Riding the Line

I noticed that a few blogs were carrying this flash website as a story today and after about the 3rd one I thought “I” had better check it out. I am glad that I did. It is the absolute biggest time-waster that I have found to date. The “toy” as it is described is called “Line Rider”
The reason it is the biggest time waster is that it is only a toy, in other words there is no point to it, there are no scores, there is no goal. Other than to draw a line that a toboggan then runs down and along. Ideally it does this without crashing!

The author of the game states that it was a project that he did for illistration class. The usual beta tag is attached and there has been a swell of suggestions for ways to improve the game. Inclusions for future versions include:

• Eraser tool – would be very handy, you spend five minutes making what you think is a great track and make a bump in the wrong spot and you have to start again.
• Line drawing tool – maybe but I think half the fun is getting it right. Maybe handy for the tricky bits you want to add.
• Rider falls less easily – good, it doesn’t take many bumps for him to plough into the snow.
• Physics engine mods – cool, adding some funky accelerate, decelerate functions. Jumps here we come.

I had some fun with this and a big warning: It is highly addictive. I stopped playing when I had wasted half an hour but I think you could waste a whole morning without trying.

I am really looking forward to the next version and I can see it having a cult following. Very cool and it just goes to prove that the best games or “toys” in life can be the simplest.

This is bad, face in the snow and all busted up is not a good look. No that is not blood, but it should be. This was a major stack and I am sure the little bastard reached terminal velocity. It was fun but.

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