Barn Runner 5: The Forever Friday (Now Released)

Ponch · Wed 02/01/2008 21:44:58

In production since early 2004, Barn Runner 5: The Forever Friday has become more than just an albatross around my neck, it's become a coding adventure, my own personal Duke Nukem vaporware hell!

This game has beset by many obstacles: the great hard drive crash of 2005 (destroying absolutely everything I had spent a year and a half working on), two complete overhauls since starting over from scratch, three AGS engine upgrades, plug-in incompatibility issues arising from the engine swaps, and, on at least two occasions, utter lack of interest in the project on my part that resulted in nothing getting done for weeks at a time.

But, at long last, I am happy to announce the impending release of The Forever Friday! What began as a bundled, two part game similar to The Armageddon Eclair has steadily grown into a five part epic that will be released in episodes, every two months, starting June 1, 2008.

The game features (at this time) two player characters, branching story lines, multiple arcade sequences (completely optional, by the way!), six weapons, over two hours of animated cutscenes, and a very 80s "super machine" (think Blue Thunder, AirWolf, Firefox or any similar world-shaking prototype of which 80s fiction was so very fond) with which the heroes must face down and defeat the greatest single threat the Robot Revolution has ever unleashed upon the incredibly lazy citizens of Arcology 19: Evansville.

As of this time, all games are complete (or nearly so) and in various stages of beta testing (part four is already complete and ready for release!). Aside from squashing bugs and padding out the game with more "filler" interactions to make the world "breathe," all that really remains is to finish the cutscenes and tweak character animations. Barring some terrible tragedy (with this game, I won't rule anything out), making the projected release date should be no problem at all.

Well, enough rambling. Once the game is complete and all episodes have been released, I'm going to write a lengthy essay (with tons of screen shots from the various builds over the years) over on my website detailing just how and why the game changed so much and why it took so damn long to get this thing out the door. Until then, enjoy these screen shots!

Click on any screen shot to see the full size version!

(Don't be afraid! Click them! I paid for a lot of bandwidth. Go ahead and burn it!

The interior of Prick's familiar flying car, the AutoDyne.

A new exterior shot of Arc 19, showing how the hangar bays are arranged around the mid-section of the towering fortress city.

A barn! At last, a barn in a Barn Runner game!

Darkness falls on a log bridge spanning a small creek in the BGCZ.

The HackLink. With this handy little device, electronic locks won't keep you out anymore!

Prick and his partner on the case, cruising to the scene of the crime in Prick's car.

Our heroes investigating a crime scene.

Use your DataLink to select from a list of suspects to investigate in any order you choose.

And there you have it! Barn Runner 5: The Forever Friday, coming June 1, 2008 from TackyWorld Interactive... and I really mean it this time!

- Ponch

________
UPDATED: Game now released!

Dualnames · Wed 02/01/2008 22:05:07

Looks like... Hell

Galen · Wed 02/01/2008 22:09:41

Quote from: Dualnames on Wed 02/01/2008 22:05:07
Looks like... Hell

Ditto.

IceMan · Wed 02/01/2008 22:44:16

Oh my! I played the first BR game a few months ago after randomly picking it out, and I've been hooked ever since - the series gets better with each installment and they have a real wit that's not often found in indie games. I'm really looking forward to this one, and a big kudos to you for sticking to the project after what sounds like an enormously bad string of blows!

Great stuff!

Rui 'Trovatore' Pires · Thu 03/01/2008 02:26:24

Is it true? Really coming out?

\o/\o/\o/

Great writing, great stories, great humour, great puzzles, and even great graphics (that fabled part of adventure games we all say we can do without but which is sorely missed when it isn't as good as this - come on, Prick's shirt has GOT to be seen in all its glory!).

I tremble with antecipation.

Well, actually I don't, otherwise I wouldn't be writing this so neatly.

But you get the gist.

tube · Thu 03/01/2008 05:34:24

If the writing is half as funny as in Wreck the Halls (and I'm sure it'll be even better), I'm going to love this. And five episodes for the price of one? Fantabulous!

Frodo · Thu 03/01/2008 05:57:09

These screenshots look brilliant.

Roll on 1 June!!!

CosmoQueen · Sat 05/01/2008 12:55:53

WOW this game looks fantastic!!!

Ponch · Sun 06/01/2008 05:04:09

Quote from: Dualnames on Wed 02/01/2008 22:05:07
Looks like... Hell

Well, I certainly hope that's a good thing!

And thanks to the rest of you for the kind words. This game has been a hell of a long time in the making, and it's the biggest game I've ever done (and probably will do for a while... until the big finale, Barn Runner 10: This Shameless Tomorrow around 2014 or so).

It's also worth noting that this is also the first game I've ever done an "in production" thread for, so I had no idea what to expect. Nice to see my hype machine didn't land with a gigantic thud of disinterest!

Well, back to the grindstone. Just got another batch of play test reports back for chapters one and five and, of course, there are bugs to be battled to the death.

- Ponch

Ponch · Tue 01/04/2008 04:42:21

Well this is just strange as hell. Is anybody seeing anything in my first post? And if not, does anyone know what's causing it? Since the forums came back up, my first post disappeared and no matter how many times I modify, I can't get anything to "stick." It just keeps coming up blank. I've tried several different things and that first post just seems to be made of telon or something.

Oh well. New game in two months. I'd show you pictures, but apparently the universe is conspiring against me.

- Ponch

Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens · Tue 01/04/2008 06:06:00

This is a known problem that has happened to some posts since the forum came back on. I think Hajo is looking into it but the only solution may be to edit the post and put your stuff back.

Ponch · Wed 02/04/2008 02:33:59

Quote from: ProgZmax on Tue 01/04/2008 06:06:00
This is a known problem that has happened to some posts since the forum came back on.

Yeah, I'd PM'd Darth Mandarb to see what might have caused it. What strikes me as so strange is that no matter how I modify that first post and save it, it still remains blank.

I blame global warming. Or possibly the falling dollar.

- Ponch

UPDATE: I think it has to do with the number of images in the post. I trimmed a bunch of them out and now my post shows up. Has the number pf images allowed been changed or something?