Atmosphir: A Quick Preview
Recently, I had an opportunity to become a part of a closed beta test for Atmosphir. Atmosphir is a new, multi-platform game for Windows, Mac, or Linux computers which allows you to have control over a little clever fellow in a world full of platforms to jump to, things to climb up, and all sorts of entertaining traps to escape to reach the end flag.
The more interesting bit about the game is that all the boards that you play are online, created by other users whom have a copy of Atmosphir on their systems.
Some are of pretty good quality, others are simple “run across a few (virtual) miles of power ups and jump really high to his the finish mark”. At the moment, there seems to be a lot more of the latter than the former. However, with new members in the Beta test being added, the level of quality will start coming up eventually.
Along with merely playing the game, you have a full-blown editor in-game (which reminds me a lot of the editor in Sauerbraten) so that you can create your own masterpiece- Or, edit any of the currently existing levels online and save them locally or even upload them as your own.
Installation of the software on the Mac is quick and painless. I like that the developer opted to go with the all-in-one bundle instead of a proper installer application. This will allow for trivial moving, and even deletion of the application without leaving a bunch of libraries scattered all over the place. Unsure of the Windows version, but I assume that it has an installer somewhere.
Preferences are pretty basic at the moment- Movement controls and screen size are about it.
Overall, the performance of the application is pretty good for beta software. There are some hang-ups in the UI whenever the maps are downloaded, and when updates are installed. Overall, for what it offers, and the possibilities afforded, I think this is an acceptable compromise.
So, if interested, check out the Atmosphir web site. There's another review online [Posted Here] that should give you an even better overview than this one has.
Enjoy!
tom