Remember Line Rider? That was a pretty sweet webtoy made by a guy from Slovenia. But did you ever get the feeling that Line Rider could have been so much more amazing if there was more of a game to it?
Fresh off the CandyStand, and developed by WDDG, we have Line Golfer. It's like Line Rider, and yet you golf your way through the mouse-drawn levels instead of watching a character sled through them. Frankly, it's money.
First of all, the game lets you jump right in and play, no confusion or immediate expectations about drawing. Adjust the angle of your swing with the mouse, click once to ready and click again to lock-in your desired power-level. The ball then bounces through a usually ridiculous obstacle course of ramps, platforms, pits, splotches of sand and rough. The goal is to get the ball to roll under the pin at a slow speed, sinking it, and in only so many strokes.
Analysis: If you're like me, you love Curb Your Enthusiasm and you hate golf, so a game that is golf-like but abstracts the sport to 2D zaniness is right up on its own. Then add a smooth Web-platform for building, publishing, rating and sorting levels, and you must concede defeat. The drawing tools in Line Golfer are easy to use and the time required to build a level is much more palatable than Line Rider because the physics of the object in question (your golf ball) are so much more dynamic (and forgiving). This is interesting to me, because I've suspected for a while now that open-ended toys, social networks and ARGs benefit from game mechanics nested within them. In this case, the benefit isn't just in stickiness, the process of creation is actually deepened by the variation that a game allows. That's a lesson you can take to the bank.
Unleash the wild, crayon-equipped toddler within your heart and the balding, aged golfer within your head, and Play Line Golfer.
I love it!!!
For me line rider is 9.5/10 - but this one isn't lower than 9/10 either...
"An error occurred while processing your request.
Reference #97.62142d8.1200591943.423d7b"
Is it them, or me?
[Edit: Yep, looks like the site is down temporarily. Try again in a few minutes. -Jay]
If it's a webtoy, how come it isn't tagged as one?
Oh sorry, I read the post wrong. (also sorry for double post)
This game is extremely buggy. If there was some sort of highscores (there isn't, right?) there would be lots of mysterious 1-shots etc, since after playing for about 5 minutes I went trough wall 4 times (once I actually made a shortcut right to the end of the track)
This happens in all flash physics engines, including in linerider if the dude is going fast enough. However he's connected to a series of constraints (limbs, ski) thus making it harder for him to go through a line in the end.
Since the ball is so small and can move so fast it's more likely to happen.
I don't see it as a big deal, the game is fun and if you're trying to make it go through then perhaps you shouldn't do that.
this game doesn't like safari
http://www.candystand.com/play.do?id=18253#?course_id=2140
:D
Love playing it, and making courses is also fun.
some of my levels are in a series called "escape".
This game makes use of the excellent APE physics engine.
Is it just me or does this not like to run on Firefox. I dragged up Internet Explorer and it worked fine. this isn't the first time I've come across something like this but it is still total crap.
The game works fine for me in Firefox (2.0.0.11) and Safari (3.0.4).
Perhaps it's your FlashPlayer and not your browser?
http://www.candystand.com/play.do?id=18253#?course_id=2779
I made this course, "Golfer's Digest". Sometimes you just need to take a pun and run with it.
mario: actually, it IS possible to create perfect collisions in flash - at least for such a simple game like that. As long as there are just lines and balls it's really no problem.
Thus I have to say I'm a bit disappointed by this game.
The concept is great, but the gameplay fails for me. I can't ignore the shooting-through-walls, because it happens during regular game play all the time, not just if I WANT to use it in order to cheat. Also, the rebound angle is unpredictable sometimes.
As jay wrote in a recent review about the implementation of an apparently good concept, "it doesn't quite meet its potential".
"Tricky Typography"
http://www.candystand.com/play.do?id=18253#?course_id=2876
well it looks like they must of fixed it or something, because i can't get it to go through the line no matter HOW hard i try now.
http://www.candystand.com/play.do?id=18253#?course_id=4609
PLINKO!
i swear, this game has like a 5% uptime.
A victim of its own success, I'm afraid. All things considered, though, not a bad problem to have in the grand scheme of things.
Here's hoping they get the snags ironed out quick.
try carrabian recreated
also try other levels by elphelix
It doesn't work for me, either in IE or firefox. All I see is the choices of new courses. There is a huge empty space where the game should be. Right clicking shows that there is a flash file there and I can see that from the adblock tab above it too.
I don't know what's going on. I changed my securitysettings and privacy settings and even reinstalled flash.
The facebook app works for me, too.
Try to beat mine:
http://www.candystand.com/play.do?id=18253#?course_id=37703
Update