Tripwire Interactive to Publish MSU Prize Winner – The Ball!

[acare84]

Yes, this is really great news. Tripwire Interactive has announced that they will publish Make Something Unreal top prizes winner The Ball. Game will come to Steam and retail stores on this fall. Here are the details and official website of the game. Tripwire Interactive I love you. :)

The Ball is a first person action-adventure game featuring a full single-player experience built on Epic’s Unreal™ Engine 3 technology. As a swashbuckling archaeologist working on the slopes of a dormant volcano somewhere in Mexico, you get stuck in a cavern. It doesn’t take long before you realize this is more than just a cave. You reveal ancient ruins that have been hidden from outsiders for centuries and discover a mysterious artifact, a gold and metal shelled Ball. As you progress towards solving the mystery of this amazing place you must unlock the secrets of The Ball and learn to control this ancient artifact. You will also start to encounter not just puzzles and traps, but also various strange creatures – the guardians of this mystery. These creatures also have to be overcome, using only The Ball to defend you. Venturing deeper into the volcano, you reveal some of mankind’s greatest secrets…

Key features:

•Six hours of single-player adventure
•Game mechanics that are very simple to pick up, immersing the user in the physics-based gameplay right from the start
•8 huge levels to explore
•Includes bonus Survival game mode, with 3 additional levels
•Wide range of enemies to overcome, including mummies, an undead gorilla and boss characters
•Unique vehicles – an underground train and the mysterious “Ball Chariot”
•More than 30 secrets hidden away to be discovered, as well as multiple achievements for the player to earn
•Steamworks™ features including achievements and leaderboards

http://www.theballthegame.com/

[Ciaos]

The videos look quite good. I'm a big fan of Tripwire and if they're going to publish, its probably a quality title at a budget price :)

[velvetmeds]

erm, isn't it free though? or was, up until now.

[Oneironaut]

I just downloaded the mod, and I'm reinstalling UT3 to try it out. I'm guessing that the retail version will expand on what was in the mod version, the same way Killing Floor retail improved on many parts of the Killing Floor mod.

[Yoshiro]

To quote somebody else:

With Killing Floor we bought the rights to the game and worked with the original mod team but also did a LOT of in-house development getting the game ready for a commercial release. With The Ball, we are primarily publishing and then operating in more of an advisory capacity. Teotl is doing the actual development. Really the game is already awesome, so we'll be helping them get it into your hands

[epsylon_Z1]

•Steamworks™ features including achievements and leaderboards
:(
passing

[BloodShed]

awesome looking forward to it's release ^_^

[Cedge]

erm, isn't it free though? or was, up until now.
Nope. The free version (which will continue to be free) isn't the same as what Tripwire is publishing. It's the expanded, "full" version of the game that the developer has been planning for a long time (and this mod has been planning to go commercial for a long time). Similar to how Valve scooped up Counter-Strike and Day of Defeat back when they were mods, greatly expanded them, and turned them into full retail products.

:(
passing
Having optional achievements and leaderboards that you never even have to check instantly makes the game a no-buy, regardless of all it's other merits? Say what? :confused:

[bessent]

Having optional achievements and leaderboards that you never even have to check instantly makes the game a no-buy, regardless of all it's other merits? Say what? :confused:

With that look on his face :( I'm guessing that what he's passing is pretty large!

[bobsmith101]

I assume Tripwire gets part of the sales?

More money for Heroes of Stalingrad!

[Toto pectore]

Having optional achievements and leaderboards that you never even have to check instantly makes the game a no-buy, regardless of all it's other merits? Say what? :confused:

I hope they release Stemworks-less version, I would get over the loss of achievements and leaderboards if the game would be DRM-less.

[sprakes]

This is some great news. I own all Tripwire games and am big fan of them.

Anyways, does anyone know what 3D modeling program, is this screenshot (http://www.theballthegame.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/torespic.jpg) taken from?

[Nekomancer]

Well, the mod runs on Unreal engine 3, so maybe it's part of the Unreal SDK. Epic released the SDK for free use.

[SaLaDiN]

Any multiplayer?

Because only 6 hours in singleplayer + some survival mode is not enough for a full primary singleplayer game in my opinion. I buy singleplayer games only if they have 15 hours and more in gameplay, like Stalker, Mass effect and others.

For example, Killing Floor or Red Orchestra has no sigleplayer with story, just only offline multiplayer, but they are fully multiplayer games, so noones care about it.

[Nekomancer]

Well, i think the final version will have more content.

[Mormacil]

Well, i think the final version will have more content.

The FAQ pages states 6-7 hours campaign for the retail version.

[Nekomancer]

Well, as much as i'm interested in that game. I have a rule. A game shouldn't cost more than 1€ per hour of gameplay (have a hard time to translate that from my native language). So i hope the price will reflect that.

[Mutilate81]

I've never been a fan of The Ball, but good luck!

[TrippleD]

awesome looking forward to it's release ^_^

I agree.

[Cedge]

I hope they release Stemworks-less version, I would get over the loss of achievements and leaderboards if the game would be DRM-less.

What? DRM-less? All games sold on Steam (with just a couple exceptions, like the original DOOM, as it just runs through DOSbox) use Steam itself as DRM. Steamworks-enabled games have no more restrictive DRM than any other Steam game.

[PoSSeSSeDCoW]

Well, as much as i'm interested in that game. I have a rule. A game shouldn't cost more than 1€ per hour of gameplay (have a hard time to translate that from my native language). So i hope the price will reflect that.

You translated it correctly.

I used to be like that, but I have such a big backlog of games that I prefer shorter games now (but I tend to buy them all on sale anyways, so I still tend to get that amount of playtime for my money).

[CLIFFISFTW]

Well, as much as i'm interested in that game. I have a rule. A game shouldn't cost more than 1€ per hour of gameplay (have a hard time to translate that from my native language). So i hope the price will reflect that.

I do something similar to that.

1$ per hour up to $10 dollar game (10 hours for $10 dollar game = worth it)

$11-$20 is 30 minutes per dollar ($20 requires at least 10 hours of gameplay)

$20-$30 (at least 20 hours of gameplay)

$30-$50 (at least 30 hours of gameplay)

$50+ (.50 cents per hour again) So CoD Modern Warfare 2 being 60 bucks I need to get at least 120 hours, because when a game is that expensive It needs to double the value!

[wazups 2x]

I played the original mod for Unreal Tournament 3, but I never did get into it.

:(
passing

What's wrong with Steamworks?

[Scopperloit]

I didnt like that mod. Played it back then.

[Amander]

Which mod guys? Was The Ball a mod?

[acare84]

Which mod guys? Was The Ball a mod?

Yes, it was a UT 3 mod. You can download and try it from here.

http://www.moddb.com/mods/the-ball/downloads

[Amander]

Anyway, will this have a demo?

[Nekomancer]

Good question, time will tell.

[Chris Fifty-Two]

Really looking forward to this. Will probably be a day one purchase for me.

[Amander]

By asking about a demo, I wanted to point out that there should be one.

[AxoZombie]

i dont like "The Ball"
the best UT3 mod ever is . . . The Haunted!

[epsylon_Z1]

What's wrong with Steamworks?maybe i'm the only one in these forum , who don't like it

[TrippleD]

Well, as much as i'm interested in that game. I have a rule. A game shouldn't cost more than 1€ per hour of gameplay (have a hard time to translate that from my native language). So i hope the price will reflect that.

So TF2, L4D, L4D2 DoD:S, CS:S etc should cost around $200 - $300 or more. I have many hours in these games already. ;)

[eram]

I'll be buying it for sure. Any Pre-purchase planned?

[TrippleD]

Really the game is already awesome, so we'll be helping them get it into your hands

And we thank you for it. ;)

[Toto pectore]

Anyway, will this have a demo?

It already does: http://udk.com/showcase-the-ball

[AlphaFox]

Come on Tripwire, stick to one game at a time. Make RO:HOS a good game :(

[Cedge]

Come on Tripwire, stick to one game at a time. Make RO:HOS a good game :(

They're pretty much not doing any direct development on this game. They're just publishing. Remember, publishing is a separate business from actual game development, and is done by different people at a company.

In other words, you have no reason to be concerned about RO:HOS, because Tripwire publishing this game should have zero effect on that. And besides, Tripwire has grown enough to do more than a single thing at one time!

[Ramm-Jaeger]

Please keep in mind guys, that the UDK demo is a demo of the Mod version of The Ball, not the commercial version. About a year of commercial development has gone on since that Mod demo was made, and the commercial version will be a great improvement over the mod.

[SplitScreen]

Looking forward to this one :)

[Amander]

Well, let's wait for the demo of the commercial version.

[wits]

This game looks really cool. I hope it comes to XBLA.

This is some great news. I own all Tripwire games and am big fan of them.

Anyways, does anyone know what 3D modeling program, is this screenshot (http://www.theballthegame.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/torespic.jpg) taken from?

I could be wrong, but it looks like Modo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modo_%28software%29).

[dobby985]

The Ball is an awesome mod.

[wazups 2x]

maybe i'm the only one in these forum , who don't like it

I was asking why you didn't like it, not to tell me you don't like it again.

[Yoshiro]

Moved threads to our new steam forum section.