Development
Written by Seumas McNally, DX-Ball 2 was first released on December 16, 1998. The game was an updated version of the classic DX-Ball by Michael P. Welch, on which Seumas had contributed with graphic design. It retained the basic gameplay of the original, while also recycling the sound effects and the graphics for the paddle and Power-Ups. However, with the advantage of running in high colour mode, DX-Ball 2 presented a significant upgrade from its prequel in the visual aspect, delivering colourful board designs with textured brick and background graphics; additive blended explosions; ray traced balls; and screens of fiery plasma effects. Gameplay was also enhanced with the ability to select between separate board-sets to play, which in turn would yield an enhanced value of replay, as each boar-set presents its own unique direction. In addition, the concept was taken one step further with the use of different graphical themes between the board-sets, giving them a further distinct look from each other. On that note, three graphic styles were designed for DX-Ball 2: a low-colour retro design by Jim McNally; a more refined and plastic design by Philippe McNally; and a crisp clay-like design by Seumas McNally. Among other new features, the game also included two new Power-Ups: Mega Ball and Eight Ball; an easy-to-play Kid-Mode; and a euro-techno soundtrack by SideWinder, accompanying the addition of an integrated module player.
Read more about this topic: DX-Ball 2
Famous quotes containing the word development:
“This was the Eastham famous of late years for its camp- meetings, held in a grove near by, to which thousands flock from all parts of the Bay. We conjectured that the reason for the perhaps unusual, if not unhealthful development of the religious sentiment here, was the fact that a large portion of the population are women whose husbands and sons are either abroad on the sea, or else drowned, and there is nobody but they and the ministers left behind.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I could not undertake to form a nucleus of an institution for the development of infant minds, where none already existed. It would be too cruel.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The work of adult life is not easy. As in childhood, each step presents not only new tasks of development but requires a letting go of the techniques that worked before. With each passage some magic must be given up, some cherished illusion of safety and comfortably familiar sense of self must be cast off, to allow for the greater expansion of our distinctiveness.”
—Gail Sheehy (20th century)