What is our life? A game. What are arcade games? Platformer
Arkanoid, Xonix, Digger, Snake, platformers, side-scrollers – sometimes you want to play the games of childhood and youth again. You can download emulators and run the games themselves. You can play thousands of clones. However, I chose my own path: to make one coherent game in which the game mechanics of the legendary arcades will be unified.
I already tried this trick once in Proto Raider. Although it was a game in text mode, which imposed a lot of restrictions. I still remember my surprise when the game was featured by Apple. Now I’m adding more retro mechanics and the graphics mode will be 16 color CGA at 320×180.
I hope it will be even more fun to play. Some levels are closer to the legendary originals, some are further, but they all came out cool. I invite you to look at the result and, if you like it, play it. Be careful, there will be a lot of colorful graphics of glowing pixels on the CRT monitor!
PAC-MAN
The main character in my game is a road roller robot. He runs among evil wizards who can bewitch him. But if you eat a cherry, then for some time it will be possible to slam these wizards.
As you can see, this is not a PAC-MAN game. And not even her distant clone. This is a platformer. However, the mechanics are built in such a way that PAC-MAN is guessed. A secondary task, for example, is the need to gobble up all the dots.
Let’s get a little closer to the original gameplay.
Arkanoid
With a regularity of a few seconds, a green ball flies out. If you beat him off with a platform, then he turns red and destroys the upper obstacles, which turn into a path to the exit. The robot can run wherever it wants, but if it comes to the central zone, the batting area will start to follow it. Balls can also fly anywhere, anywhere, and if the robot is not protected by the playground, then they will break it. Arkanoid turned into a platformer.
There is one point. And this is the most controversial thing in the game, which was still in the character Proto Raider. Control. It is done with one button.
The robot roller immediately starts to run forward. By default, at the press of a button, he jumps, like in a game with wizards and cherries. However, at some levels there may be cartridges that change the behavior of the main character. For example, in Arkanoid, the robot inserted the “Turn” cartridge, and now it changes direction every time the button is pressed.
Many criticize such management. And I like that all the variety of game mechanics can be transferred to one-button control, and it will still be fun to play. You can play with the keyboard, you can use the mouse, you can use the gamepad, or you can use the touchscreen on your phone.
Last week I was sent a photo of a Steam Deck demo being played with positive feedback on the one button game.
This way of control fits perfectly on side-scrollers.
side scrollers
You can just run on the platforms and jump.
You can take a turbine and control it already, starting from the air.
And you can sit on a horse without a head and smash obstacles with a super-strike.
The level is called Robotaur. The name came from my wife. Before uploading the demo to Steam, she intensively tested the levels (using boiled condensed milk and crackers).
For some games, I have not yet come up with a suitable platform adaptation.
Xonix
For example Xonix. However, I made bonus levels with Xonix mechanics and one button controls. By the way, it plays differently. Other sensations. The fact is that the main character is constantly moving around the perimeter. When you press a key, it starts cutting. Pressing again will cancel – reverse movement.
With this type of control, the border can be of any shape, even an arc. A circular saw always cuts perpendicular to the direction of motion.
BOSSES
In addition to being able to insert a behavior-changing cartridge, the main character can pick up weapons. It could be a spear flying up. An ax flying horizontally. Or … a flash drive.
There are also creatures in the game that crumble into a flock of bats that do not kill, but grab the robot. This is an allusion to the boss in Vampire Killer (Castlevania), although the behavior and physics are different.
By the way, if you noticed, the skull boss shooting floppy discs from the drive falls apart into zeros and ones. The fact is that the action in the levels takes place in the virtual world. in a simulation of reality.
I decided to add a light narrative that will enhance the integrity of the game.
The colonized asteroid suddenly disappeared. In its place, a box of floppy disks was found in an empty spaceship. Each contains a part of a simulation of life on an asteroid.
I have two storylines:
The investigator examines the floppy disks one by one, trying to unravel the mystery of the missing asteroid. Each floppy is one level of the game.
Floppy disks have their own storyline. And someone has already tampered with the simulation.
Snake and Bubble Bobble
In some games, the robot skating rink does not act as the main character of the classic game, but as an opponent. For example, a snake.
Or Bubble Bobble.
How will I spend this summer
All summer I plan to make new levels of the game. I will be glad to ideas. What classic games do you particularly like? What causes a feeling of nostalgia? Not necessarily arcade. It doesn’t have to be the entire game. Maybe some moment, animation, effect. Write!
Now the demo version has about an hour or two of gameplay. There is a Coming Soon page on Steam where you can play the demo on PC. The game is called Rusty Robot Wants to Cry.
The final is still far away, because there are a lot of cool retro games. The goal of “Release a finished game” is barely visible on the horizon. But I seem to have found the way.
Thanks for reading/watching! I would be grateful for any feedback, whether it’s a “Like” or “Dislike” mark or a “couple of affectionate” in the comments.
Bye!
