Okay everyone.. Laser Ball launched just under a year ago today on Steam and with this one year anniversary, I felt a couple of changes were really needed in this game. The first was adding global high scores directly to the game for easy access to see where you rank and the second was an over-hauled scoring system to better reward players for choosing to take on the Electro-Blob but not penalizing players for choosing to play without it in their games.

---------- New Global High Scores Added: ----------

No more needing to go to the Steam leaderboards here on the Steam page for Laser Ball just to see where your score ranks!

All the high scores are available right from the welcome screen in Laser Ball anytime you play! WooHoo!

---------- New More Fair and Balanced Scoring System ----------

Also a big change in this update is more points for facing the Electro-Blob and more specifically.. you'll now be rewarded points for depositing balls when the Electro-Blob is zapping around the game room.

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IMPORTANT NOTE: WITH THIS UPDATE AND ADDITION OF BONUS ELECTRO-BLOB DEPOSIT BONUS POINTS, THE 30% PENALTY FOR ELECTING TO NOT PLAY AGAINST THE ELECTRO-BLOB HAS BEEN REMOVED. ALL SCORING IS THE SAME FOR EVERY EVENT WHETHER OR NOT YOU CHOOSE TO PLAY AGAINST THE ELECTRO BLOB. THE DIFFERENCE NOW IS YOU'LL GET THE ELECTRO_BLOB BONUS POINTS EXPLAINED BELOW IF YOU FACE THE ELECTRO-BLOB.
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Here's how the new Electro-Blob scoring works:

- You MUST have the Electro-Blob on the screen when you deposit a ball to score these bonus points. If you haven't yet shot the multi-colored ball that spawns the Electro-Blob when you deposit a ball, you'll get no extra points.

- The more balls you deposit on any level while the Electro-Blob exists, the more "Electro-Blob Deposit Points" you'll be rewarded. This helps balance the game and levels giving you more points the earlier in a level that the multi-colored border comes up and the creates the need to spawn this unpredictable enemy.

The scoring works as follows:

The level you are currently on is multiplied by:
The number of balls you've deposited on any given level while the Electro-Blob exists Multiplied by (a random score between 25 to 40)

So let's give you a few example scores:

On Level 2 facing the Electro-Blob, the multi-colored ball is the 3rd ball requested by the border of the game. Balls 1 and 2 that you deposit give you no additional points because the Electro-Blob hadn't yet spawned.
Now you deposit the mutli-colored ball you've neutralized white with the laser gun and the Electro-Blob is in play. You'll score [2] for being on level 2 MULTIPLIED BY [a random number between 25 and 40] meaning you'll score somewhere between 50 and 80 extra points for this deposited ball.

The very next ball you shoot is the purple ball as requested by the border color. You neutralize it with the laser gun and collect it escaping the fast moving Electro-Blob by a narrow margin! Whew! Because this is the 2nd ball you deposited on level 2 while the Electro-Blob has existed, you'll score [2] for level 2 MULTIPLIED BY [2 for 2nd ball deposited this level] times 25 to 40 points. So this deposited ball will reward you with somewhere between 100 to 160 extra points

Now let's move to level 12. You have advanced to level 12 and the very first ball you had to neutralize was the multi-colored ball on this level which spawned the Electro-Blob. Because you've had to neutralize every ball and deposit every ball on this level while the Electro-Blob has been bouncing around the screen, you'll score a LOT more bonus points for succeeding this level. Let's imagine this is the 8th ball on this level you've just deposited, so this bonus just for this ball will be [12] (for being on level 12) MULTIPLIED BY [8] (8th ball deposited this level) times the 25 to 40 point random score. This means this deposited ball will score you somewhere between 2,400 and 3,840 points! And if you deposit that last 9th ball to clear out level 12, you'll get another 2,700 to 4,320 bonus points!

This could really add up fast as you advance through the levels especially if you have a lot of levels where the multicolored ball is an early target and you end up facing the Electro-Blob much of your levels.

To help you see the difference, let's show you the
TOTAL POSSIBLE ELECTRO-BLOB DEPOSIT POINTS AT LEVEL 10 when the Electro Blob is released early because the multicolored ball is chose by the border first VERSUS when the Electro-Blob comes into play late because the multicolored ball is selected by the border last:

:: LEVEL 10 ::
Electro Blob is only in play 1 ball as border chooses multicolor ball last:

1st Deposited Ball: Maximum Bonus: 0 - (Electro-Blob isn't in play)
2nd Deposited Ball: Maximum Bonus: 0 - (Electro-Blob isn't in play)
3rd Deposited Ball: Maximum Bonus: 0 - (Electro-Blob isn't in play)
4th Deposited Ball: Maximum Bonus: 0 - (Electro-Blob isn't in play)
5th Deposited Ball: Maximum Bonus: 0 - (Electro-Blob isn't in play)
6th Deposited Ball: Maximum Bonus: 0 - (Electro-Blob isn't in play)
7th Deposited Ball: Maximum Bonus: 0 - (Electro-Blob isn't in play)
8th Deposited Ball: Maximum Bonus: 0 - (Electro-Blob isn't in play)
9th Deposited Ball: Minimum Bonus: 250 :: Maximum Bonus: 400
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TOTAL on level 10 (If multicolored ball is last): Min: 250 :: Max: 400

* VERSUS *

:: LEVEL: 10 ::
Electro Blob in play all 9 Balls (Border chooses multicolor ball first):

1st Deposited Ball: Minimum Bonus: 250 :: Maximum Bonus: 400
2nd Deposited Ball: Minimum Bonus: 500 :: Maximum Bonus: 800
3rd Deposited Ball: Minimum Bonus: 750 :: Maximum Bonus: 1,200
4th Deposited Ball: Minimum Bonus: 1,000 :: Maximum Bonus: 1,600
5th Deposited Ball: Minimum Bonus: 1,250 :: Maximum Bonus: 2,000
6th Deposited Ball: Minimum Bonus: 1,500 :: Maximum Bonus: 2,400
7th Deposited Ball: Minimum Bonus: 1,750 :: Maximum Bonus: 2,800
8th Deposited Ball: Minimum Bonus: 2,000 :: Maximum Bonus: 3,200
9th Deposited Ball: Minimum Bonus: 2,250 :: Maximum Bonus: 3,600
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TOTAL on level 10 (If multicolored ball is first): Min: 11,250 :: Max: 18,000

* As you can see from the two outcomes above, the longer the Electro-Blob is in play on any given level, the higher your total bonus will be. This should help reward players who not only choose to face the Electro-Blob, but who actually do well while it is in play

Please keep in mind that choosing the "Level 10 Quick Start" option while facing the Electro-Blob will NOT give you any of the extra points you might score if you actually play the first ten levels and face the Electro-Blob (because you aren't actually facing the Electro-Blob the first ten levels by skipping those levels with the Quick Start option)

I hope you enjoy the changes made to Laser Ball in this update! Feel free and let me know with a thumbs up or even better with a comment below!