Line Rider

Line Rider is an internet game, with versions available for Microsoft Silverlight, Javascript, Windows, and Flash. It was originally created in September 2006 by Boštjan Čadež (also known as “fšk”), a Slovenian student. Soon after its initial appearance on DeviantArt, Line Rider became an internet phenomenon.

Line Rider has been featured by several websites, such as Yahoo!, but is mainly used on the website Linerider.com, Time Magazine’s website and appeared in several McDonald’s commercials for the Snack Wrap in 2008. Line Rider was also selected by staff and voted by Jay is Games users to be the Best Webtoy of 2006. A two-page article about the game was published in Games for Windows: The Official Magazine.

he basic concept is to draw one or more lines with the mouse on which a boy (referred to as “Bosh” by the creator) on a sled can ride after the player presses the “Play” button. The game includes simulated physics, which means the track must be sufficiently smooth to prevent the character from falling off the sled. The author has said that he prefers the description “toy” to “game”, as there is no goal to accomplish, nor does it have an end. In spite of its simplicity, many complicated tracks have been created, which include loops and other stunts. New tracks can consist of unrealistic tricks such as “flings” and “manuals” both on and off the sled. Many tracks created by the community have been set to music, such as the video This Will Destroy You, timed completely to the entire self titled This Will Destroy You album. Others use background art to fill their tracks with hand-drawn mountain slopes and trees. Tracks are typically shared among users by uploading a video to websites, such as YouTube or Google Video. Revision 6.2 of Line Rider was released in August 2007, and was optimized to run more smoothly, and to have a higher-powered zoom tool. The game does allow created tracks to be saved, and shown to the public (only if creator wishes to do so). The storage is not on the Line Rider website, but on the user’s hard drive, therefore allowing maximum storage implication and quicker access to stored tracks. In order to allow public viewing, the user must be logged into the website server.

On July 1, 2008, the original Flash version was replaced by a new one written in Silverlight. It includes a new feature that allows people to send tracks to other people via Windows Messenger. On October 23, 2009, this was replaced by Beta 3, which has the option to use dual players, a camera, trapdoor and deceleration lines. In 2015, a “Spiritual Successor” to Line Rider was released for Windows, Line Rider Advanced, which featured an in-game recording feature, selection tools, and advanced settings. Also in 2015, a new web version was released, Line Rider Javascript, which is hosted at linerider.com, and is still being updated as of 2022.