Toribash is turn-based fighting game utilizing ragdoll physics, created by Hampus Söderström (a.k.a. "Hampa"), a Swedish software developer. Toribash was a "Best Game Idea" finalist at the 2006 Swedish Game Awards.

Some features include facial customization (known as "heads" in-game), online multiplayer, a ghost showing a preview of what the current joint settings will do to your ragdoll, saving and sharing replays, and dismemberment. It is still under development, yet exists in playable form.

Gameplay

The game is played by relaxing, holding, extending or contracting the various joints on your ragdoll and hitting the spacebar to advance time by a user-specified amount, the default being 10 frames. When properly manipulated, one ragdoll will strike the other. Through careful manipulation of the ragdoll's joints, arbitrarily complex attacks can be performed. The goal of the game is to score as many points as possible during a fight by landing blows on the opponents ragdoll, or by forcing the opponent to touch the ground with anything but their hands or feet, thereby disqualifying themselves. Dismembered limbs contacting the ground will also cause a disqualification.

History

Just before the release of version 1.98, Hampa changed the topic in the Toribash IRC channel to a link for a beta of 1.98 with "swords.tbm" up for testing on a multiplayer server. The "Swords Mod" changes one hand to a long stick and one to a square shield. "Swords.tbm" turned out to be an early version of the weaponry option which was rumoured to be available in version 2.0. Once 1.98 was released, the file named "swords.tbm" was found in the Toribash installed folder. The file can be edited in various ways to allow for various different effects on the ragdolls, such as full body armour, exaggerated body parts or steel limbs.

With the release of version 2.0, the game was no longer a beta and became shareware. The full game includes online rooms made specifically for the various mods created, prevention of nametag theft/impersonation, and the ability to participate in tournaments. The shareware version has some restrictions placed on the amount of gameplay.

With the release of version 2.3, fracturing was introduced. A fractured joint can not be controlled by the player, and swings beyond its normal arc of movement.[1]

Upon the release of version 2.5, a new option was added to the game; the ability to change the height of the battle.

Release 2.6 brought out the ability to make Lua scripts, which allowed players to create bots, game modes and various other extra features.

Release 2.7 extended Lua, letting people access files directly, set force vectors, and various other things.

Release 2.8 brought head avatars, and the future possibility of textures for places other than the head.

When Toribash 3.0 is released in October, the game will once again be free. People who spent money on the game will be given either a sum of "toricredits" (the game's currency), or a special item for their characters. Neither has been decided upon, but people who did spend money will be compensated.

Toribash 3.0, as of October 23, 2007, will be delayed until January 2008, according to an IRC topic set by an admin.

It is possible to render Toribash screenshots and animations in POV-Ray by pressing F8 (screenshots) or CTRL+F7 (animations) during the game, going to the folder named "raytrace", opening the .pov created, and changing the file "glossy.inc" to a filename of the user's choosing. Many .incs are available in the Art section of the Toribash forums.

Toribash has been spread around the Internet via various websites such as 4chan, Something Awful, Facepunch, Fazed, and Fun-Motion.

Community

Toribash has a community of players consisting of people from all age groups and all over the world. Most people are active on the toribash forum since a lot of the game functions can be accessed there. The official toribash IRC channel is #toribash on quakenet, where many players, as well as most of the developers can be found.

Lua in Toribash

Usage of Lua scripts in Toribash is limited to registered users. Access to scripts is done via the Scripts menu in-game.

A number of very good scripts have come out since Lua was implemented.

Over the course of 2.6 and 2.7, Lua has been extended, letting scripts set force in body parts, access files, and other things. However there are still some limitations that are to be brought down.

Multiplayer scripts are impossible at the moment.
Server-side scripts.

External links

Toribash
Toribash
	File:Toribashuppercut.jpg
Developer(s)	Hampus Söderström
Platform(s)	PC, Mac, Linux
Release	2.0 - September 23, 2006 2.1 - October, 2006 2.2 - November, 2006 2.3 - December 21, 2006 2.4 - February 26, 2007 2.5 - April 17, 2007 2.6 - June 28, 2007 2.7 - August 11, 2007 2.8 - September 26, 2007 3.0 - January, 2008
Genre(s)	Turn-based fighting
Mode(s)	Single Player, Multiplayer (hosted on multiple servers with different settings)