Robot Roller-derby Disco Dodgeball
Bran Bast
In the game, players control a robot with one wheel from a first-person point-of-view.[2] They can throw balls at other players to knock them out or score points and catch them to eliminate the thrower; more points can be earned through creative or skillful hits such as ricocheting the ball.[2] Players can also deflect balls with the one they are currently holding.[3] Movement in the game is dependent on the player's momentum, with travel continuing in a direction even if the player isn't holding a directional key.[2]
The game has a Tron-like visual theme and a disco-themed soundtrack to match. It also has cosmetic items available for customizing the look of the player's robot.[3][4] These items are tradeable for real currency on the Steam Workshop. The game has a number of different single and multiplayer modes where players can climb up the leaderboards while playing.[5]
Robot Roller-Derby Disco Dodgeball was developed by Erik Asmussen starting in July 2013. He began with the game's movement mechanics, saying that he enjoyed playing with the skating-like movement before any other aspects of the game had been developed.[6][7]
The game was in a beta phase of development on Steam Early Access for a time before being released fully on 19 February 2015.[4] Asmussen said that the Early Access period was important for the game's development, as he received feedback from players tweaking and testing the game's settings.[6] He plans to include more features in the future, including a level editor and local multiplayer.[6]
Josiah Renaudin of GameSpot gave the game a rating of 6/10, saying it was fun to play and commenting positively on the visual style as well as the number of game modes available. However, he said that he felt the game didn't provide much incentive for continuing to play and that it was hard to correctly predict a throw's trajectory.[5] Thomas Ella of Hardcore Gamer rated the game 4/5, describing it as "one of the best, most fun, well-crafted multiplayer games available right now" but expressed disappointment at the low number of online players.[8]
Welcome to the official Robot Roller-Derby Disco Dodgeball wiki! This wiki collects all information around Erik Asmussen's game Robot Roller-Derby Disco Dodgeball, a first-person lobby-based game that features robots, disco lights, and lots and lots of balls.
If you're ever looking to make me follow arrows and signs endlessly as a cruel prank, spray-painting the words "Robot Roller-Derby Disco Dodgeball" on a wall would probably do it. Each part of the phrase intrigues and delights, and as a whole, well! I'd follow that circle of arrows for days. Well, I would if I didn't know Robot Roller-Derby Disco Dodgeball [official site] was a sporty multiplayer FPS.
Let's break the name down to explain the game. Robot: it stars robots, and you play a robot. Roller-Derby: you're all zipping around on wheels, and it's pretty dang violent, but doesn't have cool ladies with cool tattoos so that's a bit of a let-down really. Disco: its levels are big colourful discos, obvs. Dodgeball: you all have one ball and fling it at people to knock them out. Makes sense, yeah? Then it's got fancy skill shots, deflections, power-ups, and cosmetic items to customise your bot. It does have singleplayer modes too, if you want 'em.
Robot Roller-Derby Disco Dodgeball is 8.79 on Steam at launch, but will go up to 10.99 next Thursday. A four-pack will run you 23.99 right now too, if you want to form your own cool dodgeball team with some chums.
Reader dear, I've played only thirty seconds of RRDDD, in a pub, and cannot remember much other than "it was very colourful and I found the name quite exciting", so perhaps you've been having a go and could offer some thoughts with more insight than this terrible drunkard?
Disco Dodgeball puts players in control of an agile single-wheeled robot. These robots face off against opponents in Tron-inspired arenas with various ramps, platforms, and other obstacles. Balls are placed all around for players and computer-controlled opponents to pelt each other with.
If that sounds like a traditional game of dodgeball, that's because it pretty much is. However, while there have been a handful of video games over the years that have tried to simulate the classic playground game, none have come quite as close as Disco Dodgeball. All the expected rules and features are represented, including the ability to block an incoming projectile with a ball and rebound it back at the enemy for an elimination.
Despite the similarities to the real-world sport, Disco Dodgeball takes advantage of its electronic nature and adds decidedly unreal features. The robots have the ability to sprint extraordinarily fast, leap unnaturally high, and pick up various power-ups to enhance their abilities. There are shields, upgraded balls, and more to help level the opposition.
The game's controls are not immediately intuitive, but the tutorial did a great job of teaching me how to manage movement, momentum, and throwing. Once I got the hang of the basics, I started moving on to higher-level maneuvers. Eventually I was sprinting, jumping, and braking like a pro. My biggest gripe with the controls is that the gamepad aiming was finicky and inaccurate, even though the game advertises full controller support on its Steam page.
After mastering Disco Dodgeball's controls, I dove right into the game proper. The main single-player mode is an arcade-style score chase where the goal is to single-handedly defeat waves of enemy robots. As players climb the ranks, they'll face tougher enemies and larger waves. Fortunately, additional power-ups are unlocked to help deal with the onslaught of deadlier and deadlier opponents. In this one-versus-many mode, the difficulty can be grueling. With only three lives at my disposal, I never made it too far up the ladder, and it's hard to recommend spending too much time in the single-player mode because online multiplayer is where Disco Dodgeball really shines.
The game's fast-paced, frenetic action translates well to an arena-style combat scenario, and the addition of team play makes Disco Dodgeball even more like the real thing. There are several modes available, from a classic elimination style to a trick shot battle. While the challenge of mastering the controls is still important in online play, the addition of teammates makes the game a little more forgiving.
Perhaps the most appealing part of the multiplayer mode is its super-fast pick-up-and-play nature. Simply hit the "Quick Match" button to be dropped into an ongoing match featuring a mix of live players and bots. It only takes a few seconds from the time the game boots to playing a frantic match of robot dodgeball. If there aren't enough real players available, Disco Dodgeball automatically fills the server with bots and replaces them as humans join. It's all totally seamless. And since the team-based modes are significantly more exciting than playing alone, I would recommend this as the default for most players.
It's hard to fault the developers for not including a split-screen multiplayer mode, but that might have sent Disco Dodgeball over the edge of recommendation for me. While the fast-paced action of all-out dodgeball combat is consistently enjoyable, it would be even better with friends in the room. Among games like Towerfall and #IDARB leading the the current Renaissance of couch games, Disco Dodgeball could be great. Instead, it's merely good. Rating: 7 out of 10
Parents: Robot Roller-Derby Disco Dodgeball has not been rated by the ESRB, but I would expect a rating of E. The game contains a simulated version of dodgeball played with non-humanoid robots and features no realistic violence, blood, or gore. The online multiplayer mode allows players to text chat with each other.
Deaf & Hard of Hearing: The game features no dialogue that need subtitles, and the game is fully playable with no sound. Audio cues might make gameplay a touch easier, but this is primarily a visual game.
Robot Roller-Derby Disco Dodgeball is a hard game to review. On one hand, it's fantastic and one of the best multiplayer arena shooters in a long time: it's colorful and creative and weird in the best possible ways. The mechanics are well thought-out and offer a deceptively high skill ceiling. It triggers any nostalgia you might have for games like Quake III: Arena and Unreal Tournament 2004 in a modern way while also carving out its own niche. It's impossible not to recommend. On the other hand, almost no one else plays it, and that's a huge bummer for a multiplayer shooter.
Should a low player count factor into the final assessment? It could be a temporary setback easily remedied with a hefty Steam sale in the summer for a surge of new players, but it's a real concern for anyone looking to play it today. So what do you do? Do you praise the game for being totally stellar, an incredible achievement for one man, Erik Asmussen, to develop by himself? Or do you pan it for failing to find a large enough audience? It's a tough question to answer, so let's start with the game itself.
There is nothing bad about the design of Robot Roller-Derby Disco Dodgeball. From top to bottom, it is an incredible game. It is excellence distilled. It is a focused concept executed perfectly and with clever variation where it makes sense. Dodgeball has always seemed like a no-brainer to make for a fun game, but so few developers have ever even attempted it. The way Disco Dodgeball translates the sport into a game is impeccably simple: It's played from a first-person perspective, tasking you with picking up balls scattered around the level and throwing them at other players. Every shot is a one-hit kill, but the rules of dodgeball apply, so if you click another player's ball in time as it hurtles toward you, you'll catch it and they'll die instead. At a base level, that's all you really need to worry about, and it works incredibly well. Even if you're not familiar with dodgeball, in practice, the game essentially just feels like Quake III if you had to pick up each railgun shot before firing.
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