Plobb! is a

single-player A single-player video game is a video game where input from only one player is expected throughout the gameplay. Video games in general can feature several game modes, including single-player modes designed to be played by a single player in add ...

2D freeware game developed with

BlitzMax Blitz BASIC is the programming language dialect of the first Blitz compilers, devised by New Zealand–based developer Mark Sibly. Being derived from BASIC, Blitz syntax was designed to be easy to pick up for beginners first learning to program. ...

. The game involves the player guiding the small blob-shaped main character named "Plobb" around the screen where he is attacked by enemy bubbles. The aim is to eliminate the bubbles and finally also the arch-enemy in order to win the game and regain Plobb's freedom. The game was created as a research project by Bastiaan van Rooden from Nothing Inc.,

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, which develops other

freeware games This is a selected list of freeware video games implemented as traditional executable files that must be downloaded and installed. Freeware games are games that are released as freeware and can be downloaded and played, free of charge, for an unli ...

but also

advergames An advergame (portmanteau of "advertisement" and "video game") is a form of advertising in video games, in which the video game is developed by or in close collaboration with a corporate entity for purposes of advertising a brand-name product. Whil ...

among other products. It is available as a stand-alone offline game for download free of charge. First launched in 2005, the game was only available for Windows while a version compatible with

Mac OS X macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...

was developed in 2007. The game is distributed via download from the website of Nothing Inc.

Gameplay

An introduction tells the story of Plobb's captivation by his arch-enemy the Evil Motts of Psodor. In order to escape from Evil Motts' Castle of Nightmares Plobb has, by spitting shots, to fight and eliminate the enemy bubbles that sap his energy. The game-play structure follows those of classic

shoot 'em up Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs) are a Video game genre, subgenre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain typ ...

s of the 80s, also known as

Golden Age of Arcade Games The golden age of arcade video games was the period of rapid growth, technological development, and cultural influence of arcade video games from the late 1970s to the early 1980s. The release of ''Space Invaders'' in 1978 led to a wave of shoo ...

, and resembles first and foremost the game-play of

Asteroids An asteroid is a minor planet—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the Solar System#Inner Solar System, inner Solar System or is co-orbital with Jupiter (Trojan asteroids). As ...

. It follows a simple and intuitive game-play pattern. The player, acting by the

avatar Avatar (, ; ) is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means . It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearance" is sometimes u ...

Plobb throughout the game has to navigate around the bubbles that come crossing the screen and to aim shots at them by spitting in their direction. The player navigates Plobb by placing the cursor in the direction of or directly on the target towards which Plobb will then move to and upon left mouse click also will emit shots. The speed with which Plobb moves increases with the distance of the cursor to the actual position of Plobb on the screen. The bubbles differ in size and react to being shot at by dividing into two smaller bubbles until disappearing completely. If Plobb is touched by an enemy bubble he will lose energy. The play is structured in 5 worlds with 5 levels each with the final fight between Plobb and Evil Motts on a separate last level.

Critical reception

Although kept simply structured, the game design uses colors and shapes to the effect of creating candy store aesthetics. The generally round and colorful design can be considered a distinct characteristic of the Plobb! game and an original game design concept.E. Santos
Softonic Editor's review
January 20, 2008

References

{{reflist

External links

Nothing's official website
2005 video games Freeware games MacOS games Single-player video games Video games developed in Switzerland Windows games