Elasto Mania
Encyclopedia
Elasto Mania is a physics simulation game released in 2000. Elasto Mania claims to be "based on a real physical model". It explores the notion of elastic motorcycles. The goal of each level is to collect every apple (disappearing by contact) spread throughout it, and then to touch the flower (the exit object). Some people, especially the ones part of online groups such as Mopolauta, play the game trying to finish levels as fast as possible, while others, mostly quite-new-to-the-game players, simply concern themselves with the accomplishment of levels, often first requiring figuring out a way for them to be solved. Ultimately, though, experienced players are motivated by the objective of finishing levels in the least amount of time possible, trying either to settle down personal, or world, records. That contributes to setting the stage for serious competition, especially in the official game levels.
Accelerating the motorcycle uninterruptedly slowly raises its front wheel as the balance shifts. Failure to modify the vehicle's balance results in overturn, causing the driver to hit his head on the ground. This can be prevented by periodically briefly releasing the accelerator, to balance the torque
of the back wheel with gravity. The brake applies to both wheels simultaneously. Because of the infinite friction
between the wheels and the ground in the game, if the brake is not used carefully, the rider will abruptly be thrown over the front wheel.
Rotating left and right, known as volting, is accomplished by the rider either pushing or pulling on the handlebar
s. This maneuver is used to climb obstacles and otherwise pass through broken ground, and also allows the motorcycle to land on the ground wheels down after a jump. Turning around causes the driver and motorcycle frame to rotate as a paper silhouette in a comical fashion while the wheels remain in place, causing the front wheel to become the back wheel and vice versa. One of the most unique properties of the physical model is the elasticity
of the bike frame, allowing for example the wheels to extend corresponding to angular momentum.
The physical model provides for wide range of tricks that can be performed by experienced players. These range from subtle maneuvers to increase speed to more dramatic effects, such as an exploit of a reproducible bug in the physical model, allowing for the bike to be propelled some distance up in the air.
The latest official patch for Elasto Mania is version "1.11a," while the latest-prior-to-EOL-era unofficial one is version "1.2 very final," the latter having been coded by Hibernatus, a so-nicknamed member of the game community.
Development of unofficial patches sprang as an effort to bring together various implementations that brought modification to the game, for example a replay merger, an enhanced replay viewer, and an alovolt patch. This latter implementation was forum-thread discussed in 2002 as a solution to the growing climate of unfairness surrounding the fact that, following the evolution in computer technology, an increasing number of players had trouble in performing an essential move: the "alovolt."
channel "#battle" and participate in what is known as "battles," that is, a competition for the best score in innovative levels. More precisely, players shared levels of their creation with one another, one at a time, and except-the-level-author players had a fixed-by-level-author time to drive and post the best time (or, in some cases, highest number of apples) back in channel. The winner would then have to share the replay matching his announced-before-deadline score with other players as a proof of his actual performance. Doing so would also in some cases have a second purpose, being to satisfy potential curiosity from the part of the other battlers on how such a score could possibly have been achieved.
In January 2006, "Battle Elma," a patch, having been developed by a member of the community nicknamed "milagros," allowing in-game (that is, without having to rely on IRC) access to battles, in addition to featuring an in-game chat client and the ability of real-time seeing other players, was released to the general public.
In August 2010, an even-more enhanced patch, too having been developed by milagros, called "Elma Online," or, in its short form, simply "EOL," was released. Through the inclusion of various additional functions, it is feeling more polished than the thus-made-obsolete "Battle Elma." EOL, also referenced to as version "1.3," was launched conjointly with the Elma Online website, maintained by another member, this one nicknamed "Kopaka." The latter site features, among others, miscellaneous instant statistics, and the ability of browsing previously battled levels, examining their layout, both their battle-time and all-time standings, downloading its shared associated replays, commenting and rating them, and more.
Gameplay
The player controls a motorbike rider, and has to restart the level anytime his head or bike's wheels touch a "killer" (seen as a rotating spiky wheel), or his head touches a solid structure (such as a wall). All the apples in a level must be collected before the player can touch the flower and proceed to the next level. A few levels contain apples that change the direction of gravity, causing the motorcycle to drive on the walls or on the ceiling, although those are quite unpopular. Only the head and wheels of the driver may interact with the level. His body may overlap walls without injury, allowing for bizarre-looking situations, such as hanging upside down with the wheels on top of a thin floating island, with the rest of the motorcycle and the driver's body overlapping the island and his head being some distance below it.Accelerating the motorcycle uninterruptedly slowly raises its front wheel as the balance shifts. Failure to modify the vehicle's balance results in overturn, causing the driver to hit his head on the ground. This can be prevented by periodically briefly releasing the accelerator, to balance the torque
Torque
Torque, moment or moment of force , is the tendency of a force to rotate an object about an axis, fulcrum, or pivot. Just as a force is a push or a pull, a torque can be thought of as a twist....
of the back wheel with gravity. The brake applies to both wheels simultaneously. Because of the infinite friction
Friction
Friction is the force resisting the relative motion of solid surfaces, fluid layers, and/or material elements sliding against each other. There are several types of friction:...
between the wheels and the ground in the game, if the brake is not used carefully, the rider will abruptly be thrown over the front wheel.
Rotating left and right, known as volting, is accomplished by the rider either pushing or pulling on the handlebar
Handlebar
A handlebar is part of the steering mechanism, in lieu of a steering wheel, for vehicles that are ridden on, instead of in, such as bicycles, motorcycles, tricycles, ATVs, snowmobiles and personal watercraft. It may also be simply the handles on a device such as a zip line trolley or a floor buffer...
s. This maneuver is used to climb obstacles and otherwise pass through broken ground, and also allows the motorcycle to land on the ground wheels down after a jump. Turning around causes the driver and motorcycle frame to rotate as a paper silhouette in a comical fashion while the wheels remain in place, causing the front wheel to become the back wheel and vice versa. One of the most unique properties of the physical model is the elasticity
Elasticity (physics)
In physics, elasticity is the physical property of a material that returns to its original shape after the stress that made it deform or distort is removed. The relative amount of deformation is called the strain....
of the bike frame, allowing for example the wheels to extend corresponding to angular momentum.
The physical model provides for wide range of tricks that can be performed by experienced players. These range from subtle maneuvers to increase speed to more dramatic effects, such as an exploit of a reproducible bug in the physical model, allowing for the bike to be propelled some distance up in the air.
Versions
Elasto Mania was created by Balázs Rózsa as a sequel to the 1997 game titled Action SuperCross. The two main differences between the two games are the slight change in physics and the addition of twelve internal levels. The free demo version contains 18 official levels, while the full one contains 54. In addition to these official "internal" levels, many "external," fan-created levels can be found online, in some cases gathered in level packs.The latest official patch for Elasto Mania is version "1.11a," while the latest-prior-to-EOL-era unofficial one is version "1.2 very final," the latter having been coded by Hibernatus, a so-nicknamed member of the game community.
Development of unofficial patches sprang as an effort to bring together various implementations that brought modification to the game, for example a replay merger, an enhanced replay viewer, and an alovolt patch. This latter implementation was forum-thread discussed in 2002 as a solution to the growing climate of unfairness surrounding the fact that, following the evolution in computer technology, an increasing number of players had trouble in performing an essential move: the "alovolt."
Online content
In the beginnings of the history of the game, players would join the IRCInternet Relay Chat
Internet Relay Chat is a protocol for real-time Internet text messaging or synchronous conferencing. It is mainly designed for group communication in discussion forums, called channels, but also allows one-to-one communication via private message as well as chat and data transfer, including file...
channel "#battle" and participate in what is known as "battles," that is, a competition for the best score in innovative levels. More precisely, players shared levels of their creation with one another, one at a time, and except-the-level-author players had a fixed-by-level-author time to drive and post the best time (or, in some cases, highest number of apples) back in channel. The winner would then have to share the replay matching his announced-before-deadline score with other players as a proof of his actual performance. Doing so would also in some cases have a second purpose, being to satisfy potential curiosity from the part of the other battlers on how such a score could possibly have been achieved.
In January 2006, "Battle Elma," a patch, having been developed by a member of the community nicknamed "milagros," allowing in-game (that is, without having to rely on IRC) access to battles, in addition to featuring an in-game chat client and the ability of real-time seeing other players, was released to the general public.
In August 2010, an even-more enhanced patch, too having been developed by milagros, called "Elma Online," or, in its short form, simply "EOL," was released. Through the inclusion of various additional functions, it is feeling more polished than the thus-made-obsolete "Battle Elma." EOL, also referenced to as version "1.3," was launched conjointly with the Elma Online website, maintained by another member, this one nicknamed "Kopaka." The latter site features, among others, miscellaneous instant statistics, and the ability of browsing previously battled levels, examining their layout, both their battle-time and all-time standings, downloading its shared associated replays, commenting and rating them, and more.
See also
- X-MotoX-MotoX-Moto is a free and open source 2D motocross platform game developed for Linux, FreeBSD, Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows, where physics play an all important role in the gameplay. The basic gameplay clones that of Elasto Mania, but the simulated physics are subtly different. The project was started...
, a clone of Elasto Mania for LinuxLinuxLinux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
, WindowsMicrosoft WindowsMicrosoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
and Mac OS XMac OS XMac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
systems - Bike or DieBike or DieBike or Die! is a trial bike game for Palm OS and iOS devices by Toyspring. It was released in 2004 for Palm OS devices, and in 2008 for iOS devices. Players try to ride a bike with simulated physics, to collect flags as quickly as possible...
, a clone for Palm OS PDAs. - Bike or Die 2, sequel to the above for Palms and now also iPhone
- Open trial, a two-dimensions (2D) motorbike trial game, for LinuxLinuxLinux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
and WindowsMicrosoft WindowsMicrosoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
systems. - FishMoto, a clone of Elasto Mania for iPhoneIPhoneThe iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
.