(http://crystalshard.net/img/rodent1.png)
Watch the a Let's Play video! (http://crystalshard.net/?f=rody_lp)
Indiana Rodent is the biggest platform game ever written for AGS, proving once again the versatility of the engine. Take the role of the Mouse With The Hat and go in search of the vaunted lost cheese. Traverse forests, deserts, and the halls of illusion; jump over hedgehogs, hitch a ride on a turtle, and evade vicious snakes - all for the reward of more cheese than you could ever eat, and what more could a mouse want?
The game is built on a tile engine, with eight-way scrolling and parallax background. It features four difficulty modes, nine expansive levels to explore, and various secrets and unlockables for you to find. And don't miss the boss monster, the vicious Moby Duck!
(http://crystalshard.net/img/rodent2.png)
The game is part of the AGS Bake Sale (http://www.agsbakesale.com/), a collection of games to be sold shortly as a charity fundraiser. Since it is one year after their release, the games are now freely available. You can download the full version Indiana Rodent here (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/1513).
Thanks to Black Squirrel, Corby, Ghost, Kramlack, and Snake for the art; and King Seamus, Lumpupu, MUFFINinc, and Peter Silk for the music.
(http://crystalshard.net/img/rodent3.png)
Cool.
Spoiler
Shouldn't the 1st screenshot be rodent1.png or rodent3.jpg?
great game! *thumbs up*
All he needs is a little fedora and an orange vest and you have a new saturday morning cartoon character!
Okay, I was in a hurry when I posted this, so I've now edited the first post with an actual blurb and more screenshots. Enjoy :)
This plays damn smooth! :D
Will you ever release an open source version of this? For people interested in making platform games?
Fun game :)
I got to level 6 on Easy Level (Beta Testing). Found it quite tricky to time the jumps right though. Either I missed the platforms, or I jumped into spikes above, or I landed on spikes\enemies etc. I was glad of the auto-save thingy, so I could continue from my last point, instead of having to go back to the begininng each time. ;)
Still find it kinda awkward that some of the jumps are further away, so you have to take a running jump. I would prefer if you could jump the same distance from a standing point. Also found that with a running jump, you sometimes jumped to far, and fell off the next platform. But that's just me. :P
I did like the appearing\disappearing blocks. That was a nice touch. :) The hedgehogs just strolling along, minding their own business, are cute. And the spitting snakes are just adorable! ;D
Still can't get past the giant duck though. I didn't know what to do with it at first. But now I've been told what to do, I still can't defeat it. :P
All-in-all, a fun game. ;)
Quote from: Frodo on Sun 08/01/2012 22:47:55Still find it kinda awkward that some of the jumps are further away, so you have to take a running jump. I would prefer if you could jump the same distance from a standing point. Also found that with a running jump, you sometimes jumped to far, and fell off the next platform. But that's just me. :P
Nope, I beta-tested it as well and gave the same feedback! :)
It is without question one of the best AGS platformer - congratulations, Radiant, despite the fact that I personally would have done a couple of things like the jumping a little differently.
Thanks :)
Quote from: Peder Johnsen+ on Mon 02/01/2012 23:49:33
This plays damn smooth! :D
Will you ever release an open source version of this? For people interested in making platform games?
If the game proves popular I'll certainly consider it.
Quote from: Frodo on Sun 08/01/2012 22:47:55
Still find it kinda awkward that some of the jumps are further away, so you have to take a running jump.
I understand, but having inertia is a deliberate design choice (and one shared by e.g. Mario, Sonic, and Cave Story). I find it plays more fluid like that, but of course it's tricky to get the air control right. If you compare this to the first MAGS release, you'll find it's much better now. Also, it may help to watch the jump-o-meter in the lower left corner.
QuoteStill can't get past the giant duck though. I didn't know what to do with it at first. But now I've been told what to do, I still can't defeat it. :P
Practice makes perfect. It gets much harder on Hard difficulty, of course.
The programming alone is really astonishing. Very good response and smooth scrolling, and to think that this is done in an engine designed to have characters move on generous walkable areas... If anything, I would've loved to see Rodney "tilt" a little when walking on slopes, but that's a detail.
I needed a while to adjust to the inertia, which feels more extreme than in the several Mario games I've played, but I think it is well implemented. Platformers are about skill and reflexes, and it was very satisfying to beat a tricky sequence after a couple of false starts.
As for the graphics, I may be biased ( ;) ) but I think everything looks very consistent and incredibly cute, and the idea of a rubber ducky as a boss... let's just say it reminded me a lot of Lollypop (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Vh4wnHCeNI) ;D
It's really a game that's easy to recommend! Congrats!
I just played the demo and I must say, it's one of the most charming games I've played recently, that's for sure!
I agree with ghost about the inertia, it feels a little awkward and takes some getting used to, but I kind of had this problem will all platformers I've played, so it's not such a big deal.
The graphics are nice and cute, the music is appropriately chiptune-y (and I got the level 1 world 1 Mario vibe - dunno if it was intentional or not), sound effects are hilarious, and the whole atmosphere really took me back to when I was a kid playing my NES knock-off! Oh, the nostalgia tripping!
My only complaint is that the demo was a bit too short. Give us at least 2 levels to get the gist of what's going on, man! Just the one level feels like you're cutting off the player too soon.
As the Bake Sale is officially live, people can now play the full game from there. I wonder who'll be the first to find all the Blue Cups hidden in the game!
Quote from: ShiverMeSideways on Thu 12/01/2012 09:43:49
My only complaint is that the demo was a bit too short. Give us at least 2 levels to get the gist of what's going on, man! Just the one level feels like you're cutting off the player too soon.
Ah, the first one is free, then you're hooked :)
And yes, the Mario vibe is intentional. I even asked the composers to make a chiptune like that. Actually I've always wanted to write such a platformer, I just never got around to it before.
Personally I'm really liking the way you need to carefuly pick up speed before jumping. Makes it a bit of a puzzle game as well.
Is that inspired by any particular game btw? Super Mario Bros games for example don't have such exactly relative speed to the duration of running.
The music references to Mario are also really neat.
The polish on this game is incredible!
A very enjoyable game, I finished it on medium after a lot of deaths. I especially liked how you retreat to the easy level after you had a few deaths, a really nice touch, and I probably wouldn't have finished it without it. I can't tell you how relieved I was every time those stars showed up, and also how proud I was when I managed to get to a save point without the stars...
I tried a playing a bit in the hard masochist level, I gave up soon, though I did manage to get a blue cup in that level (which I didn't manage at all in the first play).
Thanks for your comments :)
Quote from: Ascovel on Fri 20/01/2012 23:49:27
Is that inspired by any particular game btw? Super Mario Bros games for example don't have such exactly relative speed to the duration of running.
Well, as I recall Mario doesn't instantly stop when you release the direction button, but instead skids to a stop a few pixels later (neither does Sonic, or Quote from Cave Story). So based on that, I made it so the speed increases (to a limit) while the button is held, and it decreases to zero when it's not. I'm aware that Mario doesn't do it exactly in this way, that's why it's an inspiration rather than a direct copy.
Quote from: tzachs on Tue 24/01/2012 11:27:17
I tried a playing a bit in the hard masochist level, I gave up soon, though I did manage to get a blue cup in that level (which I didn't manage at all in the first play).
Congratulations on being the first (other than myself) to complete Medium difficulty! Or at least the first that posted about it. Well done. As the name suggests, Hard mode is intended to be hard, but you can also find blue cups on Medium level if you search around a bit.
Wham made a Let's Play video (http://crystalshard.net/?f=rody_lp) of Indiana Rodent, too. Yay! Turns out you can complete the basic game in about an hour, not counting finding all the hidden stuff.
That "Let's Play" was really interesting and entertaining to watch!
Also a good chance for me to see this lovely Rody action-mouse at work :D - Thank you WHAM!!
A very cool game you made with this engine Radiant (http://www.smileyvault.com/albums/userpics/12962/respect.gif)
Let it be told you by a mouse (http://www.smileyvault.com/albums/userpics/12962/mouse.gif)
... and the impression of the ducks face, especially when it was hit, is fantastic ;D
Well, it's almost March 1st, at which point this game will be released as freeware.
So I was wondering, would people be interested in a level editor?
After having played the demo back in the day, I'm looking forward for this one. :smiley:
About the level editor, I'm too lazy to promise I'll use it. I love Commander Keen, yet I've never made a custom level with the level editor I found ages ago.
Since we're now celebrating the Bake Sale's first anniversary, this game has been released as freeware!
Download the full version here! (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/1513/download/)
To my surprise, despite having been nominated for several AGS awards, Indiana Rodent has almost no votes for it in the AGS database. If you like the game, please check its page (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/1513/) and rate it accordingly. The mice will be so grateful to you!
I think I speak for the majority of the community when I ask - how much cheese exactly do we get for voting?
Pass on my respects to the mice - hope you get more votes soon...
Quote from: Sunny Penguin on Wed 08/05/2013 14:16:18
I think I speak for the majority of the community when I ask - how much cheese exactly do we get for voting?
Well, you
could get beta access for the inevitable sequel... 8-)
Quote from: Radiant on Wed 08/05/2013 14:44:20
Well, you could get beta access for the inevitable sequel... 8-)
Don't you mean
squeaker access?
Gonna make this the first platformer I play made with the AGS engine.
Quote from: CaptainD on Wed 08/05/2013 14:58:30
Quote from: Radiant on Wed 08/05/2013 14:44:20
Well, you could get beta access for the inevitable sequel... 8-)
Don't you mean squeaker access?
No, what he meant was the "inevitable
squeakel".
As a huge fan of platformers (nothing I love more than putting on a good record and jamming on the NES), I really enjoyed this game.
I think the mechanics worked really well; I would have found it fiddly had the inertia and skidding not been present, and especially if every jump was equi-distant. This kind of how it worked in Super Mario, Adventure Island etc, which is what made them such great games.
Btw, as Peder said earlier than the thread, is there any chance of you releasing an open source version of this? It would be a great learning tool.