Giveaway of the Day Forums » Topic: Space Ball: A Review

Giveaway of the Day Forums » Topic: Space Ball: A Review http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/5217 Giveaway of the Day Forums » Topic: Space Ball: A Review en-US Sun, 12 Feb 2012 09:41:48 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.2 Whiterabbit-uk on "Space Ball: A Review" http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/5217#post-55766 Tue, 28 Apr 2009 08:19:25 +0000 Whiterabbit-uk 55766@http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/ You could be right, but from what I know there's unlikely to be a registry entry that equates to a registration /actiation code (well from my point of view). I am running XP Pro SP3, though I did have a copy of Vista I bought nearly two years ago (only used it for a moth)and remember transfering registry keys for specific games and applications directly into the Vista Home Premium(64 bit)registry after exporting them from an XP Pro SP2 (32 bit) and that worked; so I'm assuming the registry works the same; though as mentioned above, the game shouldn't require a specific key. I'll check the registry of the Windows installation where I registered my original copy of Arkanoid: Space Ball and check; but it wont be until this evening as I'm off to an exhibition this morning (about 10 minutes). I'll be out all day (Which for me is very unusual). later regards Whiterabbit watcher13 on "Space Ball: A Review" http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/5217#post-55752 Tue, 28 Apr 2009 02:38:45 +0000 watcher13 55752@http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/ Thanks Stephen! I'll respond to the personal message you sent me on this subject shortly, but I wanted to post on the record just for those curious. I suspect that the difference, though I don't know specifically why, is the difference in our OSs. I didn't initially check to see if Vista was supported, but, as you know, it isn't. I suspect that's the issue, assuming as I am that you're still using XP, where I understand you've had much better results. There's probably something different about the way the game registers itself with Vista that causes the loss of portability. Though again, I don't know why. But, I don't have to tell you that Vista can be idiosyncratic! Maybe I'll experiment with it more, if we can work it out, just so you'll have it on the record in case the game in it's present form comes around again. Thanks again. Watcher Whiterabbit-uk on "Space Ball: A Review" http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/5217#post-55732 Mon, 27 Apr 2009 23:57:30 +0000 Whiterabbit-uk 55732@http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/ Hi Watcher, All I did was copy the registered version over to another computer via one of my external drives. Placed it into my games folder, created a desktop shortcut and started to play. To make sure it was the full version I played it for over an hour with no sign of any messages; which I got when I played the demo last week (which is what I used to write the review). Also in the demo some of the power ups are disabled. All power ups were available in the version I'd transferred. It's odd that your not getting the same? I cannot explain it. Regards WR I've just re-cecked to make sure it's still working and it is. Also in the top left hand corner of the games main meu page it says registered to gamegiveawayoftheday. watcher13 on "Space Ball: A Review" http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/5217#post-55711 Mon, 27 Apr 2009 17:12:46 +0000 watcher13 55711@http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/ Hey Stephen, I'm curious how you achieved portability on this game? I tried it and it didn't work for me, as it didn't work for another poster yesterday. To be specific, I tested as I normally would, in Returnil with protection on. I usually also run an install analysis to see what's going where, but didn't last night because I was really tired. After the install, if it's a true standalone, I just copy it's folder to the Returnil virtual partition, do the turn off protection reboot, remount the partition when I get back up, and drop the folder into my games folder. When I did this last night, I ended up with two unregistered versions. The one on the Returnil Virtual Partition which was registered while I still had Returnil protection on - I always try to play from the Virtual Partition to make sure I got a good copy before I reboot - and the new copy in my Games folder. Of course, I still could have reinstalled it normally last night, but I decided not to, since I'm not so much in love with it that I want it if it's not a true standalone. That should have been the end of it, but I'm curious. Besides, I put enough stock in your opinion that I wanted to pick your brain. Maybe if you describe what you did, I might be able to salvage one of these copies. Or at least, more likely, I'll learn something by the difference from what you did to what I did. I'm usually a "curious cat". SpodoCommodo on "Space Ball: A Review" http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/5217#post-55639 Sun, 26 Apr 2009 15:08:50 +0000 SpodoCommodo 55639@http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/ When it came to Space Invaders I was possibly the first there to turn the score back round to 0 without losing a base, the only time I had an audience when playing any game. Then some people discovered the secret for getting the highest scoring saucers so it was no longer a big deal... Outrun was my favourite although I very rarely got to the finishing line. Whiterabbit-uk on "Space Ball: A Review" http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/5217#post-55638 Sun, 26 Apr 2009 14:46:57 +0000 Whiterabbit-uk 55638@http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/ You must be of a similar age to me. I went to uni in the early 80's though (as a mature student of 26) born 1956 :) Yes I spent many a happy hour playing the original. I preferred it to space invaders to be honest, though I played that to death as well. lol regards Stephen If you want the first three taito version you can downlod them from the following addresses. The first is the original: Arkanoid: <a href="http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/265/Arkanoid.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/265/Arkanoid.html</a> Revenge of Doh: <a href="http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/3228/Arkanoid+2+-+Revenge+of+Doh.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/3228/Arkanoid+2+-+Revenge+of+Doh.html</a> Arkanoid Doh it again: <a href="http://games.softpedia.com/get/Freeware-Games/Arkanoid-Doh-it-Again.shtml" rel="nofollow">http://games.softpedia.com/get/Freeware-Games/Arkanoid-Doh-it-Again.shtml</a> SpodoCommodo on "Space Ball: A Review" http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/5217#post-55632 Sun, 26 Apr 2009 13:33:36 +0000 SpodoCommodo 55632@http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/ Your mention of the original breakout brings back happy memories of what is the only time I played the absolutely perfect game on an arcade machine - late 1970s, breakout machine in a students' union (I was a postgraduate, I'm that old), not only getting rid of both walls with just one ball but also leaving that ball in a loop between the bat and 2 of the sides, and then just walking away from the machine leaving it playing on its own. Oh, almost forgot, I quite like this game too. Whiterabbit-uk on "Space Ball: A Review" http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/5217#post-55615 Sun, 26 Apr 2009 07:01:58 +0000 Whiterabbit-uk 55615@http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/ Developers description of the game. <blockquote>Arkanoid: Space Ball will be a surprise for the amateurs of unusual and picturesque games as Arkanoid and space games. Everybody who wishes to spend time perfectly will take a pleasure in "Arkanoid: Space Ball" too. A futuristic atmosphere, modern techno-style graphics, a dynamical game play and an excellent soundtrack give this game as a present for all Arkanoid’s admirers. You have to clear a lot of platforms-levels soaring in space, and meteorites, spacecrafts and guns of enemies constantly will be threatened your life. Numerous bonuses dropped out from the broken blocks will help you to pass all obstacles: the laser, the rocket launcher, force fields and many other things. Game is distinguished by the features interesting and unusual for classical Arkanoid: horizontally oriented break block formation, moving and shooting bricks, Gravitational anomalies effects to flights of the balls and missiles, etc.</blockquote> Reference: <a href="http://www.wegroup.org/games/arkanoid-games/arkanoid-space-ball.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.wegroup.org/games/arkanoid-games/arkanoid-space-ball.html</a> accessed 24th April 09 The Game: When you first open up the game you’ll see a constant stream of tips scrolling along the bottom of the main menu. For those not used to or familiar with arkanoids; (yes there will still be some who aren’t), it may be useful if you read some of the tips that are given before starting the game proper. The help section tells you about the game and how to play it, then lists all the different bricks and what they do, then gives you a list of all the bonuses available, which include the usual power ups such as shrink and expand balls, shrink and expand bat etc etc, plus some less common such as the ghost ball, and brick weakener. There’s a toggle in options to turn off the auto bonus. What this means is that if you turn the auto bonus off you can stack up all your bonuses and use them when you want to. They also pass onto the next level, whereas if you toggle this switch on the bonuses are spent as you collect them. If you want to play the game at it’s hardest make sure it’s toggled on. I found toggling it off more fun because I could set up certain bonuses, for example, if you’re starting with a new ball, before you release it, select the bonus you want to use from those you’ve accumulated, by right clicking the mouse. To scroll through the accumulated bonuses use the mouse wheel. Only a couple of these are visible to the bottom right of the playing arena. Select ghost ball and wait until the timer which tells you how long the power up will last is at around 3 seconds. Release the ball and it will pass through all the bricks at the front and then become solid again; and trapped within the bricks. This enables you to collect more bonuses with relative safety and also destroys lots of bricks before finally breaking through to the bat side of the bricks. Besides the bonuses there are special bricks such as moving bricks and bricks that explode and destroy surrounding bricks. The game also includes several Objects that appear in the playing field; some times more than one. These include the Kamikase, which will blow up the paddle if it hits it, the robotic eye follows the bat ad can cause the ball to ricochet , the robotic hand grabs the ball and releases it as speed near the bat. I lost several balls because of this object. You’ll also find ice meteorites which freeze your bat for three seconds plus the fiery meteorite that blows up the paddle. There are several more that you can discover for yourself. What actually makes this particular arkanoid/breakout game worth having apart from the retro feel, is the addition of a level editor and level generator. The level editor is actually really easy to use compared to some level editors I’ve tried to use, (e.g. reflectives ricochet editor and hyperballoid 2’s editor). This one only has a few commands and to start creating a level all you need to do is click on the tab key which opens up the brick selection panel. Select and click on the brick you want to use then press tab again. You can now place the brick you chose anywhere on the game arena by left clicking the mouse and removing wrongly placed bricks by right clicking, and continue to do so until you want to change the style of brick. To access levels you’ve created just select custom levels, or alternatively just press the level generator button to creat randomly geerated levels. From the options menu you can also toggle on or off the in game tutorial. If you select the tutorial, a small window with a brief description of the brick type, bonus or object pops up. Features: <blockquote> • Level generator • Level editor • 2 modes to play • Original bonuses and power-ups • Unusual 'space' objects • Joystick and GamePad support</blockquote> Specifications: <blockquote> • CPU: 500 MHz • RAM: 128 Mb • Video: 16Mb Video Card (OpenGL video card recommended) • Windows 98 / Me / 2000 / XP • Mac OS X: 10.3.9 or above, Intel and PowerPC • Linux: SDL 1.2.5, SDL-Image 1.2.5, SDL-Mixer 1.2.7</blockquote> Video: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkWAOIazTqI" rel="nofollow">Watch video of Space Ball game pay HERE</a> Images <a href="http://s109.photobucket.com/albums/n61/Whiterabbit_01/gaotd/Space%20Balls/?albumview=grid" rel="nofollow">See all images of Space Ball on one page HERE</a> <a href="http://s109.photobucket.com/albums/n61/Whiterabbit_01/gaotd/Space%20Balls/?albumview=slideshow" rel="nofollow">Watch slideshow of Space Ball images</a> Conclusion I’m a little biased when it comes to arkanoid games because I’ve always loved them since the very first breakout by Taito which was made in the 1970’s. You can download the original plus many more for free so long as you remember the name of the game. For example Arkanoid Doh it Again or The Revenge of Doh. I spent a lot of money playing the original in the mess when I was in the army. Today’s isn’t as graphically pleasing when comparing it to the likes of Ball 7 the last arkanoid be given away or Reflexives Ricochet series, nevertheless it delivers in the game play stakes. The game is ideal for the beginner because the pace of the game is relatively slow, but at the same tie there seems to be a lot going on. Loads of bonuses and objects floating around, cumulative bonuses, so for example using three or four ball size increasers makes the ball super large. I usually like a challenge with my arkanoid so thought this would be a little tame, but, with the addition of the various objects such as the claw, the game became quite challenging at times, but still retained it’s sedate feel. I’m certainly happy with it. There is the added bonus of an easy to use levels editor, which really is so easy to use, you can throw together as many levels as you care to make. I was running the demo and when I had only 10 minutes left of the demo I created 3 levels and played all three through. That’s how easy it is. It reminds me a lot of some of the earlier arkanoid’s; there’s a retro feel about it, yet it was only made a few years ago. I’d give it a 7 out of 10 for all round playability. <ul> <blockquote>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</blockquote> </ul> Further information. Free Arkanoids and Breakouts: There has been loads of free arkanoids posted in a dedicated thread in the games discussion thread and you’ll also find some in the games for the weekdays thread. I recommend Hoowaball, Chak's Temple, DXBall and DXBall 2, Beatball, Poing, Arcamania 2 Retro, as well as a few others; plus over 10 commercial quality arkanoids from Gametop that include A Ball, which is actually Nuclear Ball and Geometry Ball which is Elefuns Twinzoid. You'll find links to mst of the Gametop games in the arkanoids thread in the forums. <a href="http://www.gametop.com/category/breakout.html" rel="nofollow">Go to Gametop for free commercial quality Arkanoids</a> <a href="http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/2607" rel="nofollow">Find loads of free arkanoids and breakouts HERE</a> <a href="http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/4534" rel="nofollow">Find Arkanoid games in the Free weekday games synopsis</a>