Topic: Barn Runner 5: The Forever Friday 4 (New Game)

[Ponch]

I'm announcing my new Barn Runner game here instead of the Completed Game Announcements forum because this latest chapter of the long running and slowly winding down Barn Runner saga was made with Game Maker (I await your barrage of rotten vegetables and fruit).

TackyWorld Interactive Proudly Presents

Barn Runner 5: The Forever Friday - Chapter 4

This chapter is an action-packed vertical scrolling shooter in the mode of classic arcade legends like Raiden or 1941. The game consists of nine levels (one of which is secret) and has two difficulty settings: Easy (which is hard) and Hard (which is impossible). There are six different endings, twenty-three variations of enemies, five kinds of power ups, a hidden weapon, and oodles of cutscenes to drive the story forward. It even has support for campaign codes if you've been using those as you played through the earlier Forever Friday games.

But enough of my prattling on, let me pimp my game in the form of tantalizing screenshots! Here's what you can expect if you choose to download:



Lots of enemies, eager to be shot down



Mini-bosses, spoiling for a fight!



Gun Towers, out to shoot everything!



Secret levels, waiting to be found!



Oodles of buttons waiting to be pushed!



Scenic voyages!



Mysterious destinations!



Gigantic boss battles!

Spoiler: ShowHide

And love!

As you can see, this little game has lots to offer a person looking to fill a few hours with a bit of hand-crafted, freeware gaming fun.

The Forever Friday - Chapter 4 "Attack of the Drones"

System Requirements:
* Windows XP, Vista, 7 (and possibly 8)
* 1 GHz processor
* 512 Mb RAM
* 800x600 or greater screen resolution
* 13 Mb hard drive space

DOWNLOAD HERE



And if you're not as familiar with this long-running AGS series (started in 2003!) as you should be, why not try one of my many other Barn Runner games?

The Armageddon Eclair (parts 1 and 2)
The Ejection Rejection
The Mayor's New Dress
Don't Jerk The Trigger Of Love  (Check out the Spatha Owner's Manual, a nice little extra for this game)
Christmas Soup
The Prick Who Came In From The Cold
Cyclone Alley
Fully Automatic Mojo  (Even Better With The 2010 AGS Awards DLC Pack)
Wreck The Halls
The Rich Dame Who Cut The Cheese
The Forever Friday - Chapter 1 "Detour at the Crossroads of Destiny"
The Forever Friday - Chapter 2 "The Big Crazy"
The Forever Friday - Chapter 3 "The Wild Brunch"


Extra special thanks go out to the AGSers who stepped up for a bit of last minute playtesting on machines newer than mine: Ben304, Baron, Dualnames, Frodo, Intense Degree, and WHAM. They pitched in when I really needed them. Thanks guys! 

[Ghost]

Sweet, you finished it! D'loading now!

[Ponch]

Sweet, you finished it! D'loading now!

Thanks, Ghost. I hope you enjoy it. If you get stuck, let me know. I have cheat codes. 

[Frodo]

Yay.  Excellent.   

[Ponch]

Yay.  Excellent.   

Thanks! 

[kconan]

  I was tantalized by those screenshots! 

  Looks 1942ish; downloading and playing soon! 

[Ponch]

  I was tantalized by those screenshots! 

  Looks 1942ish; downloading and playing soon! 

They're incredibly tantalizing. They're the tantalizingest! 

Indeed 1941/1942 was a big inspiration for the game, as was Raiden. I hope you enjoy it. If you get stuck, let me know and I'll post some cheat codes. 

And when are we getting some sweet, sweet DLC for Bolt Action? 

[Ghost]

This game was Nintendo Hard when I first got a glimpse of it. Now it feels Nintendo Harder! Is memorizing the patterns the sole key to sucess? I can make it as far as L3- unfortunately the rest of my short-term memory is filled with crafting recipes, some tvTrope articles and iddqd...

But an enjoyable ride all the way! Nice to see the series conquer *other* game makers! I suggest a RenPy novel next 

[Ponch]

Yes, it was designed to be old school Nintendo hard. Contra hard. Bionic Commando hard. But fear not, I have cheat codes for you!

Spoiler: ShowHide

At the Rated T screen, press the - key on your numpad.
At the TWI Planet logo, press the + key on your numpad.

This will take you to the cheat screen. Follow those instructions and you should have a much easier time of it. (Although cheating will change the ending you get).

Good luck and thanks for playing. 

[kconan]

  Yea man this is hard after round one.  Any tactical tips aside from dodge, shoot, and pray?  Good fun though!

  I added official wallpaper on my small BA site, and so that counts as content that you can download

[WHAM]

Love, at last! Nice one!

[Ponch]

Yea man this is hard after round one.  Any tactical tips aside from dodge, shoot, and pray?  Good fun though!

During the early levels, I recommend that you pick out a slice of the screen and guard it at all costs. For example, on level 2 I would pick the right hand side of the screen and blast anything that gets in my way on may way up those pixels. If it's not a threat, I'd ignore it and save the ammo. The exceptions are the mini-bosses and the duck hunters. Engage the first and move out of the line of fire of the latter. Also, use the big gun to shoot the WarDynes carrying powerups instead of the the repeaters. The single cannon shot won't blow up the tumbling powerups, which the repeaters are very likely to do.

On levels 3 and 4, I stick to the right half of the screen. And don't shoot at anything you don't need to. You don't have enough ammo to fight all the enemy fighters on every level, so ignore the ones not shooting at you if they're not going to collide with you.

It's a hard game, but I have faith in you. 


WHAM: Everyone loves love, baby. But that's just one of six possible endings. Gotta catch 'em all. 

[Dualnames]

Here come the words of a somewhat bothered fan, so take them as you may. I don't mind the switch to game-maker, in fact the game looks better in a way, but darn, the latest gradual change from adventure games to arcade is really putting me off, I said it as a beta-tester, i am voicing it now, this is too hard, and i find no pleasure in playing these. The difficulty is really not the problem, I would stop at the same point regardless. I've said it for a while now, that Barn Runner Series are a series of amazing humor and fantastic games, but late additions to the series are taking that away.

I've written and erased this around 6 times in the past few days, and Ponch knows how much i love him and respect for all the support he's given me through these years.

My opinion on Part 3: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=43814.msg583434#msg583434
My opinion on Part 2: "If you're haven't yet downloaded I pity you. We're talking about better than part 1 ,gamewise one of the most fast paced games ever, and fun as never.. Go ahead..will ya."
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=28410.msg596657#msg596657
My opinion on 5-3: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=40514.msg535443#msg535443

In case, you're not convinced: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?action=search2

With this new installment, I don't know. I don't like adventure games, everyone who knows me knows that, yet if adventure games are done great, they can be amazing. Barn Runner is the indie Monkey Island for me. Monkey Island 2 being my favorite game of all time. I'm not sure what exactly I'm trying to accomplish here.

[Ponch]

Thanks for the honest opinion, Dualnames. I'm sad that you're not happy with the direction the series is taking as it comes to an end. But I always knew there would be a shift in tone as I wrapped the story up. The notion that Prick and the people of Arc 19 would "wake up to life" at the end was written in from the start. I wanted the characters to grow and change over time, but I understand why you would want them to stay the same forever. It's just not the story I wanted to tell.

Chapter four is the last Barn Runner game I'm making with Game Maker. The next (and last) three games are being made entirely with AGS. I just wanted to do a big action chapter before the end, and that's what this particular game is. It's also completely optional to the rest of the Forever Friday series. I expect that most people won't play it, and if they do, they won't finish it. But I love those old school, ridiculously hard Super Nintendo games I grew up with, and this is my last chance to do a proper homage to them.

Hopefully, you'll like the next chapter a little more. It's move in the vein of Forever Friday 2, so maybe it will be more to your liking. 

[Dualnames]

"The notion that Prick and the people of Arc 19 would "wake up to life" at the end was written in from the start. I wanted the characters to grow and change over time, but I understand why you would want them to stay the same forever. It's just not the story I wanted to tell."

That's definitely not something I'm playing Barn Runner for. I always found Prick to be a man deeply hurt taking it out by acting dumb and being clumsy all the time, if the end of the series doesn't reveal something close to that, if Prick doesn't get serious before the end, i'll be disappointed, and i'm sure that's not the case.

[Ponch]

Well, the ending is already written, and I hope you'll find it at least somewhat palatable when it finally comes time to close the curtain on my story. 

[OG]

Given I am an avid Barn Runner fan, I'm giving it a go. Good so far. I refuse to let it beat me!

As for the end, I'm sure whatever you decide will be justified, Ponch. Helluva saga, mate.

[Ponch]

Thanks, Onker. I hope you enjoy the game.