Who do I talk to about a problem or bug?
Please see the contact page for your specific problem. Stuff that should be public like bug reports or other feedback is best suited for the forums.
I'm giving you a user name, e-mail and password - how secure is it?
Your user name is public, and shouldn't contain any personal information. Your password is double-encrypted so not even your personal computer ever receives a record of it, and the TumbleBall server receives it encrypted anyway. Your e-mail is locked away in our database in case you lose your password and need it reset, or if you prefer to log-in with it. It is never made public.
But will you ever use my e-mail address?
We will never give any of your information out to anyone, ever. As for us personally sending you an e-mail, we have a few exceptions. For users who are really special and bring in a lot of referrals, we do extra special nice things, so we may offer you that via e-mail. As for mass mailings, we may do that a grand total of four times in our lifetimes - once if we ever make a sequel, and maybe if there's ever any special offers or massive game-changing updates. If we ever mass e-mail you all, you can bet that you won't hear from us again at least for a few months.
What exactly do I get for creating an account or buying the full version?
Excellent Question! Find out over here.
Why is Sky Ball so different between players?
Players that add a lot of balloons get extra background clouds for their Sky. But it takes a lot! As for the sky colour changing, and some special clouds and backgrounds, that's a result of the referral program. You can see the results with just one referral, but it takes 50 to achieve the final sky!
How does the referral program work?
If a new user comes to TumbleBall.com as a result of a link, and they create an account and become part of the community, whoever created that link gets one referral added to their tally. Each referral makes that user's Sky Ball more interesting. At each tier, their sky colour changes gradually from day into night, and more interesting clouds pop by.
Not every account created qualifies as a referral - there's some fraud protection in place. But unless you're trying to defraud the system, you shouldn't ever have a problem!
How exactly are balls scored?
It can be a little confusing to see your balls get a yellow emoticon with wings in one level, and a tongue sticking out in another level, when it seems you've done nothing different. Two things are taken into consideration. One is how much colour the balls have - black balls score nothing, and white balls score lots. The second part is if the ball hit the best multiplier for that level. If you're only hitting the 2x multiplier, but there's a 5x multiplier you could be hitting, the game tries to tell you with the emoticons.
Behind the scenes, it's a lot more boring. The game measures your progress in 'fully charged balls', which is the point value of a white ball hitting the best multiplier for the level. (You can set all this in the level editor). So if the level designer decided you need 10 fully charged balls to finish and put a 5x multiplier in the level, you can either deposit 10 white balls in the 5x multiplier, or let 50 white balls fall off the screen.
What about the Bomb?
The bomb scores every ball as if it hit a 1x multiplier. In a level with no multipliers, it can be worth a lot! But in level with higher multipliers, it's more about clearing the screen than raking in the points.
Can I play on my iPhone / Android Phone?
TumbleBall is a graphically and mathematically complex game that when maxed out can slow down some low-end laptops and net-books. We would have to re-write a lot of the game - and probably cut out a lot of the features - to make it work. Nothing is planned to do that right now, but we may announce something someday!
Who Are You?
TumbleBall is chiefly the work of artist Joshua Hoiberg and programmer Tony Downey. Josh has made custom toys, a Zombie Survival Training program (no kidding) and a public art show with masonry. Tony has run non-professional theatre companies, written choose-your-own-adventure adventures, and made a few lines of t-shirts. They're both from Calgary, and neither had any experience with Flash or programming before they started TumbleBall.
Where can I find out more about TumbleBall?
It's more for fellow developers than anything, but since you asked: http://www.tumbleball.com/tumbleblog/
There's some old demos on there, as well as more history, design decisions and news. It's also where we'll announce any major developments.
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