The Ball
Tripwire on the PC Gamer Podcast
PC Gamer Podcast
Game Guide World has a round with The Ball
Mystery Monday - September 20
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The third last Mystery Monday! Two days ago we announced that Mystery Monday and the contest will end on October 4, that means just two more Mystery Monday puzzle pieces to go! We've also released hints for the first three, and we will be giving away the solution to the very first one at a later time. |
The rules and more information can be found here.
Mystery Monday – Nearing the end – Hints #1
We will not release hints for the last couple of Mystery Mondays. We do not want to make things too easy and we want to keep it fair to those who are really into solving these.
The final Mystery Monday piece will be released on October 4! The contest website and instructions will go online in the first few days of October so keep an eye out for those. Remember, the first person who submits the solution will win an Ipad and a bunch of games! 25 runner-ups will receive a copy of The Ball and Killing Floor.
Developer Friday - Thomas Browett
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I'm Tom, I'm originally from the UK, and I did some of the level design and scripting for two of the levels fairly early in the game - up until last year, when I went to work at Epic Games as a level designer intern. I'm now working full-time on levels for Gears of War 3, thanks in part to the experience I gained while contributing to The Ball, and its success in the Make Something Unreal contest.
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I asked to join the team after playing through the first level of the game when it was released back in 2008. I saw a lot of potential, and really liked the way the game's atmosphere was reminiscent of the original Unreal and other games of that time. To start off I got to make a big chunk of the second level from scratch, and had a lot of fun getting creative with puzzles that utilized the Ball in different ways.
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I first started playing around with the Unreal level editor back when Unreal first came out, and then went on to make a series of mostly-terrible maps for the first Unreal Tournament game in the following years. After a long break from mapping, Unreal Tournament 3 came along and really rekindled my interest, and I've been in the editor working on one level or another almost every day since.
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Trying to work the kinks out of the Kismet scripting for some of the puzzles I put together could be a real headache at times, but having to figure that stuff out was a great learning experience.
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I'm a big fan of puzzles in games, and love the satisfaction of finally solving a clever environmental puzzle. I also really like some of the impressive vistas you come across in the game - the deeper you go, the more impressive the scenery becomes.
Mystery Monday - September 13
| We are slowly nearing the end of Mystery Monday! Only a few more to go!
We will be releasing additional hints to all Mystery Monday releases later this week, to assist everyone in their search. |
The rules and more information can be found here.
Iceberg Interactive to get The Ball rolling in Europe
Originally built as a mod on Epic’s Unreal Engine 3 technology that won multiple awards including at Epic’s “$1,000,000 Make Something Unreal” contest and as ModDB’s “Best Single Player Mod”, The Ball has now been expanded to a full stand-alone single-player experience offering a jam-packed 6 hours of gameplay.
- “After bringing Killing Floor to European retail, we are delighted to be working together with Tripwire Interactive once again, this time on bringing to European retail the highly-anticipated Teotl Studios-game “The Ball”, which is already enjoying a large fan-base in an extremely devoted Unreal community”, says Erik Schreuder, CEO at Iceberg Interactive.
“When we first tried The Ball we knew this was exactly the type of game we would like to publish – fun, creative and a blast to play”, says John Gibson, President of Tripwire Interactive. “We’ve had a great relationship working with Iceberg Interactive in the past and knew they would be the perfect partner to bring The Ball to European gamers.”
"We recognize an excellent distribution partner in Iceberg Interactive", says Sjoerd De Jong, founder of Teotl Studios. "By collaborating with Iceberg Interactive we will be able to reach exciting new markets and our cooperation will allow The Ball to reach its full potential."
Iceberg Interactive plans to get the € 19.99 retail version of The Ball rolling across Europe (excluding Russia and Scandinavia), and various overseas territories such as Australia during Q4-2010. A precise release-date will be announced in the near future. The Ball will include various localizations including German, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Danish and Swedish.
Developer Friday – Benjamin Erdt
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Hi, I'm Benjamin Erdt 'Ben' and I created most of the major character models for The Ball such as the King, the mummy, the worm and the Tlaloc. For the latter I also painted the textures. I'm going to move to Vancouver next year and join the Film School there to become a movie creature artist. Designing and creating characters and creatures is my passion and I do my best to improve my skills. Someone who stops getting better has stopped being good ;)
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I joined the team two years ago. I think it was somewhat around April 2008. I got mail from Sjoerd asking me if I would be interested in joining the mod as a character modeler. It was a honor. I had seen a lot of his Unreal Engine work in the past and I admire him. After 2 mod teams I worked for and that were never finished I felt The Ball was something that works. Great idea, hard working talents, good management.
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Phew! Well... I tried out a lot of things in the past like level design for ID Engine games such as Quake, Doom 3 etc. which I've been doing for over 7 years. But 4 years ago I got sucked right into character and creature creation and started to realize that this is the way I want to go. Realizing my ideas digitally is one way but I feel like trying out things like Make Up Effects as well in the future.
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Actually I didn't have the hardest jobs. The only time that was more challenging for me was retouching the aztec king model. I had very little sparetime back then but needed to meet the deadline. Same was when painting the Tlaloc texture. I ended up with some long nights but that was basically it. Seeing the results in-game is a very pleasant moment though! The others did a great job on this!
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I like games that were built around a feature like The Ball. It's simply the overall and basically simple concept of the game and what the team made of it. Young heads, fresh ideas.
The Ball Steam Store Page Launched
The Ball Steam Store Page
PAX 2010 Gameplay Footage
Gametrailers The Ball Gameplay Footage