Unreal Tournament 3 / Game Types & Mods / The Ball

The Ball is an innovative action adventure game with six hours of singleplayer gameplay. Playing from a first person perspective, you solve puzzles and crush monsters with a large physics driven ball, manipulated by the pushing and pulling forces of an ancient device.

As an archaeologist working on the slopes of a dormant volcano somewhere in Mexico, you get stuck in an underground Cavern. It doesn't take long before you realize this is more than just a cave. You reveal ancient ruins that have been hidden from outsiders for centuries and discover a mysterious artifact, a gold and metal shelled Ball. As you venture deeper into the volcano, you reveal some of mankind's greatest secrets...

Awards

• First place Best Mod in Epic's MakesomethingUnreal Contest Phase 1
• First place Best Use of Physics in Epic's MakesomethingUnreal Contest Phase 1
• Third place Best Mod in Epic's MakesomethingUnreal Contest Phase 2
• First place Best Use of Physics in Epic's MakesomethingUnreal Contest Phase 2
• First place Best FPS Mod in Epic's MakesomethingUnreal Contest Phase 3
• Second place Best Level In Mod in Epic's MakesomethingUnreal Contest Phase 3
• Third place Best Graphics in Level in Epic's MakesomethingUnreal Contest Phase 3
• Fifth place Best Use of Physics in Epic's MakesomethingUnreal Contest Phase 3
• Best Singleplay Mod Of 2008 across all platforms according to ModDB

A first place in Best FPS Mod was added in Phase 4, bringing the total to five first places across the contest.

How to play

Primary fire pushes the ball away, secondary fire attracts the ball.

Holding secondary fire will make it stop in front of you. Holding secondary fire while walking around will make the ball follow you.

Blue buttons must be triggered by the player.

Yellow buttons must usually be triggered by the ball.

The levels

The mod was released one chapter at a time, each an entry in a phase of the Make Something Unreal Contest:

• Part 1 - Pehua - Introduction. Separated from your friend, You find yourself trapped in a cavern. On your own until help arrives you decide to explore. It is here where you find a strange artifact. You take it. This triggers a massive door to open. Startled, you enter and discover a strange device. The only word that comes to mind is "Ball". Despite your reservations, curiosity gets the better of you. You progress deeper into the Earth as the air becomes stagnant and hot...
• Part 2 - Oztoc - You find yourself going farther. The cavern widens. In the distance stands a derelict Pyramid. Using the Ball, you have no choice but to solve another set of elaborate puzzles. It is here where things get progressively worse. Inexplicably, you realize that you have to now contend with the reanimated bones of mummies. With only one way to go, you continue deeper into the Aztec Pyramid. From afar, ancient eyes watch you. Ahead of you is the Golden Entrance...
• Part 3 - Teotl - After passing through the gate you find yourself inside a Golden City. But the beauty of this place hides great perils. Navigating this lush, humid maze with the Ball in tow, you must avoid death. You have ventured deep into the heart of the Golden City. But the cursed occupants of this once radiant place have no intention of making your passage easy. Blocking your escape are more dangers and a deadly guardian. The Ball is your only way out...
• Part 4 - Hueca
• Part 5 - Cahua - Lava!

A second game type, The Ball Survival, is played on the three TBS- arenas - Atica, Cemiac and Teniza.

Installation

YOU MUST HAVE UT3 PATCH 2.0 INSTALLED OR ABOVE OR THE MOD WILL NOT FUNCTION AT ALL!!

IF YOU HAVE AN OLDER VERSION OF THE BALL INSTALLED IT MUST BE REMOVED ENTIRELY!!

The exe installer will automatically detect your UT3 installation and install the mod to the right direction, and create a shortcut on the desktop. It should handle a Steam installation too.

In the event that this does not work or if you prefer to do it manually, the exe installer offers you the chance to extract as seperate files, and install them yourself. Unzip directly into the UT3 directory in My Documents - for example in XP that means:

C:\Documents and Settings\YOURNAME\My Documents\My Games\Unreal Tournament 3\TheBall\

Then, make a new shortcut for UT3 and add -mod=..\TheBall to the end - for example:

"C:\UnrealTournament 3\Binaries\UT3.exe" -mod=..\TheBall

For the Steam version, create a desktop shortcut from the My Games tab, and add -mod=..\TheBall to the Target box:

"C:\Program Files\Steam\Steam.exe" -applaunch 13210 -mod=..\TheBall

Afterwards

The project went commercial and was rebuilt as a standalone game on the UDK, released in 2010. This entry covers the Unreal Tournament 3 mod line only.