DX-Ball | |
---|---|
Developer(s) | Michael P. Welch |
Designer(s) | Michael P. Welch Seumas McNally |
Programmer(s) | Michael P. Welch |
Platform(s) | Windows Mac OS 6 or higher. |
Release | 1996 (Windows) 2002 (Mac) |
Genre(s) | Breakout clone |
Mode(s) | Single player |
DX-Ball (stylized as DX • BΔLL, sometimes also written as DXBALL) is a freewarecomputer game for the PC first released in 1996 by Michael P. Welch and Seumas McNally. The game, originally based on an earlier series of Amiga games known as MegaBall, is patterned after classic ball-and-paddle arcade games such as Breakout and Arkanoid. A level editor was also made available as well. DX-Ball has been succeeded by three direct follow-ups: DX-Ball 2 (1998), Rival Ball (2001) and Super DX-Ball (2004).
Brickles Pro is an all-new game based on the ball and paddle game called Brickles, which was first offered in 1985, shortly after the introduction of the first Macintosh. Brickles Pro is not your. 2Qonstruct is a game development company constructed in the Netherlands. We produce games for Android and Apple devices, focussing mostly on the “ originality” and the “gameplay”. The games we make are easy to play, and they’re made for all ages. CatchOut is a ball paddle puzzle game based on a old classic. The twist is that you don't control the paddle, but you push and pull bruks around trying to lead the balls towards them. CatchOut uses Chunky Pixels graphics, inspirated by Fairchild F game console.
Gameplay[edit]
The game is basically a Breakout clone: the player controls a paddle at the bottom and deflects a single ball, hitting different colored blocks on the top of the screen without having the ball fall below the screen. Clearing all the blocks results in completing the level and going to the next. There are 50 levels to complete. Similarly as Arkanoid and MegaBall, there is an inclusion of power-ups other than extra balls. Various power-ups appear when hitting random blocks, floating downwards towards the bottom and can be picked up by touching it with the paddle. If only a single block remains on a level and it continues to be untouched by the bouncing ball for a minute or so, an electricity sound begins to build and eventually the block is blasted away by a lightning.
In certain levels, the layout of unbreakable blocks may allow the ball to become stuck in an infinite loop without touching the paddle. If this occurs, all unbreakable blocks will eventually replaced with the breakable ones after a minute or so of the ball being stuck in a bouncing pattern.
Power-ups[edit]
There are three neutral, ten positive and five negative powerups in the game. Neutral powerups can affect the gameplay in both positive and negative ways, depends on the situation, positive ones help in passing the level, while negative ones make the level more difficult. To alert the player, a loud warning sound will be heard if the player picks up a negative power-up.
Most of the power-ups are directly taken from MegaBall with different names. New additions include FireBall, Set-Off Exploding, Shrink Ball, Split Ball, Super Shrink, and Fast Ball.
In addition, there are also two unused negative power-ups called Gravity Ball and Magnetism, found in the game's internal coding and is a leftover from MegaBall. These two power-ups were dropped on the game's final development as it requires a more advanced game engine to render their effects yet their icons still remain in the coding files.
Trivially, the game's function could be temporarily transformed into a shoot 'em up by using a hidden cheat code that enable the Shooting Paddle power-up at the player's control, at the cost of reduced points.
History[edit]
MegaBall[edit]
DX-Ball draws its main inspiration from the Amiga game MegaBall, programmed by Mackey Software in 1991–1993 for the Amiga. This game, originally a vast improvement upon Taito's Arkanoid, has several features that carried on to DX-Ball, such as similar power-ups, a large playfield (compared to other Breakout clone games), and both shares a same level background textures. In addition, both games also include a level editor. The original author released in 2012 the source code of MegaBall under the Apache license.[1][2]
DX-Ball development[edit]
Michael P. Welch designed DX-Ball in 1996 as PC remake of MegaBall which was only available for the Amiga platform. According to a message of the programmer in the game's leaderboard screen, it was originally dedicated for Michael's wife, so that she can play something in the PC that was similar to her favorite Amiga game MegaBall. In the message, Michael himself even states that his wife enjoys MegaBall more than his own game, Scorched Tanks, which was probably his main motivation to design DX-Ball.[citation needed]Seumas McNally (1979–2000), whose programmed its sequel, has also contributed the game's 3D graphic design.
DX-Ball expanded technically on the common Breakout-style game formula with smooth 16-bit graphics, highly stylized level designs, a wide array of power-ups, high quality sound effects and unique gameplay elements never seen before in a Breakout clone of its time. One interesting aspect of the game is that it renders on an exceptional 60 fps gameplay with any video cards, giving a vivid look and sophisticated smoothness. The game runs on either Direct X or Direct X 2 for the optimal quality. This feature was later carried on later games.
Mac port[edit]
In 2002, the game was ported to macOS (formerly known as Mac OS X) by Michael S. Austin, the author of CTSP Games and a friend of Michael Welch. While recycling the original gameplay and graphics, the Mac version introduces several new features, including four new in-game music, 2-player hotseat multiplayer, different title screen display, and an optional board pack expansion (DX-Ball Deluxe) of 150 additional boards (for a total of 200 boards). This version is a shareware, as the board expansion pack is only available in the registered version.The Mac version requires macOS version 6.0 or higher. However, it is not compatible on newer Intel-based Macs such as the MacBook or the iMac.
Sequels[edit]
DX-Ball has been succeeded by two direct follow-ups: DX-Ball 2 (1998) and Rival Ball (2001). While these were developed by Longbow Digital Arts, Michael Welch also released a remake in 2004 under BlitWise Productions, known as Super DX-Ball. In addition, Longbow Digital Arts also released a spin-off in the same year, known as Rival Ball Tournament. Unlike DX-Ball, these games are not freeware.
Reception[edit]
In an article on shareware named 'Home grown' PC Zone #64 June 1998 called DX-Ball a 'superb clone'.[3]PC Zone #97 Christmas 2000, disappointed with a Hasbro Breakout remake, recommended instead DX-Ball 2 in their review.[4]
References[edit]
- ^megaball on snappymaria.com (2012)
- ^megaball on bitbucket.org
- ^PC_Zone_64_June_1998 in PC Zone
- ^PC_Zone_97_Xmas_2000 in PC Zone
External links[edit]
- Original homepage (archived 1999)
- Homepage of DX-Ball - The game and level editor can be legally downloaded here.
- DX-Ball Online - web version.
- DX-Ball at MobyGames
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=DX-Ball&oldid=990752416'
(A Processing game)
We are making a new edition of this game: Black Hole Master.
This game is a light-hearted remake of the old classic, except with a cosmic twist!The original game of Ponginvolved each player controlling a paddle which they woulduse to bounce a ball back to their opponent, in the hope they would miss. Each timethe ball touched the opponent's side of the screen, the player would win a point.
Inthis remake, each player now controls a black hole! The objective; to position theirblack hole on their side of the screen and utilise its gravitational potential tofling an approaching star back. Whoever lets a star slip past loses!
If you want to know more about how we are using large laser interferometers to look forastronomical signals from black holes, have a look at our Ebook ongraviatational wave detection!
![Doely Ball(paddle) Mac OS Doely Ball(paddle) Mac OS](https://img.yumpu.com/46653274/1/500x640/the-charlotte-moss-collection-the-charlotte-moss-doyle-new-york.jpg)
This program is provided as a stand-alone application (not as an applet that runsin a browser). To run this application please download the appropriate file, unzip it andstart the executable in the BlackHolePong folder. You must have a 32bit version of Java installedfor the application to work. The game has been tested only on Mac OS 10.5, 10.6and Windows XP. A Linux version might be added later.
- BlackHolePong_OSX.zip: binary for Mac OS (23 MB)
- BlackHolePong_Windows.zip: binary for Windows (22 MB)
The video below shows a short trailer of the game. For more games, see also ourSpace Time Quest.
When you have played the game we would like to get some feedback from you. Maybe youcan spend 2 minutes to answer this very short questionnaire? Thanks a lot!
Unlike the original Pong where each player was limited to moving their paddle in one dimension,each player can now position their black hole anywhere on their side of the screen.Each black hole has a truncated inverse square law force, allowing the player toinfluence the trajectory of an incoming star and (hopefully) sling-shot it back towardstheir opponent. A player scores a goal whenever the star escapes through the back of theiropponent's side of the screen. After eachgoal the game resets and a new star appears in the middle of the screen.
ControlsThe game is for two players only, in other words, you cannot play against the computer(yet).Each player can control the position of his/her black hole within his/her side of thescreen. The range of the gravitational force of each black hole can be increasedtemporarily (by pressing the correct button). At a later stage in the game each playerwill be equipped with three 'worm holes'; these exhibit completly fictionalbehaviour, but should be fun. Try them out! Lifeblood arena mac os.
To control the black hole you can use Xbox controllers connectedby USB, a normal mouse (in the Mac OS version) or the keyboard:
Xbox controller:- the left hand stick controls the position of the black hole
- the upper left button increases the range of the gravitational potential
- hold down the right hand shoulder button for a while to initiate a worm hole
![Dooley Dooley](https://img.itch.zone/aW1hZ2UvMTk1MTM0LzkxMTkxOC5qcGc=/original/7ZktTZ.jpg)
- the mouse position controls the position of the black hole
- the left button increases the range of the gravitational potential
- press the right button for a while to initiate a worm hole
- one player uses the arrow keys to move the black hole, ENTER for increasingthe gravitational range and BACKSPACE to activate the worm hole
- the second player uses A,S,D and W to move the black hole, TAB for increasingthe gravitational range and '1' to activate the worm hole
The boundaries of the screen which do not act as goals have an infinite potentialwall along with a small damping factor. This contains the star in the screen (aswith the original game of Pong) but also decreases the speed of the star by a smallfraction each time it bounces off a wall, ensuring the game does not get too out ofhand!
Dooley Ball Paddle Mac Os Download
Unlike the original which utilises the intuitive nature of elastic collisionsbetween a ball and paddle, this game requires understanding of how gravitationalpotentials behave. Each black hole has an attractive force on the star which decayswith seperation distance according to an inverse square law. This is similar to how astar would be affected, at a distance, by the gravitational field of an object muchmore massive than itself.The game helps people to understand the concepts of orbital mechanics; in order tofling a star back, try to position the black hole so that the star passes just offcentre. The closer the star and black hole pass each other, the stronger the forceand the greater the deflection. If the distance of closest approach is increasedthe deflection will appear more and more gentle until hardly noticeable. These areall examples of stars with escape velocities, producing hyperbolic orbits.It is also possible to capture stars by approaching them from behind. This causes the starto decelerate to the point at which it is travelling below escape velocity, entering a bound, elliptical,orbit around the black hole. Timing is essential when removing the black hole from the orbit oryou may just hurl the star towards your goal!
Dooley Ball Paddle Mac Os Catalina
One may also notice a distortion of the background image around the black holes,this is actually a realistic phenomenon called Gravitational Lensing! The intensestrength of the gravitational field of a black hole is sufficient to bend light aroundit, in a similar manner to a lens. This allows an observer to view what is behind ablack hole as it appears as a strectched image around its edge!
The game has been a great success during the exhibitionLooking for Black Holes with Lasersat British Science Festival in Birmingham, see some example photos below.
Dooley Ball Paddle Mac Os Pro
The game was started during my summer project at theGravitational Wave Group Birmingham, UK and then completed later by Andreas Freise.See also our other Processing examples.