve of the "ball groove" (the groove the marbles roll in). Then set to follow path.

I have to find the original with images, but I made a quick mod to a tower defense demo to show what I mean.

The black bars can be replaced with curved images with modified collision polygon.

I dont' know about problem #2. Never made it that far after moving to work on my main game idea.

If somebody else has a better way than this, please let us both know!

Note I saved this capx using the latest version C2 v196.2

[attachment=0:1s4c6fjj][/attachment:1s4c6fjj]

ps: " I want to achieve this __________ with very little manual effort "

That is the thought of every human in history trying to do anything. Ever.

Maybe also show support for the request for spline path / movement here.

Havok, Thanks. I added this to the wishlist.

Jermfire, the method you showcased is pretty good...However I see some complications adapting this method to Zuma type game especially with curved paths and making the shot ball part of the chain ( addressing prob#2). The closest option that I could think of is option#4 as I mentioned above but I am trying to validate the performance when the game is finally made with this option - especially with certain levels having twisted paths (there could be 120 to 150 static sprites in addition to the moving balls....)