Fluffball

Fluffball (named Furball during development) is a cancelled Nitrome game that was later released on March 5th 2015. The player controls the fluffball as they navigate him to the end of levels.

The game was developed and finished in 2007 for Miniclip, and even though it went through many revisions, it was cancelled due to dissatisfaction with the final product. After a recent lineup of mobile games, Later on, due to a drought in browser games and known interest, a version was made available on Nitrome.com on March 5, 2015.

Controls
Controls were modified upon Fluffball's release to the Nitrome.com site.

Miniclip

 * Mouse - push Fluffball

Nitrome.com

 * upleftdownright / W A S D Arrow/WASD keys - Move Fluffball

Gameplay
In each level of Fluffball the player has to guide the fluffball to the finish tile. The player must do this without letting the fluffball come in contact with any hazards or enemies, or letting it fall off the level. In order to unlock levels, the player must also collect gems along the way by pushing the fluffball over them.

Game versions
There are two available versions of Fluffball: a Miniclip version of the game that was submitted to Miniclip and the final revision of the game that was made by Nitrome before the game was cancelled.

Miniclip version
Fluffball was made back when Nitrome had a deal with Miniclip to make games, this version of the game, referred to on the article as Miniclip version or mouse version, was initially the finished version of the game and the one submitted to Miniclip to post on their website. However, due to both Nitrome and Miniclip being dissatisfied with the quality of the game, it was not released. After that Nitrome did more work on the game to improve its quality before abandoning the game.

The Miniclip version of the Fluffball game is different from the Nitrome version in several ways, the most notable being the controls. In the Miniclip version the player pushes Fluffball around using their mouse to do this. The player's mouse appears similar to a shining asterisk, clicking causing a shining bar of stars to form that is used to push the fluffball around. Although the bar will not tilt, regardless of where the player's cursor is, whenever they click the line of stars will always face the fluffball.

When pushing the fluffball the screen would not scroll, only shifting in one direction if the player reached the edge of the screen. There were a few glitches with the games due to the line of stars, one of these being quick pushing of the line into the fluffball causing it to go behind the line, and another that allowed the fluffball to move on air.

Aside from this, there were also a few other differences from the Nitrome version, these being:
 * The text for others menus of the Miniclip version is shifted more upwards than then Nitrome version.
 * The high scores for the game are briefly shown when the scores button is clicked.
 * The help screen is different, and so is some of the text.

Nitrome version
This version of the game was the final version of the game made by Nitrome in 2007 before the game was cancelled.

The major change to this game from the Miniclip version is that keyboard controls are used instead of the mouse. This change causes the help screen to also be changed to reflect the change into controls. Along with this, the menu is slightly changed to make "Play" more noticeable.

Because Nitrome did not intend to release this version but did so due to interest in the game, a message was added to the start of the game before the startup to notify the user that the game was initially cancelled.

Assets
Fluffball oddly uses a large amount of assets from previously released Nitrome games, and not in the form of cameos. The amount of used assets is comparable to that of Jelly Beanstalk.
 * The pad like buttons are blue pads from Hot Air and Hot Air 2.
 * The eyes of Fluffball on the menu is exactly the same as the eye of the horned cyclopes monster from Frost Bite, while its in-game sprite has eyes that resemble the eyes of mud monsters from Square Meal
 * Fluffball's black outline is exactly the same as the outline of the Moon from Cheese Dreams.
 * The font is the same used in the Frost Bite series.

Cameos in other media
Fluffball appears on a balloon in Hot Air 2, on the balloon obtained through completing level 24 Follow The Leader. Finally, close to two years after the creation of the game, Fluffball appears in the Party skin. This appearance in the Party skin may have been added to fill space, or as a joke to Nitromians who actually saw the game (which was none).

Trivia

 * In the Nitrome version of the game, a "warning" is added that informs the player about the game being seen by Nitrome as "rubbish".