Avault.com has reviewed our game, and they’ve given it the “Buy-it” stamp.

“It would be a true strategic mistake not to gravitate toward The Ball as quickly as possible.”

In other news, Fyrisvellir and Kaiser Tarkin have posted Secret Guides on our Steam forum. Check out their great guides if you haven’t yet found all the secrets in the game!

• The Ball Secrets Guide
• Video Guide

Haarlem, The Netherlands – 12 November 2010 – PC videogames publishers Iceberg Interactive and Tripwire Interactive, along with independent development studio Teotl Studios are pleased to announce that their first-person action adventure puzzle game The Ball (PC) is now available at retail outlets across the UK, Germany, France and Benelux.

Players that want to add a physical copy of The Ball to their game collection will be pleasantly surprised when they find retail-exclusive bonus materials included in the Iceberg Interactive boxed version, such as a bonus disc featuring the game’s soundtrack and a special postcard autographed by the entire Teotl development team.

The retail version of The Ball is also available for ordering in the Iceberg Webshop.

The Ball has just became available on GamersGate, Impulse, our own website, and thanks to Wendros can now be found across stores in Scandinavia!

Coinciding with the release, we now got a demo available! Ready for you try to out! Afraid of the concept? Not sure what to expect? Then give our demo a go! It doesn’t bite, it’ll only try to crush you

Filefront.com IndieDB.com Gamershell.com Fileshack.com the3dzone.de AusGamers.com Jeuxvideopc.com Atomicgamer.com More coming soon!

And if that wasn’t enough yet, how about a whole batch of new reviews?

Also available on:

Quick update. We are really hard at work on a demo for The Ball. We expect to release it very soon, along with a whole batch of great new reviews and other cool news!

If anyone within Sweden is going to Gamex tomorrow, we will be there in the afternoon, probably somewhere near the Wendros booth. In case anyone wants to come say hi!

Rock, Paper, Shotgun took a look at the game and it resulted in a conversation styled review:

Jim: In conclusion then: You should probably buy The Ball, it’s quite good.
John: I concur.

And here is another one I especially like:

John: It feels like quite an old soul. The game reminded me, alternately, of Quake and Unreal. The initial level design felt very Quakey, but the ambience, and the creatures, very much reminded me of the original Unreal.
Jim: Yeah, it’s almost as if you could sense of the FPS modder origins in it. There were bits where its heritage is very clear. But the result of that is that, occasionally, it looks really fantastic. I mean it’s mostly rooms and corridors, but there are bits where the rooms open up to mad ziggurats, or temples with giant bat-monsters flying about overhead.

And another review:

• totalgamingnetwork.com – 8.5/10 “Priced at about $20 (USD), The Ball offers a tremendous amount of gameplay for the value.”

Go buy the game now!

We’ve sent out over a hundred review copies, so expect an avalanche of reviews in the coming days!

Let’s kick off this mad week. We got our first major review in!

PC Gamer (USA) has reviewed the game and rated it 81/100. The review can be read in this month’s edition.

“Verdict: A joyous and addictive action puzzler. It’s packed full of brilliant spells, animations and an infectious sense of fun.”

And some more:

• mygaming.co.za – 9/10 “The Ball is a fun first person puzzle-adventure game which stands out for its great design, simple yet enthralling gameplay, and entirely reasonable price.”
• gamerlimit.com – 8.5/10 “For $20, it’s hard to say no to a game this unique, interesting, and rewarding.”
• gamersnexus.net – 7.7/10 “The next Portal.”
• videogamesand4videos.blogspot.com (Italian) – “Will be remembered as one of the best puzzle game of all time.”
• lorehound.com – “The Ball is a great game, well made and well paced, with carefully designed puzzles and a highly unique concept”
• diygamer.com – “The Ball is something you must experience. It’s effortlessly clever stuf….As if making your mind up wasn’t already simple enough, the $20 price point is more than reasonable. The Ball is sure to be one of the underground hits (excuse the pun) of the year”

As for the release tomorrow/today. The game will go on sale Valve-time. So that means probably quite late for the Europeans. Some time in the evening.

Monday 25th October 2010, Roswell, GA: The Ball is now available for pre-loading on Steam so preload now and be ready to play the moment the game is released tomorrow! Additionally, today is your last chance to grab The Ball, the new First Person Action-Adventure Puzzler, with a 10% discount and an exclusive free character for Killing Floor. When the game launches tomorrow, the free KF character will never be available again – so if you want that extra, exclusive character, you need to act today!

The game is pulling in new praise from previewers and reviewers every day:

“a lot of gameplay value” – Curse.com

“I’m sold” – Kotaku

“The Ball is an action-packed puzzle game that provides an endless amount of replay value” – Gamerant (4.5/5)

“very cool in execution and very fun to solve” – The Examiner (“Great”)

“huge amount of fun … polished gameplay… great value” – TK-Nation (85%)

“gives puzzle loving gamers exactly what they have been asking for” – Game Rant (90%)

The Ball will launch on 26th October at a price of $19.99 on Steam (17.99 €/£14.99 for Europe). During the pre-purchase period, there will be a 10% discount – so now is the time to buy your copy of this great first-person puzzle game that is attracting so much attention!

And another new review. We’ve sent out many dozens of review copies so you can expect a whole lot more reviews to follow

• examiner.com – 8/10 “The puzzles are fun and engaging and the unique premise of the Ball as both weapon and tool makes the game standout out amongst so many others in the same genres. From a ratings scale of worst to best: Ugh, Mediocre/Okay, Good, Great, & Excellent; this game is Great.”

Release party in just a few hours now. We will be in the Bullitt bar in Uppsala the whole evening, if anyone is the area!

3 Days until release!

On today’s menu: one new review and one new preview! Yet another 8!

• offdutygamers.com – 8/10 “…considering the quality and entertainment you get for $20, I’d say take a look at this one.”
• gameshark.com – “Impossible not to have fun when smashing a gigantic metallic sphere into things”

Also, tomorrow is our little release party! Some people of the team will assemble in a bar in Uppsala, Sweden, and we will have a few drinks together. Photos after the event!

A shot of the European boxed copy, that will be distributed by Iceberg Interactive. A lot of people are asking if the German edition is censored. It is not! Even while we’ve been rated 16+ by the USK (whereas PEGI thinks we are 18+), the German edition is identical to the the version the rest of the world gets. The game was rated 15+ in the UK, and ESRB thinks the game is Mature (17+) by the way. In other news, our GamersGate page has gone up. The game will be released on GamersGate a few days later than Steam, November 2, the same day the game will also become available on Impulse, and our own shop here on this website.

And we got another review in, yet another 8. Thanks for the review!

• nukezilla.com – 8/10 “…quite possibly the coolest boss battle I’ve seen in quite some time”

Less than five days to go now until release! Pre-orders on Steam are still up, 10% off for 5 more days!

Here is something cool. Seeing as we are the first UDK game that will be released, two of us will fly to Dubai to demonstrate the UDK for Epic Games!

Epic Games will provide free hands-on learning opportunities with its award-winning game engine technology to Dubai World Game Expo attendees November 29 through December 1. Stop by Epic’s booth to learn firsthand how to get started using Unreal Engine 3.

Epic’s special instructors for this occasion are two members from Teotl Studios, James Tan and Markus Arvidsson. Teotl Studios is the developer of The Ball, the first commercial release powered by Epic’s Unreal Development Kit (UDK).

Program details can be found on the website of the expo.

The Reticule interviewed us!

The Ball is one of the most promising looking games coming out this month, I took a quick look at it recently and then had a chat with Sjoerd De Jong, Project Lead at Teotl Studios.

Also two more reviews popped up:

• gameon.co.uk – 7.5/10 “Impressive and challenging puzzles…Great debut entry for the developers “
• xboxplus.net (Portuguese) – “The Ball is a true “must have” for anyone who enjoys action, puzzles, mystery and exploration… provides a very intense experience”

Pre-orders went live yesterday evening, along with our brand new shiny trailer. Still not convinced? Here is what the press thinks of the game – the newest reviews and previews!

Reviews (8.2/10 average!):

• gamerant.com – 9/10 “it’s difficult to stop playing and you’ll be tempted to finish it in one long sitting.”
• indiegamereviewer.com – 8/10 “There isn’t a single complaint to be made about the content of The Ball. It’s fun, it’s visually interesting, it has great atmosphere… it’s well worth the $20″
• fronttowardsgamer.com – 7/10 “The level of polish is high, and it doesn’t feel like a budget title when you’re playing it… whats included is very well done.”
• NOWGamer.com – 7.6/10 “this is one of the year’s true surprises, and an absolute bargain at the price”
• nerdiest-kids.com – 8/10 “The Ball is just plain fun. This game has lovely graphics, is a good price for what you get, and will keep you very entertained”
• MMGN.com – 8.9/10 “Little more needs to be said other than it’s easy to justify comparisons between this game and Portal.”
• GamersRoute.com – 8.5/10 “The Ball is a very high-quality game… The Ball offers a very rich gameplay experience.”
• tk-nation.com – 8.5/10 “The Ball is a huge amount of fun, and its polished gameplay easily surpasses its smaller flaws… this title is a great deal for your cash.”

Previews:

• GameOn.co.uk – “The Ball should be an indie game that everyone snaps up.”
• gamerlimit.com – “I am enjoying it thoroughly”
• gamerant.com – “The Unreal Engine appears to be utilized in impressive ways, and the graphics for the game look vibrant and smooth”
• platformnation.com – “…you will want to keep playing for hours. Very innovative.”
• gameguideworld.net – “if you are a fan of action/adventure games or puzzle games, don’t let The Ball go under your radar, especially for that price”
• examiner.com – “similar in spirit to Valve’s Portal, but with more mummies and exploding monkeys.”

The Ball now available for pre-purchase on Steam – with bonus Killing Floor character and launch trailer!

Monday 18th October 2010, Roswell, GA: Tripwire Interactive and Teotl Studios are pleased to announce that Teotl’s First Person Action-Adventure Puzzler – The Ball – is now available to pre-purchase on Steam. Accompanying the pre-purchase is an all new launch trailer and some exciting pre-purchase exclusives. Pre-purchasing The Ball before October 26th will nab you 10% off the game and will instantly unlock an exclusive playable character for Tripwire Interactive’s hit co-op survival-horror shooter, Killing Floor. The Ball hero archeologist character for Killing Floor will only be available as part of this pre-purchase so move quickly if you don’t want to miss out!

And The Ball is already winning praise from the critics in the previews and early reviews:

“An utterly beautiful game… may well be the next Portal…” – Strategy Informer
“Unbelievably satisfying to crush your enemies… a deep and captivating game.” – PC Gamer
“The Ball is extraordinary” – PC Action
“Portal gets competition” – GameStar
“…don’t let The Ball go under your radar, especially for that price” – Game Guide World
“…it’s difficult to stop playing and you’ll be tempted to finish it in one long sitting” – Gamerant (4.5/5)
“The Ball is a must-buy Indie game of 2010… The graphics are simply beautiful… A superb debut title” – MMGN (89%)
“a genuinely fun and challenging game” – Goozernation (4/5)
“I’ve enjoyed the game so much that I think I’m going to play it again after finishing the review.” –Gamers’ Route (85%)

…From pre-orders and our new trailer! Check back soon!

This week’s Developer Friday was postponed to next week Friday. We got two Developer Friday interviews left, one with Paolo our mad Italian translator, and an interview with Sjoerd the Project Lead and Creative Director of the game. By postponing it a week we will have a Developer Friday in both the pre-order week, and the release week.

Silence before the storm!

Less than one week away from pre-orders now! And our new trailer!

A review popped up, the very first one.

“I’ve enjoyed the game so much that I think I’m going to play it again after finishing the review. Playing an already-beaten game again might not sound much, but as a game reviewer, that’s saying a lot….there’s no doubt anyone will agree when I say that The Ball offers a very rich gameplay experience….Clever level design, mesmerizing visuals and unique gameplay experience.”

8.5/10