DX-Ball
| DX-Ball | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Michael P. Welch |
| Designer(s) |
Michael P. Welch Seumas McNally |
| Platform(s) |
Windows Mac OS 6 or higher. |
| Release date(s) |
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 freeware computer game for the PC first released in 1996 by Michael P. Welch and Seumas McNally. The game, originally inspired of an earlier series of Amiga games known as MegaBall, is patterned after classic ball-and-paddle arcade games such as Breakout and Arkanoid. It became a massive cult classic in the Windows freeware and arcade gaming community during the late 1990s to the mid-2000s. A level editor was also made available as well.
Gameplay
The game is basically a Breakout clone: you bounce a ball off a paddle at the bottom 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. When you hit a block, there is a chance that a power-up will appear (signaled by a high-pitched explosion sound) and float downwards towards the paddle, and can be picked up by touching it with the paddle. If only a single breakable 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 sudden bolt of 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
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.
Neutral
- Expand Paddle: Increases the paddle size
- Shrink Paddle: Decreases the paddle size
- Split Ball: Duplicates a single ball into two. It can be multiplied for a maximum of 16 balls at once.
Positive
- Thru Brick: The ball breaks through all bricks instead of bouncing off. Will also affect Shooting Paddle and can be combined with FireBall
- FireBall: Each brick hit with this ball blows up itself and all surrounding bricks. Can also be combined with the Thru Brick.
- Shooting Paddle: Adds two laser guns on the paddle, allowing it to shoot at the bricks. Can be combined with Thru Brick.
- Grab Paddle: Allows the paddle to catch, hold, and release balls at the player's conttol
- Set-Off Exploding: Triggers all exploding bricks on the board
- Extra Life: Gains an extra playing chance.
- Zap Bricks: Turns all invisible or unbreakable bricks into regular bricks.
- Level Warp: Automatically skips to next level.
- Slow Ball: Lowers the speed of the ball.
- Multiply Exploding: Exploding bricks spread and increases in number
Negative
- Kill Paddle: Causes the player to lose a life instantly.
- Shrink Ball: Shrinks the ball to a miniature size. Will also cancel FireBall, and can be reverted with Slow Ball and FireBall.
- Fast Ball: Speeds up the ball. If picked twice, the ball will be at full speed.
- Super Shrink: Decreases the paddle size to minimum.
- Falling Bricks: Causes the entire brick structure to descend down every time the ball touches the paddle.
Unused power-up
- Gravity Ball: The ball gets slower when it gets closer to the top part and speeds up when reached the lower part of the board. This powerup was probably replaced by Fast Ball, since both alters the ball speed
- Magnetism: The ball will avoid the paddle's center and attracts to its edges, making it difficult to catch. This powerup was probably replaced by Super Shrink, as both makes difficult to catch the ball.
Development
Designed by Michael P. Welch in 1996, DX-Ball was one of the most sophisticated Breakout-style game, with its smooth 16-bit graphics, highly stylized level designs, a wide array of power-ups, catchy sound effects and few unique gameplay elements never seen before in a Breakout clone of its time. Seumas McNally (1979-2000), whose programmed its sequel, has also contributed the game's 3D graphic design.
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.
According to the message 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.
MegaBall
As previously stated, DX-Ball draws its main inspiration from the Amiga game MegaBall, programmed by Mackey Software in 1991-1993. 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.
Other games
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 separate spin-off in 2004 under BlitWise Productions, known as Super DX-Ball. In addition, Longbow Digital Arts also released another spin-off in the same year, known as Rival Ball Tournament. Unlike DX-Ball, these games are not freeware.
Mac port
In 2002, the game was later ported in Mac OS 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 Mac OS version 6.0 or higher, and will not work on Intel-based Macs.
External links
- Homepage of DX-Ball - The game and level editor can be legally downloaded here.
- DX-Ball Online - web version.
- DX-Ball at MobyGames