Deo Dorant, Oldschool platformer or something Options

[Majs]

Look, I even made a banner:

... Uh, what am I supposed to write here? This game is a result of my Commander Keen abusement last December. I tried to recreate the feeling of those games (especially the fourth).

Most info is in the readme, but I don't want this thread empty so I'll quote just it:

Story:
The pit of the death of people.
You know what's down there. Everyone knows what's down there.
So who's the persons whose footprints lead down there? You better find out.

(Pretty lame, I know.)

Everything else
Move around with the arrows; move left and right with left and right () and jump with the up arrow. Enter is your "action
button", use it to press buttons and stuff.

If you have "Collecting mode" turned on, you will need to collect all the crosses before you can proceed to the next level.
"Repetitive music" changes the music to the one from earlier versions of this game. It's very repetitive, but I like it
better than the default for some reason.

Screenshots
Here you are. Note that the two last screenieses are from an older version; the only difference is the missing scorething.
Titlepic
Ingame1
Ingame2
Ingame3

Download
I've provided two versions of the game, a fullscreen and a windowized one, because some people maybe don't want to change their resolution to 320x240. I recommend the fullscreen though, it's a totally different feeling than the other one.
Filesize: 1.53 MB
Download fullscreen version
Download windowized version (Jerks only )

Everything made by me. Not copyright though. I don't like copyrightses.
Credits goes to the swedish GM community for lotsa design tips and stuff like that.

Have fun! Or boring.

This post has been edited by Majs: Jan 13 2008, 02:18 PM

[Vephor]

I liked it. It does remind me of Commander Keen a bit, especially the menu and the drawings. Only complaint I have is that maybe space would have been a better action button than enter. Also, the ending was cool. Overall, a fun little game.

[Tobias(NL)]

yes, it has this retro feeling.
this is very nicely made.

but the gameplay is kinda slow... can be frustrating after a while...

Tobias.

PS: I prefer the DOWN ARROW KEY as use button (in puzzle platform games), I think alot of people do this.

This post has been edited by Tobias(NL): Mar 5 2007, 01:19 PM

[Majs]

Thanks for the comments. :) Yeah, I agree with you that I should've used another action button... didn't think about it myself since I am used to it and nobody ever complained about it. :P

[cactus]

I really like the retro graphics, sexy animations and weird feeling of the game. It has room for improvement, as some of the ideas seem to be recycled a lot and some more polish could've been sprinkled on, but overall it seems to be solid enough. One of the better platformers I've played for quite a while

[Calle]

Brilliant story

[Tischkman Produc...]

Very nice game! You gotta love the graphics!

[Majs]

Thanks.

[Sulsay]

I like the graphics style, but it plays a bit too slow for me. I prefer fast paced action. Nevertheless, nice work!

[Bonecollector]

Really awesome how you managed to recreate the feeling of those games back in the days.... Great game!

[tommy sprat]

It's a great game. But it's a little too slow for me. The graphics are good too, but you could have made the spikes more clearly under the spider web, i quit playing because of them . But you did a goood job cause u kept me playing for maybe 20 minutes and i dont play GM games for that long normally

[Kapser]

It's a great game. But it's a little too slow for me.

I agree. Nice retro feel also!

ps: The game name is ridiculous for anyone who speak french

[Jabberwock]

All right, first things first- this game is freaking awesome. It really does remind me of all those Apogee platformers that I grew up playing (though not Commander Keen as much as Crystal Caves). Those are my favorite games of all time, so thanks for the nostalgia. However, I say all that at the beginning of my post because I don't want you to think I hate it. In truth, this game has a lot of issues. First and most glaring is the fact that too many things are left for the player to figure out- specifically, the movement patterns of the black spiders, and (worst of all) the fact that you've got to hold "up" to bounce on the lava. It must have taken me twenty minutes of wondering why the heck he sometimes bounced and sometimes didn't before I figured that out. Then again, maybe I'm just slow. Still, you should explain those things.

Also, certain things in the game were very difficult to see, even in 320x240 mode- specifically, the spikes. In windowed mode they probably would've been impossible to see; the first time they showed up, they killed me before I even noticed them. And some of the enemy movement was too randomized- specifically the stops for the small black spider and those dart type things that shoot out of the water. Getting past those was always a gamble.

Another problem is the lack of a saving mechanism. Man, that made me mad, especially because I didn't know how many levels there would be. It turned out that the game was not too long to play in one reasonable sitting, but I didn't know that to begin with, so it was pretty discouraging. Maybe you could make it autosave at the beginning of each level?

The character's movement, also, felt a little too slow, though once I got used to that it kind of added to the harrowing experience, especially when jumping the big spiders... it's kind of funny that this guy is in a pit of death and he walks slow as heck. So I guess that's not so much of a problem.

However, I also liked a ton of stuff about this game. The graphics are just plain awesome. I love the spiders (especially the weirdish one that hangs from the ceiling, though it's not particularly dangerous), and I love the way the character's hair flops around when he jumps. The tilesets all really do look like they're from old DOS games. Nice job.

I also liked the way the levels got progressively larger, and I like the storyline, weird as it is. That ending video is top-notch.

I don't like to give number ratings, so I won't. I'd just like to say that this is top-notch. I hope to see more from you.

[Elrohir]

I liked this game verry much!
After every level I think: Just one more.
And that means that is a good game.
I am a retro lover so I loved this graphic.
Loks like one of my DOS games (I don't remember the name)
Good job

PS: I think you should put in a speed up button, sometimes is the game TO slow.

This post has been edited by Elrohir: Mar 13 2007, 01:40 PM

[Majs]

Whoa, once again thanks for all the comments. I like slow games, but I'll try to create something more fast-paced next time.

@Jabberwock: Wow. That's like, a whole review you've got there. Yeah, I'm very bad at documenting things. In fact you can save and load with S and L, but I forgot to mention that in the readme, as well as the lava-jumping thingie. I knew something was missing. Will fix that till the GMG release.
The spikes is very hard to spot indeed. That's because the palette is so limited, and when I made them white instead of grey, they looked kind of out of place. I guess I could have colored them red or something, but, um... I didn't.
About the randomization, the spiders movement aren't really random, it just seems so of some reason. You can however mess it up if you stand if front of the spider during its "standing still state". The spikes aren't random either, but at the same time they are. o_O The bursts are always the same, just not regular. Or something like that.
"Freaking awesome" must be the best comment I've ever got on a game - thank you.

[Jabberwock]

I was actually going to suggest you submit it to GMG until you mentioned that you already intended to. I'd like to give it an official review.

[Peyj]

Cage Match! Congratulations! I like this game very much.

[Darkleo of Lions...]

Very funny old school. I like it!

[jengajam]

This is great i voted for it in the cage match 9/10 (its a little slow)

[Ecstatic]

This game is really good, but I think the guy is way too slow.