Blobby Volley is a free and open-source sports computer game series in which two blobbed shaped entities play volleyball against each other. There are multiplayer and single-player modes.

Game rules

The rules used in Blobby Volley are derived from the standard volleyball rules. Unlike real volleyball, the movements of the players are limited to the two-dimensional space of the screen. The borders of the screen acts as an invisible wall which the ball bounces off, which is completely legal to use. Since there is only one player on each side of the field, it is permitted (unlike standard volleyball) for the player to touch the ball several times in a row.

The protagonists, blob like creatures without arms, can move left and right, jump and interacting with the ball by hitting it with their "head", therefore resembling a Header like gameplay.

The game ends when one of the two players reach 15 (or more) points and also there is a two-point lead over the other. Points may only be achieved by the player that serves the ball. Therefore, each of the players tries to make the other one commit a fault so they can serve and score points. A player can commit the following faults:

The ball touches the ground in their own field. A player touches the ball more than three times in a row (the initial serve also counts as a touch).

Features Network games are possible in Blobby Volley where the players can play against another human opponent. Locally, they can also play with another human opponent on the same system or against the AI. Blobby Volley allows players to configure keyboard and mouse controls, the colors of the blobs and the background image. The game is available in three languages (German, English and French) and also gives an insight into a history of game statistics (wins, losses).

There are community made mods available for the game. For instance Quick Game is a modification for Blobby Volley which speeds up the game and reduces the winning number of points to 10.

History Blobby Volley was originally written in Delphi by Daniel Skoraszewsky with graphics by Silvio Mummert. Version 1.0 was released in November 2000 on the authors' homepage as Freeware for PCs with Windows.blobby on mummertathome (archived, 2001) Development ended around 2005 with version 1.8.

Blobby Volley 2

Started in 2007 on SourceForge under the GPLv2 license, Blobby Volley 2 is the official continuation written by new programmers and based on the original assets. The continuation is programmed in C++ (gcc) instead of Delphi. This new version uses OpenGL/SDL for rendering which allows cross-platform ports for Linux, macOS, and Windows. The game is offered as freely downloadable and shareable Freeware, while also asking for donations for further development and server funding, which makes the game also donationware.

This version has several improvements over the first iteration of the series, for instance better bots, by using the Lua scripting language. There is now the ability to store multiple settings, which can be also exchange, due to a XML configuration files. A Replay functionality was added as also native Gamepad/Joystick support. It is now possible to change the game speed as also alter the default volleyball rules. There is improved network support with dedicated servers, to reduce lag.

In November 2013 a commercial Android version was released,Blobby-Volley-2 Android version on play.google.com and later in 2014 a version for iOS.Blobby-Volley-2 iOS version on itunes.apple.com In 2016 a commercial version for Windows mobile followed.Blobby Volley 2 Mobile on microsoft.com/store by Daniel Knobe (2016)

Since 2016 there is also a version of Blobby Volley 2 available for browsers which utilizes HTML5 for rendering.

Reception The Blobby Volley series became quite popular freeware game, either as single player casual game and also as competitive tournament game on LAN parties, for instance the GameCon.Fernsehbeitrag: Die WLAN-Party am Werner-Heisenberg-Ring, n-tv, June 11, 2003 (German).Gamescenes: Campzone on gamer.nl by Wesley B. (28 July 2011, in Dutch) There is an online Sports league, running since several years organized by the community.Blobby Anleitung on blobby-liga.de (in German)

It is offered from many freeware download outlets, for instance it was downloaded between 2007 and May 2017 alone from SourceForge.net over 700,000 times,stats 2000-05-12+to+2017-05-18 on sourceforge.net Chip.de counted over 1 million downloads (in May 2017).Blobby Volley on chip.de (May 2017)Blobby Volley 2 on chip.de (May 2017) Blobby Volley was also included on several video game magazines' cover disks with freeware game compilations, for instance CD-Action 1/2007,CD-Action 1/2007 on gry-online.pl GameStar 01/2012, or the Open Source Software CD.blobbyvolley on opensource-dvd.de The game is also included in several Linux distributions, for instance Ubuntu OS.blobby on apps.ubuntu.com

In 2001 Gamehippo.com's staff awarded 9 of 10 points.Blobby Volley on gamehippo.com (2001, archived) A jeuxvideo.com retrospective described Blobby Volley as fun multiplayer game in 2009.Oldies Blobby Volley by staff on jeuxvideo.com (05/08/2009) Chip.de rated the game "very good" and called it a "fun volley ball game for one to two players". PCWorld.pl gave 4/5 points in March 2014.Blobby Volley 2 1.0 on PCWorld.pl by Maciej Kępka (2014-03-24) Linux For You September 2009 ranked Blobby Volley 3/5.Linux-For-You-Issue-80 in Linux For You (September 2009) Linux Format December 2014 selected Blobby Volley as "HotPick".Linux_Format_191_December_2014 in Linux Format

References

External links

(in German, archived) (in German) Blobby-Volley-2 browser version