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Neverball

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Neverball
Developer(s)Robert Kooima
Designer(s)Robert Kooima
Mehdi Yousfi-Monod
Pasi Kallinen
Derek Wilson
Josh Bush
Composer(s)Robert Kooima
EngineOpenGL
Platform(s)Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, BSD
ReleaseWindows 2000, Linux (Neverball)
  • WW: July 15, 2003

Mac OS X, BSD (Neverball)
  • WW: November 2003

Windows 2000, Windows XP, Mac OS X, BSD, Linux (Neverputt)
  • WW: December 5, 2003
Genre(s)Platform
Mode(s)Single-player, Both

Neverball is a 2003 3D platform video game developed by Robert Kooima[1] and published on neverball.org. The game was released for Windows and Linux in 2003. Neverball was inspired by Super Monkey Ball[2], a similar game available for the Nintendo Gamecube.[3] Neverball has many, many levels and the game is maintained entirely by volunteers. Neverball and Neverputt are open-source under the GPL2 license.

Gameplay

The main gameplay of Neverball is based on moving a ball using gravity by tilting the game world, not directly controlling the ball[4] (it is somewhat similar to the game Labyrinth without the holes in the middle). The level must be tilted to help guide the ball to a goal, via an obstacle course, with a set time limit. Moving platforms and other objects get in the way, making levels progressively harder.

The obstacle course includes pits, moving platforms, tubes, teleporters, and more.[5]

One of the hard levels being played in Neverball 1.4.0

Several camera modes are available to help the player guide the ball, including chase camera, allowing the player to move along with the ball, and a manual camera, allowing the player to move the camera around, unhindered.

To unlock the goal on each level, the player must collect a required amount of coins. Coins come in three different colors: yellow, red and blue, each having the values one, five, and ten, respectively. Collecting 100 coins in "Challenge Mode" gains an extra life.

Neverball features a replay recording system, which records gameplay in any level. Recording begins automatically when the level begins. Replays can be saved when a level is cleared, or when the ball falls off the level.

Neverball allows the creation of levels with GtkRadiant, the level creation program for popular games such as Quake. GtkRadiant currently has versions for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.

Neverputt icon Neverputt

Neverputt 1.4.0 being played

Neverball comes with an additional miniature golf companion game using the same physics, called Neverputt,[4] which comes with 3 course packs ranging from Easy to Hard. It's levels are similar to those of Neverball, and it is included in the Neverball source.

Expansion

The user is able to expand both Neverball and Neverputt. User-created maps can be downloaded from the neverfourms and installed into the games to be played. Sometimes these downloadable packs get incorporated into the main game, such as the Tones Pack.[6] When building the games from source, it is possible to compile them with VR and Wiimote support.

VR Capabilities

Neverball supports the Oculus Rift headset[7] among others

Neverforum

Neverforum has over 10,000 posts made by over 150 members.[8] This makes it a very large base for people to chat about the game. Development builds of Neverball and Neverputt are also hosted there. This is also where additional levels are discussed, shared, and downloaded from[9].

Ports

There are several unofficial ports and forks of Neverball, most notably Nuncabola, which is a Java port.[10] There is an ongoing effort to port Neverball to the Nintendo Wii.[11][12] Currently, Neverball has been ported to iOS, Android, the Sega Dreamcast, macOS, and AmigaOS 4. Neverputt has also been ported to iOS and Android.

iOS Ports

There are actually two iOS ports, both unofficial. One port was released by Lazrhog in 2008 for jailbroken iPhones[2], and was never released in the App Store. The other port was released in 2020 by drodin, contains both Neverball and Neverputt, and is available right now.[13] drodin also ported the game to the new macOS, as the original 32-bit Mac OS X release no longer runs on modern macs.[14]

Game Notability

  • Neverball is included in the TheOpenCD projects' game section.[15]
  • Neverball is an open-source software at near commercial quality.[5]
  • It’s been included in the Hot Picks section of the Linux Format Issue 55 (July 2004) DVDs.[16]
  • Neverball won 2nd prize at Les Trophées du Libre in 2009, at "Recreation" section.[17]
Notable Versions

0.25.12- Support added for Mac OS X and BSD[18]

1.0.0- Absolutely Nothing[18]

1.1.5- Neverputt integrated into Neverball[18]

1.4.0- removed the ability to play Neverputt holes as levels inside Neverball.[18]

1.6.0- First update in 5 years, source becomes available on Github.[7]

References

[5]

  1. ^ "Neverball - Contributors". neverball.org. Retrieved 2020-09-22.
  2. ^ a b Patterson, Blake (2008-07-08). "Neverball: A Free Alternative to Super Monkey Ball". TouchArcade. Retrieved 2020-09-22.
  3. ^ "Super Monkey Ball". Metacritic. Retrieved 2020-09-22.
  4. ^ a b Giusti, Alessandro (2006-01-30). "Open source software and games". Linux.com. VA Software. Retrieved 2009-03-08.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  5. ^ a b c "Neverball". PC World. Retrieved 2020-09-22.
  6. ^ "Neverball - Release Notes". neverball.org. Retrieved 2020-09-22.
  7. ^ a b "Neverball - Home". neverball.org. Retrieved 2020-09-22.
  8. ^ "Neverforum". Retrieved 2007-03-25.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  9. ^ "Custom — Neverforum". neverforum.com. Retrieved 2020-09-22.
  10. ^ "Nuncabola". uppgarn.com. Retrieved 2020-09-22.
  11. ^ camthesaxman (2020-09-07), camthesaxman/neverball-wii, retrieved 2020-09-22
  12. ^ "Neverball - WiiBrew". wiibrew.org. Retrieved 2020-09-22.
  13. ^ "drodin.com". drodin.com. Retrieved 2020-09-22.
  14. ^ Spence, Ewan. "Apple's MacOS Catalina Update To 64-Bit Betrays Trust In MacBook Pro". Forbes. Retrieved 2020-09-22.
  15. ^ "OpenDisc project". Retrieved 2009-03-30.
  16. ^ "Linux Format magazine archives". Archived from the original on 2006-03-24. Retrieved 2009-03-29.
  17. ^ "Les Trophées du Libre - Neverball". Les Trophées du Libre. Archived from the original on 2009-06-21. Retrieved 2020-09-23.
  18. ^ a b c d "Neverball/neverball". GitHub. Retrieved 2020-09-22.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Neverball.

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Category:AmigaOS 4 games Category:Platform games Category:Free, open source platform games Category:Free, open source video games Category:IOS games Category:Mac OS X games Category:Linux games Category:MorphOS games Category:Unix games Category:Windows games Category:Golf video games Category:Stubs Category:Platform game stubs

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