(We now resume our regular programming already in progress...)
From the award-winning Preloaded design team (website) comes a new physics-based game designed for the Science Museum in London. Launchball is a fabulously produced take on the 'guide something to the goal' family of physics games.
For each level, you are given a limited set of movable blocks. The existing blocks on the level are, of course, immobile. Drag blocks from your inventory onto the level to place them. Besides the standard ramps and springs, there are many different types of blocks for your benefit (or detriment as the case may be). For example, there are fans and electromagnets to help get your ball moving. However, these require electricity, which may come from a number of different sources, including battery power, wind power, solar power, and geothermal power. And of course, the electricity has to get to these devices somehow. That's where the copper blocks come in. Copper also conducts heat.
One nice thing about Launchball is that all of the blocks snap to a grid, minimizing the fine-tuning that you'll have to do to complete some levels. However, the flip side of that coin is that the base levels are pretty easy (despite being titled Hard, Insane, and Beyond), which is understandable, considering the target demographics of most science museums. Many of the puzzles are a simple matter of placing the missing link back into a system, and often you are given more blocks than necessary to complete the puzzle.
But here's where user-designed puzzles come to the rescue! Yes, there is a level editor and you can send your levels to all your friends and submit them to the level database. Although the database is pretty small right now, once the traffic picks up it should become quite laden with challenging levels.
As for the style and production — it's Preloaded; need we say more? There's nice touches all over the place. Personally, I really dig the iconic block symbols and the soft but dissonant chords that accompany every collision. The physics seem a little damped at times, though in actuality they are probably more realistic (if less entertaining) than similar games. Play Launchball.
Comment Preview
Leave a comment
Favorite Games [edit]
Choose between Top Rated or random Recommended games. Setting is saved automatically.
Recommended
Casual Game Downloads
Support this site through your purchase of any game in this section. Thank you kindly. =)
Worth the trip
Recommended external site links
Recent (Flux) Visitors
Are you in Flux? SIGN-UP NOW
Support JIG
Monthly Archives
 |
 |
 |
All games mentioned and images appearing on JayIsGames are Copyright their respective owner(s).
All other content is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Comments (may contain spoilers)
I'm sorry to say this, but this is more beautifull than all the other ball-pyysics-games in the competition. If it were a contender it would win hands down!
I love it!
Posted by: allwise
|
October 12, 2007 2:25 AM
i don't really get it= ="
each round i have to pay at least 5mins to finish it
May walkthrough saves me!!!!
Posted by: Anonymous | October 12, 2007 2:55 AM
ooh I like this! Yay! *plays with the puzzles*
Posted by: Pinky | October 12, 2007 3:14 AM
Brilliant! Not absolutely physics-realistic in my opinion, but nonetheless very playable, entertaining and worth your precious, valuable time on the Net.
This game is going to be bookmarked and played over and over.
Posted by: Jacob Kamp Hansen | October 12, 2007 4:53 AM
I liked this but there are some bugs involving fans.
1. Sometimes, even though all the fans are touching working batteries, they don't all work. This only became an issue in later levels (and in the extras).
2. If you point a fan at a turbine and then attach a fan to that turbine that blows back the opposite direction onto the turbine, you'll break the game, that simple. If you successfully click stop, but after that nothing. Try Extras #1 "Field of fear" to verify (fan on battery pointing up, turbine a few blocks up, fan on top of turbine pointing down).
Posted by: joye
|
October 12, 2007 6:01 AM
Also I'm getting an error when I post a comment (something about not-really-a-comment-script?), but when I close the window and surf back to the page in a new one, lo and behold there are two comments there!
[Edit: joye, please let the page load in its entirety before clicking "Post". I think that may be the trouble you're seeing. -Jay]
Posted by: joye
|
October 12, 2007 6:07 AM
I really like this. Fun and educational!
Currently stuck on "The Volcano" though. (Never mind, as I typed this I realised that maybe you could...)
Posted by: Andrew D | October 12, 2007 8:59 AM
how do you pass level 'loop de loop'?
Posted by: p | October 12, 2007 10:06 AM
That's a good one!
Right now I'm stuck a bit on the train level, but it can't be too hard...
Posted by: bioLarzen
|
October 12, 2007 10:28 AM
Haha, on the "Loop the loop" level it's possibble to get the ball stay forever levitating in the air - and it's not a bug, it's the fans :)))
Here's the arrangement:
Posted by: bioLarzen
|
October 12, 2007 10:50 AM
Trivia about farting to propel yourself in space, or who was sentenced to death by the chair first, and who actually was killed by the chair first? Yeah, I guess it fits to the target group.
There's also a bug when the game asks you after two minutes into a stage whether you need a hint: If you are moving a tile while this pops up, you cannot move or turn this tile anymore, and there's no reset button...
Posted by: Nathanyel
|
October 12, 2007 10:53 AM
I love this game, but it is really annoyingly buggy--every time I complete a level, I get an "undefined" where the tidbit of educational information is supposed to be and then it won't let me go on to the next level. I can click "replay" and get the blue screen with the grid that appears during the loading of a level, and then back out to the main menu, but every level I click after that takes me to an empty blue grid.
I've restarted four times to play four more levels, but now I'm sick of having to restart the game every time.
Posted by: Raitoo | October 12, 2007 11:51 AM
Strange... I got that "undefined" thing a couple of times, but it let me proceed to the next level every time.
Posted by: bioLarzen
|
October 12, 2007 12:30 PM
I finished the 30 levels. None of them were too hard, the hardest one took me about 18 minutes to solve, but only this one took more than 10 minutes and most of them takes a couple of minutes or even seconds only.
That's a nice diversion for anyone who likes easy-ish games - in spite of all the bugs mentioned before.
Posted by: bioLarzen
|
October 12, 2007 1:10 PM
argh. it is truly an awesome game, and yet I can't enjoy it to the full because of a massive mistake made by so many game developers- they left out any kind of way to reduce the quality of the graphics, meaning I have to put it with lagg that makes my CPU roar like the sea. urgh, if only they left it in the right-click options...
Posted by: reapaninja | October 12, 2007 2:59 PM
When this game made digg.com front page about a week ago the programmer had to pull it offline because the traffic was destroying their server, and yes, it's that good of a game!
Posted by: Anonymous | October 12, 2007 4:32 PM
FYI, I had trouble using my secret code thing to continue my progress, but I was able to get it to work by adding a space at the end. In case anyone else encounters that problem.
Posted by: Harukio
|
October 12, 2007 4:50 PM
stuck on loop the loop :(
Posted by: laptopdude | October 12, 2007 4:50 PM
I found a walkthrough on another site.
It lists the answers (pictures).
[Edit: It would be real nice if someone were to create a walkthrough for JIG. Anyone want a free t-shirt? -Jay]
Posted by: laptopdude | October 12, 2007 5:02 PM
The only thing I don't like are the mirrors, it feels too trial-and-error to me.
Posted by: Harukio
|
October 12, 2007 5:09 PM
'm sorry to say this, but this is more beautifull than all the other ball-pyysics-games in the competition.
I actually disagree, in a way. It certainly is (modulo the bugs and some slowdowns) a very polished and pretty game. The obvious point of comparison in the competition is sky blocs, which has similar gameplay in some ways. In that particular comparison launchball definitely wins on graphical polish. However, I found the gameplay in launchball to be not nearly as deep as sky blocs, and the difficulty level basically never ramped up at all. The level design was also not very interesting in launchball (it seemed like they were leaving it up to user levels to truly explore the potential of most of the pieces), I thought, whereas in sky blocs I thought it was excellent. One of the major complaints about sky blocs was that the reaction phase was too slow. However, I found that launchball was even worse, at least on my setup (macbook/firefox), especially when there was a significant amount of electricity in the level, and it slwoed down the whole browser with it.
Finally, I'm guessing this was created on commission, unlike any of the competition games.
Posted by: kgr | October 12, 2007 5:16 PM
Here goes the walkthrough, ASCII-style. Only covers the "warm up" and "tricky" sections, more to come (tomorrow).
Symbols
o Ball
* Goal
/ \ O ) ( Boundarys
O Squares
/ \ Slopes
) ( Curves
O Copper
/ \ Escalators
« » Conveyor belts
± Battery
x Fan
T Wind turbine
/ \ Mirrors
¡ Torch
@ Solar cell
M Electromagnet
§ Tesla coil
H Heat
W Water tank
s Steam
I Ice
0 1 Switch (off and on)
S Compressed spring
R Rubber
C Cushion
B Bomb
note: slopes and mirrors can take four orientations, since I only use / and \, is up to you to decide which one to use (it's very easy, but if I find anyone tricky enough, I'll write a note below the "maps".
note2: blocks to be added are drawn in bold
WARM UP
Blown away
·················
···/±\···········
···OxO···········
··········o··*···
····T······/OOO··
···\O/····/O/····
····O····/O/·····
····OOOOOO/······
·················
Powering up
·················
·················
··OOO············
··O±x·o··········
··OOOOOO\········
········\\···*···
·········\OOOOO··
·················
·················
Lights and mirrors
·················
····OO·····OO····
····M@·····\O····
····*············
·················
·················
····o······¡O····
····OO·····OO····
·················
Steam Power
·················
········*········
·················
········o········
·······xxx·······
········s········
········W········
········H········
·················
Heating Ice
·················
·················
·····o···········
····O\IH·········
····OO\··········
····OOO\··*······
····OOOOOOOOO····
·················
·················
Switching On
·················
·····o···········
···OO\···········
···OOO\··········
···OOOOO·········
···OOM*··········
···OOOOOOO0OO±···
·················
·················
TRICKY
Bomb chamber
·······OoO·······
······//·\\······
·····//·/·\\·····
····//·/O\·\\····
···//·/OOO\·\\···
···\\·)OO·(·//···
····\\·····//····
·····\\·*·//·····
······\OOB/······
Flying Bounce
o···········\
·············\
··············\
···············
···············
···············
(··············
·S············*
O±«««««««««««OO
In hot water
/·········\
···········
··o·/······
··»»O·\·*··
···O··OOO··
···O···O···
···s···O···
···W···O···
\·/H\·/ \·/
Rubber soul
/··········\ /·\
············OO···
··o·········\O···
\············*MO·
O\·········/O·O·
OS········OO·O·
/··········OO·O·
O···········O \O/
RRRRRRRRRRRO ±
set the magnet to maximum
The steam room
·······O·o·······
·OOOOOOx·········
·O·····O·········
·O·OOOOx·········
·O·O···O·········
·O·O·OOx·········
·s·s·s·O·········
OWOWOWOOO·O*O·OOO
O·O·OH O O O
Towers of Tesla
·················
·················
·················
··O···········O··
··Oxo·········O··
··O···········O··
··O·········*·O··
·§ORRRRRRRRRRR±§·
set the fan facing right
Cushion cave
o······O·······
·······O·······
······/ \······
······\O/······
(·············*
O\···········/O
····R·····R····
··CCCCC·CCCCC··
IIIIIIIIIIIIIII
Switch bounce
OOx·····*·····xOO
OOx···/OOO\···xOO
OO/·····/·····\OO
O/·············\O
·······/o\······0
······/O·O\·····±
O····/ ±·O \····O
\··/ 1 \··/
O·O M OSO
The train
············o····
·············x···
············OOO··
··*·····/O\·OOO··
·O···O·OOOOOOsOO·
·O·C·O·HOOOOOWOO·
·OOOOO·OOOOOOOOO·
··\O/···\O/·\O/··
«««««««««««««««««
The volcano
·················
·······/·········
······/(s)·······
·····//OWO·······
····/·O O \······
o··/·/ O \·····
»»»··O O O·····
····/ HHH \····
···/ HHHHH \·*·
Posted by: nextorniquete | October 13, 2007 2:41 AM
ops...
i had it nicely done with monospaced fonts and colours... what am I doing wrong?
Posted by: nextorniquete | October 13, 2007 2:44 AM
If you read the bit on HTML tags, you cannot use the 'pre' tag but must instead use 'code' tag
Posted by: Grosie
|
October 13, 2007 6:37 AM
nextorniquete - the HTML here is filtered with only a subset of tags allowed. As Grosie mentions, there is a list of allowed HTML tags you may use for style. Font tags are not allowed, sorry.
If you would like more freedom to create an HTML-based walkthrough for this or for any other game, please send me an email and I can get you set up with an account with which to create one.
Posted by: jay
|
October 13, 2007 12:31 PM
Here goes the complete walkthrough, ASCII-b&w-style.
Symbols
o Ball
* Goal
· White space
/ \ O ) ( Boundarys
O Squares
/ \ Slopes
) ( Curves
O Copper
/ \ Escalators
« » Conveyor belts
± Battery
x Fan
T Wind turbine
t Water turbine
/ \ Mirrors
¡ Torch
@ Solar cell
L Lens(this one is used only in custom levels)
M Magnets and electromagnets
§ Tesla coil
H Heat
W Water tank
s Steam
I Ice
- + Switch (off and on)
S Compressed spring
R Rubber
C Cushion
B Bomb
^^ Seesaw
G Treacle
DddD Gate
notes:
Slopes, curves, escalators and mirrors can take four orientations (escalators only two), since I only use / \ ) and (, is up to you to decide which one to use (it's very easy, but if I find anyone tricky enough, I'll write a note below the "maps".
Squares and cooper are drawn both by O; there insn't any level in which you have to use both, so I gess there should be no problem
Blocks to be added are drawn in bold
WARM UP
Blown away
·················
···/±\···········
···OxO···········
··········o··*···
····T······/OOO··
···\O/····/O/····
····O····/O/·····
····OOOOOO/······
·················
Powering up
·················
·················
··OOO············
··O±x·o··········
··OOOOOO\········
········\\···*···
·········\OOOOO··
·················
·················
Lights and mirrors
·················
····OO·····OO····
····M@·····\O····
····*············
·················
·················
····o······¡O····
····OO·····OO····
·················
Steam Power
·················
········*········
·················
········o········
·······xxx·······
········s········
········W········
········H········
·················
Heating Ice
·················
·················
·····o···········
····O\IH·········
····OO\··········
····OOO\··*······
····OOOOOOOOO····
·················
·················
Switching On
·················
·····o···········
···OO\···········
···OOO\··········
···OOOOO·········
···OOM*··········
···OOOOOOO-OO±···
·················
·················
TRICKY
Bomb chamber
·······OoO·······
······//·\\······
·····//·/·\\·····
····//·/O\·\\····
···//·/OOO\·\\···
···\\·)OO·(·//···
····\\·····//····
·····\\·*·//·····
······\OOB/······
Flying Bounce
o···········\
·············\
··············\
···············
···············
···············
(··············
·S············*
O±«««««««««««OO
In hot water
/·········\
···········
··o·/······
··»»O·\·*··
···O··OOO··
···O···O···
···s···O···
···W···O···
\·/H\·/ \·/
Rubber soul
/··········\ /·\
············OO···
··o·········\O···
\············*MO·
O\·········/O·O·
OS········OO·O·
/··········OO·O·
O···········O \O/
RRRRRRRRRRRO ±
set the ± to maximum
The steam room
·······O·o·······
·OOOOOOx·········
·O·····O·········
·O·OOOOx·········
·O·O···O·········
·O·O·OOx·········
·s·s·s·O·········
OWOWOWOOO·O*O·OOO
O·O·OH O O O
Towers of Tesla
·················
·················
·················
··O···········O··
··Oxo·········O··
··O···········O··
··O·········*·O··
·§ORRRRRRRRRRR±§·
set the fan facing right
Cushion cave
o······O·······
·······O·······
······/ \······
······\O/······
(·············*
O\···········/O
····R·····R····
··CCCCC·CCCCC··
IIIIIIIIIIIIIII
Switch bounce
OOx·····*·····xOO
OOx···/OOO\···xOO
OO/·····/·····\OO
O/·············\O
·······/o\······-
······/O·O\·····±
O····/ ±·O \····O
\··/ + \··/
O·O M OSO
The train
············o····
·············x···
············OOO··
··*·····/O\·OOO··
·O···O·OOOOOOsOO·
·O·C·O·HOOOOOWOO·
·OOOOO·OOOOOOOOO·
··\O/···\O/·\O/··
«««««««««««««««««
The volcano
·················
·······/·········
······/(s)·······
·····//OWO·······
····/·O O \······
o··/·/ O \·····
»»»··O O O·····
····/ HHH \····
···/ HHHHH \·*·
SNEAKY
Boing
/·········\
O···········\
OO/···········*·\
··············O··
·················
·················
··o···S··········
OO\···O···S···/OO
OS\·O·/OOOOO
Feed the bird
·················
\···············/
OOOO\········/O
±O·······\
M+·o·······*O
II·······/O
OOOO/·····R···O
/···············\
·················
The hairdryer
···/·······o·····
··\\/······/OOO\·
·\/O\/····xOOOOO·
·/ROR\····xOOOO/·
·\OGO/R·····\OO··
··OOO········OO··
··\O/········OO··
··/O\····O···±±··
··III···/ \*·····
U-bend
±xOM
\oO*
O·O·
O·O·
O·O·
O·O·
(··
O·
OS
set the fan facing down
The mountain
·················
·················
·······/Ix·······
······//O§·······
·o···/·O \·······
±»»»»·/ O·······
§·····O \····*·
······O O····O\
·····/ O···/
Mirror, mirror
··········O······
········¡·O··OOO·
··········O··O·M·
··········O\·O·*·
········OOOO·O···
··········\/·O···
·····/\······O·o·
····/O·······O···
···/··OOO@OOOO·R·
Open sesame
·················
·¡······@········
········O········
········O········
·OORRRRRDRRRRROO·
·O(·····d·····)O·
·Oo·····d·····*O·
·O(·····d·····)O·
·OOSSSSSDSSSSSOO·
Light fantastic
·················
·····/O·*·O\·····
·····O·····O·····
····/O····\O\····
····OO·\···OO····
····\O·····O/····
·····O··o··O·····
·····O¡xxx@O·····
····/ \····
Loop the loop
/··*
OOO() /····
M+··o·)() §x·····
±OO(··) -·····
O·O ±·····
O·() \····
(·)OO/····
(······§x
IIIIISx·
A bridge too far
·············M···
··o···········*··
\···············/
O»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»O
/\OOOOOOOOOOOOO/\
···OT··xO····§···
···O····O····s···
···O····O····W···
··/O\··/§\··/H\··
set the fan facing left
CRAFTY
Fire and ice
·················
········o········
········\········
·····\·/O\·/·····
·····H·HOH·H·····
·····I·IOI·I·····
·········t··M····
·······x·O·····*·
\········O»»»»»O\
At the checkout
·················
·················
·················
·················
··············o··
OO(·*·········)OO
R········±««««··R
R···R···R···R···R
RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
Temple of doom
········o········
········\········
···±···/O\·······
······/O*O\······
·······O·O··x····
··±··/(···)\±····
····/ OSO O\····
···/ O\···
BBBO O·BBB
set the fan facing left
Fan base
·················
\···············/
O±x·········T···O
/···········M···\
·····Oo···*O·····
·····O·····O·····
·····O\···/O·····
·····OO···OO·····
····/ORRRRRO\····
set the fan facing right
set the magnet to maximum
Conveyor layers
·····o···········
··««±»»···««±»»··
····x············
······««±»»······
·················
··««±»»···««±»»··
·················
······««±»»······
········*······/·
set the fan facing right
Beat the gate
·······OOO·······
······HOoO·······
·····OOOIOOO·····
·····OII·IIOOI···
·····O·····OOt···
·····ODdddDOOO···
·····O·····O·I···
·····ODdddDOOt···
·····O··*··O·····
It's a breeze
·······OOO·······
\······\O/···C··/
±x·····±D·······±
/·······d·······\
········d········
··/»\···d···/«\··
··OOO···D···OOO··
··OOO···O···OOO··
·TOOOSSSOSSSOOO··
set the fan facing down
Reflect perfect
(·*········o·xOO)
··IIIIIIIIIIII·O·
·····/······/O·O·
········O·····@O·
·····O···········
¡·······/·O······
···O···O·····O···
·················
················)
set the mirrors so that light reflects only in horizontal surfaces (not sloped ones)
Dream machine
···O±O·····O±O»M·
····O·······O··*·
·················
O·······O·······O
±O·····O±O·····O±
O·······O·······O
···/»············
·o/·O·······O····
·»·O±Ox···xO±O···
set the magnet to maximum
set the first fan facing right and a little up
set the second fan facing up and a little right
Extras
Field of fear
o················
·················
·*/«««««««·······
·O/······T·······
·O·····MM········
·\M··············
····M············
············x····
·······M·xO±OBBBB
set the first fan facing up and a little right (enough to feed the Turbine)
set the second fan facing up and a little left
Spring loaded
o\·······ORRR····
\·OO····O········
O···OO·O·········
OO···O/·········
O······SSS····
OO····\O/····
/·\OO···R·····
O······R······O
O·*··S(······O
set the curve so it offers a flat surface on top
Pinball wizard
OOO-±····\/··\
x·····/O\·/O\·±
OR···ROOO\\O/·-
x····ROOO*····x
OR···ROOO\····x
x····ROOO±O\··x
OSS(··o··+MSO
Windy city
O··········
O /-·········
·O /·§······/\·
·OO/·····/···\/·
t···o··········/
x·····\·······/
\··········/·O
OxxxDddDSO O
± §*/
you don't have to do anything
For Pete's sake
oO·········\
·O··········\
·O···········±
·O·····S·/···-OO
·/··-···/D·····x
··S·D··/Od·····x
··\·d··O/d····/x
··O\d··O*d··\·O
^^·ODxx DO-±·O
Spring a Ding Ding
o···············\
·················
·················
·················
·················
·······\·········
·······O·O·\·····
\·/·\·/ O·O/····/
OSOOO·O /*···/·O
Posted by: nextorniquete | October 13, 2007 6:04 PM
WOW! This just put all other physics games to shame. Incredible!
Posted by: keith | October 15, 2007 3:51 PM
I cant move the belts. like, i can't turn it around.
Posted by: CRAZY! | October 23, 2007 4:54 PM
I don't get the level "At the Checkout" :S
it's tough.
Posted by: Alexandra | October 28, 2007 11:06 AM
Anyone solved the level "The Light Maze" in the extras?
Posted by: Picard | February 16, 2008 2:10 PM
I found another way to do Spring Loaded if anybody wants to use it.
Posted by: slimfatty | March 31, 2008 6:08 AM
Finally figured out The Light Maze. No one had posted a spoiler but many have asked. I thought I'd help out.
Posted by: jl | April 11, 2008 2:53 PM