ParodyVenture Presents: Dance Til' You Drop ENHANCED!

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

That's right, folks!  Richard Simmons and I have put countless hours into bringing YOU, the avid gamer, a tour de force adventure in the business of dance aerobics instruction!

"For the remainder of this game YOU are Richard Simmons, and it is your sworn duty to make 'Jazzercise' a success in order to save your career- and that amusement park for the kids- so get going!"- Tyler Snakeinthegrass, RA, ASA, RSVP, BS.

It will be a tumultuous day, gang, full of action, intrigue, dance, danger, dance, with witticisms and innuendo flying like Mike Tyson's left hook!  But don't let me convince you, let these amazing I-Can't-Believe-It's-99-Percent-EGA visuals!



And that's not all!  No, for you, the true gaming guru, I have polished, perfected, prepared and present TWO enhanced versions!

Dance Til' You Drop Lite Edition, for you mamby-pamby slodem users! 

Features:
The entire game!
MIDI music (boo)
Smaller, nicer fonts!
Improved dialogs and more!
New mirrors thanks again to custard!

http://custardsclutter.com/DanceTilYouDrop.zip

and for those of you who don't mind waiting for something good,

Dance Til' You Drop Enhanced!

Features:
The entire game!
Full OGG soundtrack (bonus!)
Smaller, nicer fonts!
Improved dialogs and more!
Added sound effects!

http://custardsclutter.com/DanceTilYouDropEX.zip

This game was a labor of love for me, really.  I had no intention of entering it into the one room competition (and couldn't care less about the vote) because I genuinely had FUN making this game.  Hopefully that shows in the presentation, although I did make some concessions due to the competition rules.  Considering it was completed (minus bug fixes) in four days, I'm pleased with the results (and hope you are too). 

Edit:  I didn't mention this before, and it's certainly an oversight on my part, but were it not for the testing done by Gal Macover (our very own HighwayGal), this game may not have been released in such an unbuggy and playable state. 

Lastly, enjoy, but do not direct any questions about puzzles,etc toward me as I will not answer them.  Play this game because you love an adventure, not because you love walkthroughs and having your hand held.  I assure you that it is bug free enough to be completed without major crashes or loss of sleep.  And remember gang, Dance Til' You Drop!

P.S.-  I know there are people out there that simply love to be offended at any opportunity, but guess what?  I don't care.  I didn't make this game for you, and I certainly didn't make it to be mean to Richard Simmons.  It's just a parody, so relax and have fun with it.

-ProgZ

[Kweepa]

Great game, progZ!
I hadn't guessed it was yours - you disguised your sprite style nicely with that EGA stuff!
Four days? Wow.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

Thanks for the feedback, Steve, but seriously- play the enhanced version!

[José Luiz]

It was also a suprise to me, ProgZmax! (Of course I know your talent, but, as Steve said, you disguised so well your style.)
"Dance Til' You Drop" is a wonderful game - I just loved it! I'm going to download it right now!

[user 87412746;)]

I think there's no member of this site who never ask for help(thats about walktroughs etc) for example SteveMcCrea too, so.... relax yourself, not because u love user(gamers) but because u just love yourself and how great you are....

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

Thanks for the feedback, Jose.  Glad you enjoyed it, and make sure you get the best ending.

user87412746;) - If I had an idea of what you're on about I'd probably have a better reply than this.

[Pelican]

The enhanced version is great - I really liked the extra sounds etc. The game is lots of fun, and pretty impressive for the amount of time it was made in.

I have to ask though, what's the maximum number of points and easter tapes possible? I managed to finish with 200 points, and 1 easter tape. Have I missed anything?

[Rui 'Trovatore' Pires]

Well, you can get at least 230 points, that I know... and 1 tape too.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

I won't reveal the maximum score, but anything above 190 will make the best ending 'available' (doesn't mean you'll get it, though.  Listen to Tyler's advice!).  As for the easter tapes, there are 4 in all, so keep your eyes peeled since some of them can only be found at set points in the game ;>.

[user123something]

"Play this game because you love an adventure, not because you love walkthroughs and having your hand held. " - I was talking(typing) about this in general. If you still don't understand not my fault I guess.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

If you have a problem with it, 'guest', don't play the game.  It's that simple.  And try signing up to the boards if you haven't already.

[mags_don]

bizarre little game....but i enjoyed it!! it was bizarre in a way that i have never played a game quite like it..i liked how you had to do certain things to aquire points...playing in one room to keep one entertained was good!! thanks for the game. i ended up with 240 points and one easter tape?!?! umm..what is with the easter tapes? anyways, i liked it..gonna play again to get these ..easter tapes..ta..
ok played it again..gotta say, was even better the second time! loved the ending with the credits..lol..loved how ya put in miami vice characters in. too funny! great game!

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

Glad you liked it, don.  If you find all four easter tapes you might find something special at the end ;>.  Also, I hope everyone realizes you can put the tapes in the stereo to get new music tracks.

[edmundito]

50 megs for a one room game?! You're nuts!

Oh, well... I have nothing to do so I'll download it anyway. 

[Gilbert]

Well, it's because of the OGG soundtracks obviously.

[Traveler]

ProgZMax,

You did an awesome job on this game!   In my opinion, it's pretty much commercial quality, after the touch-ups you did for the enhanced version.

I'll play it again.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

Glad you enjoyed it, Traveler.  A few people have made comments to me to the effect that they can't understand why I chose to use EGA color graphics rather than my usual work (which I can't understand considering some of the other entries), but here were my reasons:

1.  I wanted to try something different.
2.  I wanted to essentially create a full game in as short a time as possible, so downscaling the graphic size, quality and number of frames was essential to achieve my goal.  Despite how fast I can do animations, there is no way I could have turned out the 145 plus animations you see through the course of the game if the frame count were doubled and the sprites were larger.
3.  The concept for the game came out of an EGA sprite I made of Richard Simmons in #ags, and it seemed to fit with the whole 1980s motif of the game.  If I decide to make a sequel (get the best ending to find out why I might!) the scope of the game will be larger in all respects, though I would still use commercial tunes from the 80s for much of the music.
4.  I had not used ags since one of its first releases years ago, so I didn't know how quickly I could re-learn it to script a game with the features I wanted.
5.  I hate drawing backgrounds, and the work becomes much simpler when you only have a few colors to select from and a low resolution.  I basically decided to throw together a quick background and focus all my effort on gameplay, sprites, and dialogs (and squashing bugs, of course).  The result is a game that while not the most beautiful thing ever, has (in my opinion, at least) achieved my goal of providing an entertaining full game localized to one room, with interactions for just about everything, branching paths, zany characters, and easter tapes.  The sequel (if I make one) will certainly provide the same play experience simply because I had so much fun making it that way, only I'd probably add a few things I wanted to but had no time for it, like INTERACTIVE dancing rather than scripted, so you can press buttons and make Richard prance about.  If I do make another one (depending on how much time I have and how many people actually want to see more Richard), the graphics will probably look something like this:

vs
   

[Ozzie]

hm, for me the download link doesn't work, it seems broken.
Can somebody else confirm that?
I would like to play it.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

Sorry about that, Ozzie.  I added some slow but working mirrors until Steve gets the server back on.

[lakerz]

I played through this game once.  It's a polished effort, woth the 48MB download to hear the funky music tracks.  8)

Spoiler

I scored a 190.  Is this good enough for the best ending?  You said more than 190 so I'm not sure.  I realize that scoring 190 only opens up the possibility of the best ending, which I'm guessing I didn't find.

[close]

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

190 or more should be fine.

[Vince Twelve]

Now that Richard Simmons has entered the world of video game voice acting.  Any plans on contacting him for work on the DTYD Special Edition? 

Love the game, by the by. 

[Dave Gilbert]

Progz, this is an amazing effort!  Who knew that Richard Simmons could be so much fun to portray?

Cute graphics, simple puzzles, awesome characters, lots of great dialog, a clever built-in hint system and multiple endings! 

I only sorta cheated once:

Spoiler

By looking up Richard Simmons' birthday online!  I couldn't find the answer within the game itself.

[close]

Anyway, loads of fun.  The "best" ending is classic.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

Vince 12 - Somehow I doubt Richard would be interested, but if he was you could count on a special edition!

Dave- Glad you enjoyed it, though I hope the puzzles weren't too simplistic.  I did not want to make the challenge too much that people felt they needed a walkthrough or a hammer, but at the same time I like games where you have to think a bit and try different things.

[AlbinoPanther]

ProgZmax again you show us how grate you make characters.And we realy want to see them in some high res. game is anybody offered you to make a game with your characters and his BG's.
We thimk that if some of the best AGS-ers put they strenght together they will make a game with a commercial quality.
Sorry for bad english

[Mr Flibble]

We are the Borg...

Sorry.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

Nudging this to inform some of the people pming me of the new working mirrors.  Hopefully this time they will stay put.