Sportsfriends Update: New BaraBariBall Arenas, PAX Tournaments

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Sportsfriends Update: New BaraBariBall Arenas, PAX Tournaments

englishdeadlyBall

HELLOOOOO AGAIN OFFICIAL PLAYSTATION BLOG! Last time I posted here I introduced BaraBariBall and the Sportsfriends collection. Go check it out if you’re curious about what the game is, or click here if you want a more in-depth look at its systems (tldr version: it’s a fun new fighting game, with a ball).

Since then we’ve raised enough funding to bring Sportsfriends to PS3, poured a ton more work into all four games, and played BaraBariBall with thousands of people at dozens of events, including UFGT, Magfest, PAX, Apex, two EVOs and many more.

We’ve been fortunate to have the opportunity to continue to tune and refine BaraBariBall for this long (thanks, Kickstarter supporters!) and there’s still lots to do before we’re ready to launch, but until then, I’m here to bring you up to speed on some news.

First, we’ve put together an exciting new trailer that shows off some of the new features and arenas in BaraBariBall. Watch it here.

Next, BBB will appear at PAX, in a serious way. Sportsfriends will be featured at the PlayStation booth, and the Indie Megabooth, so stop by and say hi if you’re going to be there. We’re even running free tournaments for all four games (you can pre-register for the BBB tournament here). Also, advice – if you’re too scared or too fragile to enter the JS Joust tournament, at least try to come watch the finals. The teams tournament at PAX East was really incredible.

Speaking of tournaments, there’s a bunch of good footage from BBB at EVO and UFGT.

I also wanted to include a couple screenshots of two new arenas that we’ve been working on:

ruinsbell

Rainbow Ruins is a simple, flat island, with plenty of space for players to duel in the air or on the ground. One of the characters in the game has a special ability that lets her cling to any wall, but the curved surfaces in Rainbow Ruins can make this difficult. Also, everyone likes blue skies in video games right? Finally, a pleasant destination!

King’s Bell is a tight, close-quarters arena, favoring players and characters that like to fight for the ball. The bell itself creates a choke point in the center, meaning that the only way to get to the other player’s goal is usually directly through the other player!

Thanks for reading!

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13 Comments

5 Author Replies

  • Would you mind elaborating how the game is actually played? I’ve watched tons of trailers and tournament footage but I still don’t understand it.

    Super interested in BBB!

    • sure – so, in BBB you’re trying to score goals by dunking the ball into the water on either side of the screen. the green player wants to score on the green side, the purple player wants to score on the purple side.

      you can pick up the ball, or kick it, or kick the other player, or known THEM into the water to take their points away. first to 3 wins.

      players have a ton of control over how they move in the air .. they can air dash, one of them can stick to the wall, and everyone can jump eight times before they have to touch down (but you can change this to give yourself a handicap if you want),

      also each character has different moves and different special abilities. there’s a ton more info here: http://barabariball.com/howtoplay

  • They made a Barbarella game? o_O

  • I played BBB at TwoFiveSix in NY a few months ago and it was pretty damn fun!

  • Ah, I watched the vs match on the Iron Galaxy evo stream. Looks fun buttttttttttttttt, for those of us who live in a hole or burn in sunlight physical social gaming isn’t an option. Plus I got this shiny vita thing over here…games look realllll good on it’s OLED screen…

  • i wonder how much and if they will be putting on PS Vita

  • cool but ill pass.

  • Love the animated screenshots. Great new trend.

  • Also, Sony, take note that Sportsfriends is probably the only time you’re ever going to convince people to buy a bunch of Move controllers at once. Bundle them for a heavy discount and remind people that they don’t even need a camera with JS Joust AND that Move controllers will carry over to PS4 unlike DS3 controllers.

    Seriously, this is an opportunity. I want JS Joust. I will buy more Move controllers. I will NOT, however, buy each individually for like $40 a pop.

  • @MyrequeArk – sure – so, in BBB you’re trying to score goals by dunking the ball into the water on either side of the screen. the green player wants to score on the green side, the purple player wants to score on the purple side.

    you can pick up the ball, or kick it, or kick the other player, or known THEM into the water to take their points away. first to 3 wins.

    players have a ton of control over how they move in the air .. they can air dash, one of them can stick to the wall, and everyone can jump eight times before they have to touch down (but you can change this to give yourself a handicap if you want),

    also each character has different moves and different special abilities. there’s a ton more info here: http://barabariball.com/howtoplay

    @TXCScorpion – oh so you watched me lose to that punk keits, huh??

  • @9

    Indeed I did hah. Got that first look at the bell level and such why you guys did the low down on the game. Now seeing your ID I notice you were also playing some prerelease divekick too huh? I had been watching streams on twitch and since there were only 7 people online I got to see alot of the same matches hah.

    I love the BBB concept though, genre mixing going on, going to be an extremely frustrating event spiking your opponents down into the water while your friends try to flail at you and make you drop your controller.

    • yeah getting spiked can be kind of embarrassing. if you’re ready for it though you can tech off the water and bounce back up (and maybe get spiked again).

      <3 divekick

  • Hi, great game! Which for Playstation platform is BaraBariBall?

  • Please put this on PS Vita also this game reminds me a lot of old school games like Super Dodge Ball on Neo-Geo. I loved that game and it was also on the Neo-Geo Pocket, a handheld.

    Looks really fun. Hopefully a Vita version is possible.

  • It amazes me that the most basic concept of this game, & people are no concerned about graphics at all. It’s the fun factor in any of the games 7 that will allow the game to succeed.

    • yeah, everyone on the BBB team is really gameplay and interaction focused (check out the rest of the team over at http://critical-gaming.com/ btw!).

      i actually do think the game looks really nice in motion, since characters move really smoothly and everything runs at 60 fps, but it can be a tough game to post screens of.

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