Ball Stars of the Animal Kingdom

Default Controls

Move Forward: W
Move Backward: S
Move Left: A
Move Right: D
Jump: Spacebar
Primary Ability: Left Mouse Button
Secondary Ability: Right Mouse Button
Lock-On: Left Shift/Middle Mouse Button
Center Camera: Left Control
Rotate Camera: Mouse
Pause: Escape
Select Menu Options: WASD/Arrow Keys/Mouse
Accept/Confirm: Enter/Spacebar/Left Mouse Button
Back/Cancel: Escape

Graphical representation of gamepad controls

Movement: Left Analog Stick
Jump: Bottom Action (A)
Primary Ability: Left Action (X)
Secondary Ability: Right Action (B)
Lock-On: Left Bumper (LB)
Center Camera: Left Trigger (LT)
Rotate Camera: Right Analog Stick
Pause: Start
Select Menu Options: Left Analog Stick/Directional Pad
Accept/Confirm: Bottom Action (A)
Back/Cancel: Right Action (B)

"The buttons on my [not an Xbox gamepad] are mapped wrong!"
Controls are bound for an XInput gamepad layout by default.

Move Forward: W
Move Backward: S
Move Left: A
Move Right: D
Jump: Spacebar
Primary Ability: K
Secondary Ability: L
Lock-On: Left Shift
Center Camera: Left Control
Rotate Camera Left: J
Rotate Camera Right: ; (Semicolon)
Rotate Camera Up: U
Rotate Camera Down: M
Pause: Escape
Select Menu Options: WASD/Arrow Keys
Accept/Confirm: Enter/Spacebar
Back/Cancel: Escape

I would recommend changing these controls. The defaults are made with keyboard and mouse in mind...

All controls can be viewed and changed from the Options menu.

How To Play

Welcome to Ball Stars of the Animal Kingdom! This is an online-focused, team-based ball game where you play as a fearless animal athlete, and work with your team to get the ball into the opposing team's goal. Each athlete brings their own unique abilities to the field, and working together is the key to victory.

What's On Screen

It's you, the player! You and your teammates have a ring at your feet to easily tell your team apart from the opposing team.
The ball! Carry this to the opposing goal to score a point. While you are locked onto the ball, a crosshair will form around it to make it easy to keep in your sights.
The goal! Goals can come in a variety of shapes and sizes, and you need to get the ball to the opposing team's colored goal. Look for the team-colored flags to guide you toward the goal.
The timer! If this runs out, the match will end immediately, unless the teams are tied in score. If that happens, see Overtime below.
The score! Both teams' scores are displayed here. When "Match Point" shows up for your team, score one more goal to end the match right there.
The rader! If you've lost sight of the ball, this arrow will show you which direction to look to find it again.

Overtime

If the timer runs out while both teams are tied on score, the game will enter overtime! In this mode, special Overtime Goals – round, translucent zones that count as team goals – grow out of each team's goal and fill the map from each side. From this point, the match is a race against time; the first team to carry the ball to their opponents' goal in the ever-shrinking play area wins!

Note for creating lobbies: In order for players to join a hosted lobby, port 3698 must be forwarded from your router to the computer hosting the lobby. Instructions vary for every router, but portforward.com is a good general reference. You may use a different port for hosting if desired, by changing the "Host on Port" setting when opening the lobby.

Meet the Cast

Jolene

Offense Type – Raccoon – she/her

With one powerful swing of her meat tenderizer, the world's cutest offensive frontrunner sends the ball flying forward to break the enemy's defense.

Primary Ability: Hammer Swing

Secondary Ability: ---

Jean-Pierre

Interception Type – Mouse – he/him

Don't look away for a moment, or this speed demon will snatch the ball away with his lightning-fast moves and reflexes that will leave you bewildered.

Primary Ability: Boost Lunge

Secondary Ability: ---

Poppy

Range Type – Pufferfish – they/them

They may move slow - and can't hit hard - but with careful management of their high-powered vacuum, this fish can control the ball from afar.

Primary Ability: Vacuum (Suck)

Secondary Ability: Vacuum (Blow)

Look forward to more characters joining the roster in future updates!

Game Credits

Game by fickleheart
Game & Character Design
Programming
2D/3D Visuals
Audio
Maps & Textures

Programming Assistance:
twi

Design Assistance:
Eldog
tealsummernights
twi

Additional Testing:
PencilVoid
Zangolf

Fonts used:
Projects (http://fenotype.com)
Troglodyte (https://www.dafont.com/apostrophic-labs.d128)
DustHome (http://www.kuzumi.net)

Some textures from:
Poly Haven (https://polyhaven.com)

Uses InputManager (https://github.com/daemon3000/InputManager)

Distributed under the terms of an MIT-style license:

The MIT License

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

Built in Unity

Thank you for trying this early demo of the game! I hope this gives you a good impression of what's to come. -fickle

Contact Information

To report issues and bugs with the game, offensive servers or players, etc, please use one of the following contact methods:

Twitter: @fickleshark (the lead dev's personal account)
itch.io: https://fickleheart.itch.io/ball-stars (leave a comment or find updated contact info!)

Updates on the game's status are also available through the news ticker on the title screen.