After a bit of a longer wait, the next update has arrived. I think this one is the most exciting so far!

The major additions to the game are the new ball types -  Lava & Acid balls! Find them in the all new powerup energy orbs by breaking the bricks with a pulsating light. You could also test out the fireball in level 2A where it is given to you from the very beginning...

• The Acid ball is bright green and will dissolve any brick it touches... 
• The Lava ball glows orange and will burn and melt the bricks on contact - it also flies around quicker than usual!
• Breaking bricks with the flashing light will drop a shimmering orb that will apply a random powerup to your ball if caught by the paddle  

More changes and improvements:

• Play online with the new HTML5/WebGL Build
• Music on level 4B changed
• Audio bugs fixed on several levels
• Game Over/Level Complete UI fixed to extend with text (the text used to overflow)
• Fixed mouse cursor visual bug (it was the wrong image type) 

Design log:

I'm glad to have the game finally available to play in the browser. I hadn't done this earlier because I needed to install the WebGL package, and I figured I should do it alongside a big update when the game will be more fun to play, since I know the play-in-browser adds a lot of appeal to those stumbling upon the game with no desire to install it. So I think the introduction of a full powerup system adds that a of gameplay satisfaction and variability to give the game that wee flourish. 

Having the new powerups makes the levels a bit easier to solve, improves the pacing and adds some more dynamic visuals on the screen to look at. Though some better sfx would really add to that effect. I also think placing the powerup bricks in the level as flashing lights adds some intrigue to fresh players and may give more incentive to go through the level and pick up the powerup, like a mid-level reward. Having the orbs drop and the player needing to catch them adds an extra layer of challenge and I've even found myself low-key panicking whether I should go for the powerup or try and keep the ball in play. The acid and fire are a very similar effect which made implementation simple but the visual difference is cool and I'm glad I came up with the lava's speed-boost to differentiate the balls in gameplay too. 

Still many improvements to go, and I've already laid the groundwork for extra powerups (and power-downs) like longer & shorter paddle, ice ball etc. Right now the powerups just give a random effect but I want to  have separate orbs for separate effects, and then have some random ones too, so I can control the levels more. Getting acid ball when you're already on lava ball isn't much of an upgrade, etc. Also need to get better sfx for the fire, dissolving and picking up the orbs. I also want to fix it so that you lose the power when your ball dies

Once I've developed the gameplay more I'll add the rest of the levels; they could depend on a future mechanic not yet implemented. I also think once the game leaves alpha it'll provide an incentive to anyone who's already played before to try the game again with the fresh content. Also gonna rearrange the first three levels to make more sense. I'm thinking about a cool level select like Mario World or Lego Stunt Rally in the distant future...