Physics Games and Physics-Based Game Downloads

It appears Fun-Motion has been Dugg–by Kevin Rose himself, no less–which caught me a little off guard. I shored up a few things on the server and things should be much faster now, though. My apologies for any slowness you may have experienced!

Also, if you’re new here and coming in on the physics game list, keep in mind there are also some interviews with various physics game developers available here.

And finally, I should have some actual free time again starting next week, so look forward to a bunch of new reviews!

Toribash, everyone’s favorite physics-based fighting game, recently released version 2.1. Among other features, it adds a grading system, some new mods, and the ranking system is now live.

They also released this great video of gory moments in actual multiplayer match-ups. Enjoy! It makes me wish I had more free time:

If you haven’t heard of the game before–for shame!–check out my Toribash review.

(Rate this game! 244 votes, average: 4.07 out of 5)

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Walaber’s Trampoline is the best damn trampoline simulator I’ve played. Of course, it’s also the only trampoline simulator I’ve played, but don’t let that diminish my opinion. It really is a very well-made game, and there’s a lot of jumping-up-and-down fun to be had if you can get past the game’s occasionally brutal learning curve.

Trampoline Simulation

The first thing to point out about Walaber’s Trampoline is that the title is very much a simulation. It isn’t a trampoline-inspired physics game, but rather a trampoline simulator. It’s obvious that Walaber–Tim FitzRandolph–is really into the sport. I would be honestly surprised if he wasn’t. The game contains a depth of knowledge of trampoline gymnastics that demonstrates more than passing interest. I now know what a Barani, Half-In Half-Out, and a Rudy are (although I can only do them on a keyboard, so far…)

It’s All about Timing

The core skill in Trampoline is basically the same one found in other character physics games, such as Ski Stunt Simulator: Timing. Getting the feel for when to open up a rotation is everything. It’s a frustrating skill to learn, too. The various positions–tuck, pike, and straight–all have different rotation speeds, and transitioning between them will change your speed too. Complicate this with the fact that twisting also modifies your rotation speed, and you can see how things get hairy.

This leads me to only serious complaint I have about the game. It’s really hard to control your rotation. I really wish the game had mouse control of some kind. There isn’t any way to gradate your speed. You choose either to tuck or not (contrast this to a game like Ski Stunt, where you can slowly open up your flip to finely tune your landing). It is possible to set the initial rotation for a jump in some analog sense, in Trampoline, but by modifying the timing of when you start to hold left or right. Some sort of analog control that isn’t based on time would have been marvelous.

Game Structure

Walaber’s Trampoline has all of the trappings of a complete computer game experience. The bulk of your play time is spent in the “story” mode, where you must complete certain tricks/combos to move forward. The game starts out very gently–and there’s always the “show me” button to have the trick demonstrated–but it soon becomes rather difficult. Personally I enjoyed the competitions and the single trick levels much more than the combo levels. Perfectly landing a 4-trick combo is a lot harder than you might think. Expect to be pressing reset once every 10 seconds or so for a good 20 minutes on some of the stages.

(Walaber’s Trampoline Computer Game Screenshots)

It’s Freeware!

Amazingingly, Walaber’s Trampoline is freeware. Tim could definitely slap a price tag of $19.95 on it and get some sales. It’s on par, production-wise, with a lot of indie efforts, and he certainly has cornered a niche.

Download Walaber’s Trampoline (73 MB) [mirrors]

Make sure you visit Walaber’s page for other fine physics games. He has quite the portfolio building up.

P.S. An Amazing Video

Also, I coincidently bumped into this video today. What’s scary is I can actually identify a few of these tricks after my weekend playing nothing but Walaber’s Trampoline. The video gets into hand balancing later, but the trampoline action at the start is mind-blowing: