The Ball is a singleplayer action and puzzle mod for Unreal Tournament 3. It competes in the MakeSomethingUnreal Contest, and it has won three first prizes in so far (Best Gametype - 2 x Best Use of Physics), and one 3rd place (Best Mod). Additionally it has won the ModDB MOTY Best Singleplay Mod of 2008 award.

The Ball offers an adventure that puts you in the boots of a geologist who gets stuck in a cavern and bumps onto an ancient and Mesoamerican complex holding a mysterious ball. While making your way through the internal workings of ancient ziggurats, golden cities, and huge caverns, your only companion is a giant gold and metal-shelled ball, a mysterious artifact in its own right, that you use to make your way through a series of rooms and caverns, and to crush enemies with. As you progress through the mod, slowly the real purpose of this gigantic complex becomes clear, and you are sucked into a thousands of years old story of betrayal and secrecy.

The mod is episodic in nature, and knows a release every three to six months. So far two parts have been released: Pehua, and Oztoc. Part 3, Teotl, is set for a release in May 2009.

The Ball is designed and directed by Hourences and has a 13 people strong international team working on it: Toltec Studios.

Image RSS Feed Latest Screens
The Ball - Cahua The Ball - Cahua The Ball - Cahua
Blog RSS Feed Report abuse Latest News: The Ball Stand Alone UDK Demo

28 comments by Hourences on Nov 5th, 2009 digg this super bookmark


Over the past few months we have been working on porting The Ball over to Epic Games' Unreal Development Kit. That means a stand alone build of The Ball, running on the very latest version of the Unreal Engine! We'd like to thank Epic Games for the great opportunity! Check out our page on their official UDK website.

We built a demo that contains two levels. One brand new and awesome survival level with dozens of traps (by Mario Marquardt). And 30 to 45 minutes long singleplay compilation level. It contains parts of Pehua, Oztoc, and Hueca and gives a good presentation of all the features found in our game. If you have played a recent version of the mod, there is likely not much new for you in this demo. If you haven't had the chance yet however to check out our game, or you don't own UT3, here is your chance really!

This also means that we are going to port over the entire project to the UDK, and go commercial (albeit in an indie way) with the game. The full release is set for somewhere in spring 2010.

Minimum

  • 3GHz single core CPU
  • 1024MB System memory
  • Geforce 6800 or similar
  • 650 MB Diskspace
  • Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7

Recommended

  • Dual Core CPU
  • 2048MB System memory
  • Geforce 8800 or above
  • 650 MB Diskspace
  • Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7

The demo is free and does not require a copy of UT3 or the UDK!


We have a thread on our forum with some tips if you are having perfomance issues.

We added a FAQ to our website today as well. Check it out.

We are also bumping up our community efforts! Check out our newly formed Facebook fan page. We will now begin posting weekly updates and keep you people in the loop!


Five more days until the Cahua release!

Media RSS Feed Latest Video
Downloads RSS Feed Latest Downloads
The Ball UDK Demo

The Ball UDK Demo

Nov 05, 2009 Demo 3 comments

A 40 minute long stand alone demo of The Ball made for Epic Games' UDK Release. Running on the latest version of the Unreal Engine, this demo features...

The Ball - Hueca

The Ball - Hueca

Aug 25, 2009 Full Version 9 comments

The 4th episode of our mysterious adventure. Venture deeper than ever into a volcano and come across an ancient vehicle that will take you across a vast...

Comments  (60 - 70 of 111)
Jokerme
Jokerme May 7 2009, 8:24am says:

Downloading Teotl now. So exciting :D

+1 vote     reply to comment
rossman4ever
rossman4ever May 3 2009, 3:51am says:

Very nice Mod! I'm looking forward to the next version.

+1 vote     reply to comment
Mualama
Mualama May 2 2009, 3:46pm says:

This mod looks amazing! Can't wait to download :D

+1 vote     reply to comment
myles
myles May 2 2009, 7:02am says:

It's really interesting seeing this progress from being a single map with a cool use of the Impact Hammer and a ball, to now having many more additions.
I think this mod is a great example of prototyping and starting simple and building on what you have, I really look forward to playing the latest version,

+1 vote     reply to comment
Erwaitin
Erwaitin Apr 22 2009, 7:34am says:

This mod has been named on my blog. You can see it here:

Moddb.com

+1 vote     reply to comment
Mavis130
Mavis130 Apr 12 2009, 7:46pm says:

man... this may get me to invest in UT III. But, ironically, that game is one of the few unreal engine games to not use the destruction part of that engine (like things getting destroyed based on where they are hit, even though it is in obvious splinter cages, well thats DMM, but it still looks nice... no blow up walls?)

0 votes     reply to comment
8205Mills
8205Mills Apr 11 2009, 11:17am says:

I know I've asked before, but since the mod tools for ps3 conversions got updated (iirc), will we see a ps3 release anytime soon?

+1 vote     reply to comment
Paul_Emil
Paul_Emil Mar 31 2009, 2:54pm says:

I think that this is my favourite mod of the MSU contest so far. I especially like the music and art. I am really looking forward to the aztec impact hammer and the rest of part 3.

+1 vote     reply to comment
Colossal
Colossal Mar 22 2009, 1:56pm says:

Ok, I got part 2, but I'm stuck. It's the part where [SPOILER] you hit the pillars out from under the platform to get the ball on the button. The air thing that is supposed to push me up just makes me hop in one place. I've been trying to get up for a LONG time and it just WON'T let me.

+1 vote     reply to comment
Colossal
Colossal Mar 22 2009, 1:36pm says:

Ok, I got part 2, but I'm stuck. It's the part where [SPOILER] you hit the pillars out from under the platform to get the ball on the button. The air thing that is supposed to push me up just makes me hop in one place. I've been trying to get up for a LONG time and it just WON'T let me.

+1 vote     reply to comment
Post a Comment

Only registered members can share their thoughts. So come on! Join the community today (totally free) and do things you never thought possible.

Icon
Unreal Tournament 3 Icon
Platforms
PC, PS3
Developer
Toltec Studios
Contact
Send Message
Release Date
Released May 7, 2009
Mod Watch
Track this mod
Bookmark
Digg Super bookmark
Community Rating

Average

8.9

79 votes submitted.

You Say

-

Ratings closed.

Style
Genre
First Person Shooter
Theme
Fantasy
Players
Single Player
Statistics
Rank
15 of 10,584
Last Update
3 days ago
Watchers
328 members
Files
2
News
17
Features
10